Evening star., 1924-09-21
Spenders Compete for Kings Smile
Folie
fumed-A oWoudS Practices But l.

roses, vaporized with Paris toilet
water, grunted with complacency. as
fair women danGled their piglets.
scrubbed and beribboned.
4 say ii cost big money But what
IS money for gay climbers with the
pain of thousand Sights in their
hearts) II they can make grandees
ridiculous. and egg them on "a SOL
cmn crowd. without much humor) to
greater and greater expenses in the
line which they, the grandees, had
themselves mapped out!
The model piRgery, or dream sty.
was hoored. walled and ceiled with
porcelain tiles. done in pastoral
frieze-exactly like the grandees'
dairy 1t alone cost s1l.on9.
What of il? The king laughed.
The grandees gnashed their teeth,
with impotent certitude that they
were being delicately joshed. OF
course, if the king laughed it was
spontaneously, without knowledge OF
the feminine plots. Even so, it made
the grandees writhe that their be-
loved sovereign should smile, how
ever thoughtlessly. at such reduc-
ito ad absurdum Of grandees' in
tense devotion,
In frantic competition with outsid-
ers' gay extravaganza, more than one
old Spanish fortune, they say, is un-
iermined.
Two plain men. they say (unoficial
but ultimate hackers OF the San Sc
Dastien roulcttel, are able practical
ly, TO motor over their own land.
nowadays. all the way from Seville to
the French frontier-so numerous
have become the mortgages on noble
Spanish real estate. Such mortgages.
safe, and nobody knows much about
them.
They demand the grandees' presence
rather than their estates.
Their presence where? Why, at
the Casino the roulette. the gam
bling bank, which jas at Monte Carlo
is practically unlimited, and which
may be "bucked" by visitors accord
ing to their fancy, always sure to get
action"
Now, when you can borrow money
to buck roulette the fallacy of Old
time American faro bank makes it
seem true that to make deposit"
is merely to lose your stake, while 10
win is to draw a check
< :: 4 X
4 YOUNG grandee came, two years
n ago. newly attached to the
court. He did not need to gamble, be
ing in possession Of some $4,000 year
ly from old family property.
Now. along with friends. he went to
the San Sebastien roulette bank. and.
not wishing to be singular, he laid a
50-peseta bet on a single number. His
number happened to win-thirty live
times his stake. He let it lie, and
won three maximuns in five bets.
Then some big bets on the red and
l., l,n ind nff
$4,000.
San Sebastien is not Monte Carlo.
and $4,000 is real sum for the back
ers to lose a I one clip. But the two
plain men just smiled, as il thinking:
Go. young man, you will come back
to u.s..
They were mistaken. The young
grandee did not come back. He de-
spised gambling. He resolved to spend
the tanned $4,000 where he won it.
Also. for Spanish grandee. there i
just one way to spend bunch OF
money-to employ it basking in the
royal smile,
He lavished entertainment on the
Kings friends. The King knew moth
ing. He was pleased because his
friends were pleased. So. everybody
very rich, indeed. And he made a
rather good marriage with another
srandee's daughter.
That vas fine? Just wait.
The young couple passed into this
merry war of extravaganza. where
gay outsiders tried 10 make the
srandees take a back seat
When in need of cash. at last, ii oc-
CURED TO the former winner 10 draw
raise stakes he had to borrow from
the two plain men. The sma sh came
after the episode OF the model pig
gerry. 1t caused more regretful com
ments than dozen previous cases.
x = = x
THE King saw the gay" battle of
extravaganza in its true light
It's cruel," he observed, simply. He
sympathi2ed with the grandees. He
censured the outsiders for pushing
them to the wall. or "stewing them in
the rich outsiders who had such fun
batting the grandees are. you might
say. almost in disgrace at court.
But, tut. tut. The worm is in the
bud.
The money burning and the roulette
go hand in hand. A dozen times the
King has consulted with the dictators
gambling bank The dictators frown.
upon the idea.
At the same time the dictatorS favor
the King being gracious to all rich
outsiders.
The king can do nothing. The pros
perity of San Sebastien is the pros
perity of all north Spain. The rail-
road interests, real estate values, hotel
capital, vast villa revenues improve
mentS of the famous Corniche high
way following the coast (where nil
lonaire real estate deals are pulled
off every 10 miles, every season., all
cry: Hands off,
a golden river flows in from America
France, England and South America
to revivify all north Spain.
Its price is San Sebastien "gayety"
All the King can do is to cherish
his grandecs.