The New York herald., 1922-02-20

10 the Illusion.
In short, it would hardly appear
that there are people living in New Y
sober; that there are citizens Of the
time as most Americans in other cit
estly all day long; that there ares
one or two obscure individuals in
the vast throngs hurrying through
the subways who do not live in lux
ury bought with dishonest gain; that
gambling house is about the hard
est thing possible for anybody to find
in New York.
1t is a fact, of course. bang goes a
news article some fine morning and
reveals an isolated instance which
seems to bear out any or all of thes dis
tant visions Of life in New York city.
With so great population, some such
conditions might reasonably be ex-
pected, on a basis Of percentage OF
crooks and rotters to the bulk Of the
citizenship. The fact that New York
is the financial center of the country
naturally turns the eyes OF persons
living elsewhere to this point as the
place where great fortunes may be
made quickly.
Glamour Lures Victims.
Now, the purpose of the foregoing
dissertation is not to hold brief for
the. morality and honesty OF New
York. 1t is simply TO indicate the
glamour and awe which has grown up
around the name in the minds Of a
vast number OF people scattered be-.
tween the Atlantic and the Pacific
oceans. And it is for the additional
purpose of showing that this peculiar
and perverted psychological attitude
toward New York is one Of the greatest
assets the bucket shop has in Fleeing
the public.
In other words, the bucketeer takes
it for granted-and his judgment is
vindicated in an appalling number OF
cases-that the modest business man
or any person with a little money in
a distant city believes that any in
formation of an apparant financial ma
ture sent out of New York must be of
importance. and that the broker with
an Office in the New York financial dis
trict, where he is daily in the at
mosphere and in contact with financial
affairs. must have inside information"
regarding such matters.
Now. take that situation and add to
it all the ostentatious pretense of sub
stantiality and integrity and the
pseudo-confidentia manner in which
the bucket shop hands out it's "infor-
nation" regarding the mysterious and
gigantic deals in which killings" are
to be made, and you see the fabric OF
which the out of town trade OF the
bucket shop is constituted.
There is hardly a bucket shop in
New York which has not one or more
out of town branches. Some of them
have q score or more. DER & Co., who
recently failed for s4,000.000, had
seventeen establishments. Even lit
tie concern like Daniels & Co.. firm
Of two youngsters who started with
nothing, ran eighteen months and
failed for 500. 1000, had three out Of town
branches.
1t is not infrequent. in fact, that the
first information received in New York
of the crooked dealings of some OBJ
scure bucket shop here comes from
some victim in a middle Western or
Southern town.
Authorities Here Act TOO Late.
Consider the case OF Anderson,
Brown & Co., 32 Broadway. whose
books the New York county District
Attorneys office undertook unsuccess-
fully to seize last week in connection
with two complaints filed against the
company here.
The reason the District Attorney was
unable to get the books was because
the operations of that concern in
Cleveland and Pittsburgh had resulted
i'm criminal proceedings and bank
ruptcy before New York was aware
OF the firms alleged misconduct. Then
bankruptcy here followed quickly. and
the receiver had the books before the
prosecuting officer could get to them.
Anderson, Brown & Co.'S manager in
Pittsburgh was arrested, while the
complaints in Cleveland present an in
teresting aspect of out Of town opera
tions.
If the charges preferred against An
derson. Brown & Co. in Cleveland be
true. they would indicate that the New
York Office was not responsible, in
some degree at least, for at least one
of the transactions upon which the
Cleveland complaints are based. In
other words, what is known so far
points TO the suspicion that the Cleve-
land branch was doing it's own bucket
ing, without waiting to give the main
Office In New York chance at It.
There Is, in fact, hardly brokerage