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Crime and Tolly of future Gambling.
The crime is on the part of the
Broker. He is a confidence man pure
and simple. He ait* in his office, and
sends out his circulars through the
mail, to beguile the public into gamb
ling. He takes the public’s money in
commissions and margins, and when
the public has taken the bait, in the
form of his advice to buy cotton, has
put margins and commissions in his
hands, he, the Broker himself, uses
lhe public’s money to sell the market
down and take their margins—and
vice versa. If the public has gone
short, sold the market, its margins
and commissions are used by the
Brokers to run the market up, and
again take the stakes. And so we
see the public actually paying a set
of confidence men commissions for
robbing it of its money.
Show me the books of the three
largest -brokerage houses in New
York, or New Orleans, and I can tell
you how the market is going to a
certainty. If the public is long, the
market is going down; if it is short,
then it is going up. It always goes
against the public—the outsiders.
Nothing is easier than for the Brok
er to know on which side of the mar
ket the public is. They keep the
books, and have all the information.
The folly of future gambling, is
with the fool who puts his money in
to the Broker’s hopper to be ground
out the Broker’s grist.
They say future dealing is specu
lation, not gambling. Dealing in fu
tures of any commodity, where actual
delivery is not contemplated, is mere
betting upon the rise and fall in the
price thereof, and is gambling. It is
the most injurious form of gambling
ever invented. .The worst feature of
it is, where the merchant sells for fu
ture delivery, the lower the market
goes, the more money he makes. He
begins to talk low prices, urges every
one to sell the actual stuff before it
goe* down to nothing. He cares no
longer for the interest of his custom
er; as prices go down, the more mon
ey he makes, and as he waxes rich,
hjs customers grow poorer, becoming
his slaves. But let the merchant who
goes short beware. If the Broker can
get the public into the market, short,
the merchant is sure to be caught in
the same trap with the public. The
prices will be run up, and the mar
gins of all become the Broker’s grist.
Last Winter, in February, we saw
the Brokers hammer a 10,000,000
bale crop from 12 cents to 10 cents
in a few days. The public, knowing
there was a very short crop, reason
ably expected cotton to go to 15
cents and gambled on this expecta
tion to an alarming extent. Had
cotton gone to 15 cents the Banks of
New York could not have paid the
losses of the bears.
What must be done to save the sit
uation ?
The brokers had the public’s mar
gins and commissions, what could
have been easier than to have used
the public’s money, the stakes to
hammer the price ten dollars a bale,
and take the money staked on the
gamble ?
It was done. The price was driven
down to ten dollars a bale on a short
crop and the public robbed by the
Brokers, who were the trusted Agents
of the public. w—w .- -
The public learned well its lesson,
and, this year, is not gambling. The
few who are yet so simple minded as
to entrust the Brokers with their
money, are on the bear side of the
market, consequently, we see prices
well maintained, with a tendency to
advance on a thirteen million crop;
and in the face of receipts, the hea
viest on record.
Future gambling upon the legiti
mate industries of the people is an
evil of colossal proportions, and of
untold injury, impoverishment and
misery to the producers. It should
be suppressed by the strong arm of
the law, at any and all cost.
Article 189 of the Constitution of
Louisiana reads as follows: “The
pernicious practice of dealing, or
gambling.in futures on agricultural
products, or articles of necessity,
where the intention of the parties is
not to make an honest and bona fide
delivery, is declared to be against
the public policy, and the Legisla
ture shall pass laws to suppress it.”
This article of our constitution is
nine years old, yet the Legislature has
never done anything looking to the
suppression of the vice. The people
should see to this. It is in their
power to elect a Legislature that will
obey, and give effect to, the mandate
of the Constitution.
Talk to a member of the legisla
ture about suppressing the evil, and
he will tell you “it can’t be done,”
or “it can be done only by destroying
legitimate future dealing, and that
would never do.” The seller of con
tracts for actual future delivery must
not be deprived of the power to hedge
his future commitments.”
It is a well-settled principle, that
where the evils of any system out
weigh the good, the benefits of the
system, so as to become destructive
to the public welfare, then, if the
evils of such a system cannot be de
stroyed without destroying the good,
the good must go with the evil, and
both be destroyed.
What does President McColl
of the National Manufacturers’
Association say on the subject?
Speaking of future dealing on
New York Cotton Exchange, at
a meeting of the Association
at Bluff Point, Lake Champlain,
N. Y., on the 13th of September last,
he said: “Many believe that the evils
of the system, and the injury of the
trade far outweigh the benefits de
rived from it. It is generally under
stood that Continental Spinners sel
dom use the contract market and this
may be said, also, of a large majority
of American manufacturers. It is
certainly a remarkable perversion of
sound business principles, that on the
New York Exchange, probably one
hundred and fifty million bales of cot
ton are bought and sold annually,
while the contracts that mature, and
are delivered, require only a few hun
dred thousand bales to fill them. It
is apparent that only a small part of
this enormous volume of sales is for
hedges against sales or stocks, and,
that the great bulk thereof is for
speculative, if not gambling, purpos
es.”
Is comment needed?
Could the case against the gambler
be made stronger?
J. T. HowelL
THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
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New Years Gifts
ON TAPIS
Grand Clearance Sale
Preparatory to Taking Stock
Trunks, Valises and Suit Cases
A FEW BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY NOVELTIES.
Every article has its “Walking Ticket.” No reasonable offer refused
on any article.
The Augusta Trunk Factory
851 Broad St. H. M. Clefckly, Prop. Wrong Side of Street.
AUGUSTA, GA.