Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-13
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Samuel ]. Tilden, Democratic candi-
=. but elected, was not the
The Fading favorite of his party
of T;ld.n four years later on the
VI AAuoh' eve of the nominating
convention. A marked change Of senti-
ment had occurred. On this point The
Star Of April S, 1880. says:
AN Oswego, N. Y, editor addressed
a circular letter to the Democratic pa
pers of the State asking their opinion
as to the advisability of renominating
Tilden. Seventy replies were received
from that nui0ber of Democratic jour-
nails published in so counties. Only
Is OF the replies were favorable to
Tilden, and several Of them in a quail
fed manner. Fifty-Seven Democratic
editors recorded themselves and the
journals they control as unalterably OPP
posed to Tilden'S denomination, and as
a rule they have the opinion that he
could not carry the State. With but
few exceptions those who returned re-
plies unfavorable to Tilden expressed
the opinion that very many Democrats
would vote against him even II he were
made the nominee of their party. This
exhibit probably startled Mr.. Tilden's
friends and supporters In the State. 1t
shows that the opposition to him COM
prises q majority of the party and the
too, that Mr.. Tilden occupies a very
different place In the estimation of his
party than that held by him in 1876.
Then the Democratic papers, with few
exceptions, were doing battle for him.
Now they are against him. The replies
received did not include any OF the
metropolitan papers, the inquiry being
directed to journals outside Of New York
City and Brooklyn"
* X
A description Of case OF stock
brokerage trickery published in The
1c- Star of April 8. 1880,
ProntaDle shows that the financial
Brokerage. game SO years ago was
novices to play:
1.-THE manner in which the sharps of
Wall Street fleece the flats who trust
them with money for speculative in
vestment is very plainly illustrated by
the developments Of q lawsuit now i'll
course OF trial in New York. The vic
name, met the family of a broker at
Saratoga in the Summer of 1875 and
in the course Of conversation with its
head stock operations were spoken of.
The result was that she placed $1,000
In his hands for the purpose Of Specu-
lating In stocks on her account. the gen.
eral understanding being that the
broker was to use his own discretion en-
tirely in buying and selling, she express
ing her willingness to lose that amount
and agreeing to furnish more II neceS-
sary, but hoping. Of course, to double or
treble it, as dupeS always do in such
cases.
"The broker began his operations on
the 18th Of August and rendered written
or oral statements of his transactions
from time to time, until the 9th of De-
cember of the same year, when he pre-
scented his final statement OF account
for settlement. This document, which
indicated both profits and losses. in va
riouS transactions, showed q general
loss during the whole term and on all
the business done of about $500, or q
shrinkage Of the original capital from
81 900 70 $700; but it contained also
charge of $3.431 so for commissions on
Livingston was first frightened, then
indignant and finally became stubborn.
She refused TO pay and was sued IN
Gin course Of the trial the broker was
compelled to exhibit his books, and
these disclosed the fact that one or
more transactions were made for his
customer on every one Of the Ill days
intervening between the 18th Of Au-
gust and the 9th Of December, except
49, and, of these, 10 were SUM-
days and 8 were legal holidays.
There were in fact $3.50 operations. The
gross amount of purchases and sales.
stated at par, was about $3,500,000 and
the alleged actual buying and selling
prices amounted to $2,250.000. The
purchases were often made In the
morning and closed out on the same
day. The very same stock was repur-
chased on many occasions within Q few
hours after the sale. The variations Of
price betysen the cost and selling price