The Pickens sentinel-journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1909-1911, February 09, 1911, Image 2
Sentinel- Jo urnai.
Published Weekly.
pCKENS, SOUTH CAROLINA.
When doctors graft it is folly to
be sick.
Another thing that will make Mil
waukee famous is a "woman police
man.
Why worry over good roads when
we are all -on the verge of taking to
-Wings?
If war scares keep on accumulating
they may be offered by the dozen at
reduced rates.
When women are required to sit
on juries they should be permitted to
bring-their knitting.
Western farmers are returning to
Ahe effete east to buy up the leserted
farms of that section.
Fir lumber has gone gone up one
dollar on the thousand. Now, all to
gether: This is going too- fir!
Goose-bone prophets are of the
opinion that this winter will stretch
out as long as a British election.
Alfalfa in various forms is to be
served at a' banquet in Colorado.
'Now who is "brother to the ox?"
Alexander wept because he had no
more worlds to conquer when he
should have hustled around. and found
a few.
Pittsburg ants to annex about a
dozen suburbs. This is likely to
start a new annexation movement in
Cleveland.
The unarmored cruiser Detroit.
which cost $.,233,000, has just been
sold for $20,000. So run the fighting
ships away.
New York's largest hotel is to cost
$17,000,000. Ir is to be built on Her
ald square a't Twenty-fourth street
and Broadway.
School -teachers think they are en
titled to pensions, but can teaching
be called Wai since corporal punish
ment has been abolished!
A Boston man declares that he can
prove that there are nine hells, and
we presume that discovering that the
furnace fire is out is one of them.
That New York man who started to
shoot himself, but -thrice changed his
min(' in time to dodge the bullets
may .1-ve. to: congratulate himself on
his fickleness.
Morocco ai to pay money to Spain
for the war which Spain recently
fought in Morocco. Such is the em
barr~ssing consequence of coming out
only second best.
Maybe some time they will invent
a padded . aeroplane which will not
rise more than ten feet from the
ground. Then the careful man- will
become interested.
He has football in tae fall and
track athletics and baseball in the
Sspring.-and n'ow the college student
has ice hockey all winter. And yet
~he is said to play too little.
Iiithe y.ear'1910 the American hen
laid 1'7~dozen eggs for every man.
woman and child in the country. We
-have reason for believing. howeyer,
that at least several dozen of those
eggs are still in cold storage.
A report from Berlin has It that
Emperor William has become inter
ested In boxing. It is -~ot likely, how
ever, that he will at his time cf life
*try for the middle-weight champion
ship of Germany.
Men who began' life as waiters now
~own one of Chicago's biggest hotels.
But, of course, they were good waiters
and never spilled soup down any
-body's back nor forgot to renew the
contents of the finger bowls.
The Episcopal bishop of Michigan
says that bridge whist players are
just as much gamblers as Wall street
plungers or ' Monte Carlo, patrons.
They must play for more than a quar
-ter of a cent a point out that way.
By, drinking 20 bottles of beer a day
f or 3'0 days a St. Louis man won a suit
of tailor-made clothes and $250 in
money, but the chances are that a man
with a thirst like that will pawn the
clothes, and he certainly won't have
the money long.
If that ship that got into New
York the other day with a load of ele
phants and'pythons and other crea
tures could have been stuffed into the
stockings of several million children
it would probably have settled for all
time their demand for Noah's ark-s.
When rat - carry plague and cats
and dogs tl'at kill or drive them away
carry diphtheria and tuberculosis.
both of which are affirmed by the ex
perts, it seems there is nothing left
for threatened humanity but to get off
the earth.
That technical secret attack upon
the Atlantic coast by our returning
battleship fleet will be valueless un
less the Mqle St. Nicholas liar and
the New England fake'r who heard se
much cannotading at sea in 1898 are
ullowed to cge+ into the game.
ini
Tm AKI
~'iarR~By 8)' AIRJO/?y P2/a Cu
4
MERICANS' have the reputation of be
ing quick witted and shrewd. As a
matter of fact we are Barnumized
bluffers, far more gullible and credu
lcus than any class of any nation.
Right now, in nearly every moder
ate-sized city of the United States we
are falling in line and dropping gold
into the tills of organized fake auc
tion stores and taking in exchange.
a misrepresented article. These bogus auction stores
are more harmful to us as a nation than all the old
time lotteries, policy games, mail-order fakes and
circus grafts, including gold bricks and shell games,,
combined.
They are not honest. They play "heads we win,
tails you lose." Uncle Sam doesn't want to bring up
his boys in the business; yet he countenances it,
and over 530 of his cities
Issue licenses regularly
to the auctioneers of
these fake companies,
giving them the privi
lege of swindling the
public at a nominal fee.
Any town with over
10,000 blind, Barnumized
Yankees waiting to be
buncoed is considered a
fertile field.
From coast to coast,
ThE PROPRIETOR
from line to line, we find
in nearly every state
from one to forty cities
upporting temporary
aution swindles. Few{
re permanent; It is a ______
ushroom b u s in e s s THE( CA3hIER **
which springs up over
ight in a cheap store, leased from month to
onth, and stays until trouble occurs or the field
is worked dry.
New York city alone demands to -be duped
y no less than eight practically permanent com
anies of this sort, only shifting their positions to
reener fields as the crowds change..
There aire three ways to tell a legitimate auc
ton. If the place is permanent and advertises
ales on certain days, if the goods 'to be sold
re catalogued piece for piece, and if there are no
utside men hired to control the bidding, then
t is certain that the sale is genuine.
The fake auction game is played under the
seudo patronage of reliability. The auctioneer's Th
cense, issued by the city, is hung conspicuously ivy
ear the door and the goods are claimed to have ter
een consigned from private sources or pawn- syr
rokers in nearby cities. It is misrepresentation pe
rom the start. As a matter of fact the goods "d
ere picked up in job lots from noy-elty houses, p
jbbers, Japanese stores and regular auction sup- mar
ly firms who handle job lots of trashy stuff tt
nd are to be found in all the larger cities. The tur
iories they handle are made of cheap clay by wh
srewd Japs who have scraped through the shell mi
f American bluff and found the flabbiness of thero
fesh beneath. These antiques crumble to pieces sw
fer six months in a heated apartment. Practi- th<
ally all the goods handled in these stores are to
ade on. the same principle and bought at from a
ne-fifth to one-fiftieth of what they will bring at i
There is nothing criminal in selling at an ex- ist
rbitant profit if the purchaser gets the square cai
eal. But a fake auction company is primarily a in
ring of cheats never intentionally giving anyone the
square :leal. Ito:
The proprietor is the arch rogue. His profit int
epends on selling an article at anywhere from
ffty to two, three and sometimes five hundred is
ollars. The auction does not pay if run for the wa
verage buyer; it is merely a trap, a "plant," forsp
he cccasional "good thing" who happens in and
is cuickly relieved of a large amount of money a
brough an elaborate system he never suspects. 'a
It Is a joyless game, played on cut-and-dried ter
rules which admit of no freshness or originality.
he average cast-for they are all actors and Do
play the same cheap show every day-is made up abt
f one backer, or proprietor, two auctioneers, one thE
pretty girl cashier, and from two to ten "shills" aut
(the pale-faced people with mushy morals), their thE
umber depending on the size and situation of
te store.
The backer usually !s a shrewd and unscrupti
ms man who rents a vacant store, fills it with a ne
scattering of cheap, showy articles to attract at
tention and a number of large so-called "works
f art;" and "antiques" which, on inspection, w
prove to be minors. The range runs from foun- o
am pens at ten cents to deceptive "ivories, ed
"bronzes" and -'paintings by the old masters" thatst
bring from fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars,to
and sometimes more, from the uninitiated. .
The proprietor hires a pretty girl cashier and sti
-ounts her as an additional attraction. He gets
one or two auctioneers-they usually travel in rie
pais, to relieve one another and the public-and pe
uarantees them ten per cent. of the sales; which p
omission runs from forty to two hundred dollars
week.- ye:
Then the dealer incorporates the backbone of the
e whol crooke bsness-the body of "shills." Th
tht hewhl
th[utineI
thsfctt4h
ally inhs pe
hedd':slc
SoI
a word "shill,"torn"shil
r" in fullins ofsinde-c
minate ordgin.sItecs
," "boosspec"e"rnoger,
eon" nel "uAsid
es forthe sabbysrea
endling ilame:orn"shis- Iae okn mn
sae orstopin at ihsuto ndpeedn
haveyno wineto "ca thmae.btryn
boreospeople aringer gaaighisl
nhe" good tecrnaeslthrogh cunn ndcat
Witout thes shby cream- utoncn x
ef core uin buzardwsol too he
by rsalstyansaemrdesl oie
suh plaes workin retwe the public ond whom
propietorameelis thi pcase outunuseing among
-sned whbyp the acionur and prceyten
Thae shol cocix with the a.eH, betraings
or of justple an danaterse buerattn himelfn
their good fgfrhc thg cunnborandwe craft
Ofhusinuallr wsonlythe ocnrs thee
i the usedrs sraersds caled mor techil snoce
uchple." They threecrooks men whoms
prorieto rsceistr pc.u"ussetigv
Pitrs saroom by theetrgi lure and joceytwiem
Thle shill mioe th ealroare isn busiess
vetoe lookgsk an intrest ed erand ierin
itfomte ofyf whichupot te elboe ebitae
thin firm;ibenalfo hothlre sceters are
rum'.AT E odTeODY. e e crs
Pictu anyom4 feeaitc ho ande 20 fee wide.
unedors tohe deprcak areentinl fophis
e ndhsme hangslementicingred fag. in
ne as hanth prprs tond malgaities c
n ofrm benarth at intlargeaucttrs androt
Pick utghn arcsbruaintc who aives in heal
mbleis farl rosherousrand as ofe toakec
rb house oand0 ona 30,00 pouino looke
h fo thselay, purcasqes, presn suddenly
read som thatpeentsllog for fargin
He ghans reag the aer andr maais ac
>pne. of book tind fantiquautos an naro
the hghlasses bogtb aiis hnh
"Genne her flgrntfln cofcae fake c
: hose and look in t hev window, heape,"d
auctioneer srgi"ng wit ight bdull-faem.
ink of that! Not a tenth of their value. Why,
)
'Il
M~I.
I don't believe you gentlemen would give $2.50
to see statue of liberty do a Salome dance@ Twc
dollars bid, oh, shill! Two dollars!" ,
Jones, your out-of-town friend, is undebided
whether to go in or not; but at that moment a
fellow near the door shakes his head to a seem
ing stranger beside him and says in a low voice:
"It's a shame. Things are going for nothing.
Wish I had the price to buy some of that cut
glass. It'll sell for a song."
Jones overhears and is interested. He thinks
the mind of everybody in that store is centered
on the opera glasses, going so cheap. He smiles
at their rapt attention and the auctioneer's hard
luck complaints. The smile would disappear in
stantly if he knew that he .himself was the sole
concern of the eight minds in that audience, and
the auctioneer. He would be furious if he knew
ale of the opera glasses was a sham; that when
w Jonesey looking in he immediately transmitted
hill nearest the door by saying, "Oh, shill," casu
h. Jones had never heard the word, so naturally
t with suspicion from the auctioneer's jargon, and
when the man near the door remarked about cut
gains.
matter of fact Jones was interested in cut glass.
e liked it and occasionally he invested in some, it
e nearest he could get to diamonds.
te saunterdd in casually and watched with an
smile the frantic auctioneer trying to sell a watch.
Jones wasn't interested in watches. He had
one in his pccket; so his eyes continually
roved toward the cut glass in a little Japanese
cabinst.
He' didn't know it, but beiore h n
place two minutes, while the auctioneer was
trying to "feel him out" with the watch, one
of the shills had noticed Jones's interest in cut
glass, and had called the auctioneer's attention
to the fact by touching the cabinet signifi
cantly.
1The auctioneer, on his perch above them
all, had control of the situation. He noted
the signal from the shill, jotted down mentally
that Jones wanted cut glass, and knocked
down the watch he had been experimenting
with to one of the shills for a ruinous price,
which was all' helpful in showing Jones that
a shrewd man could pick up a bargain if he
laid low, attracted no attention and bided his
time.
"Sold for six ninety. Put it with the other
goods for Mr. A. Deposit suffcient," the auc
tioneer cried to the pretty cashier.
Jones did not bid on the first piece of cut
glass. The auctioneer did not look toward him
once to give him a chance. The piece was
knocked down for $3.80. It was a frightful bar
gain. Jones would have given $5 for it him
self. But the auctioneer passed abruptly to the
next article.
Jones pressed forward this time as a gor
Sgeous punch bowl was put up. He heard varn
ous exclamations around him, all tending to
give him confidence in the fact that things
rere going'dirt cheap. Two ladies beside him com
niserated ~because they wouldn't have enough
"Gentlemen and ladies," the auctioneer went on
olemnly, "if I had this article in Chicago or New
ork it would bring one hundred dollars, one hun
Ired dollars. You couldn't duplicate it at retail
or less than two hundred.' It is the finest piece of
rt glass ever shown in your City."
"Can I get one hundred dollars? Ninety? Eighty?
seventy-five dollars? Can I get sixty? Fifty? Give
ne forty; thirty-line; thirty!"
"Fifteen dollars!" came a halting voice from
beside Jones.
Jones was interested. He sensed a bargain.
lad he known that when the auctioneer said
'thirty-line" it was a signal to the shill beside
Jones to bid $30 with a line through it, or fifteen
ctual dollars. he would not have been so enthu
iastic..
"Sixteen!" "Seventeen!" "Half!" "Eighteen!"
;taccato offers punctuated the atmosphere after the
Luctioneer's encouragement.
The little man beside Jones shook his head
"Gee, it's gone beyond me," he sighed, turning
o Jones; it'll go dirt cheap, too. If you could buy
hat for $50 it'd be a bargain, sure enough."
Twenty-eight is the last bid," wailed the auc
;oneer. "Why, you could take it out and pawn
tfor more than that."
Jones thrilled as the auctioneer turned to look
Quarely at him.
"You'd give thirty, wouldn't you?" he criedi
Jones gulped and nodded.
The auctioneer skilfully led up to the grand
Lading by taking offers of "thirty-six" and "thirty
seven" from members of his troupe. He bad felt
ut his man carefully and knew that $40 wdfuld be
Jones's limit.
"Will you give me forty?" he said simply, in a
Level tone, leaning far over the showcase.
Jones hesitated, gulped, and then nodded bin
ead abruptly.
Jones was pleased with his bargains -until he
got home and his wife told him he could get th'e
same punch bowl for $10 anywhere and that the
ethmerstf was worthless.
THE POTASH CONTROVERSY
German Claims Presented at Wash
ington Are Contradicted by
American Interests.
Washington, D. C., Jan.-The offton
growing states are particularly inter
ested in the potash controversy be
tween the State Department and- Ber
lin, since the future price of fertilizer
is directly affected by the outcome.
German interests have just made rep
resentation to Secretary Knox similar
in effect to those assertions made by
circular letter to the miners through
out the South claiming that the Ger
man potash law, which places. a pen
alty on mines selling heavily to Amer
icans at a lower price than has
merly ruled, is merel a part of
general conservation policy of
many.
According to Ochsimus, a lea'.7
German geologist, there are ab
39,000 square miles of potash In,
section of Germany, each of t
containing some 50,000,000 tons c'
pure potash. This same authory
states that the annual output from
these mines is about 600,000 tons eaca.
and -he figures that If the annual out
put should jump to 5,000,000 tons an
nually, it would still require 621,6004
years to exhaust the supply.
Another of Germany's assertions is
that the law does not discri2inate
against Ameridans. The brief of the
American potash buyers committee
submitted to congress points out that,
under the law as recently passed by
Germany, the mines of the potash
trust in that country were allowed a
proportion of output sufficient to sup
ply the world, while the independent
mines that had made contracts to sup
ply the United States at a reduced
price were limited to one-fourth of
their actual sales already made to us.
In addition a penalty of $22 per ton
was imposed for overproduction. Thus
the penalty falls exclusively upon
shipments to this country and indi
rectly upon the consumer.
An effort is apparently being made
to create the impression that this con
troversy is really a contest between
the policy of the German government
and an American trust. The fact is
that there is no such complete and
powerful trust in the United States
as this German potash syndicate.
This syndicate actually monopolizes
the entire potash supply of the world,
save for the two mifies that broke
away from the trust and sold to Amer
ican buyers. In this country there +
are about 70 different fertilizer manu
facturers using potash, and of these
about 75 per cent are Independent of
any trust afiliation.
Another claim made by the German
committee at the White, House was to
the effect that the American buyers
knew that a law would be passed pro
alties to be asesd and that te '
made these contracts with this knowl
edge in mind. The American commit
tee states positively that this Informa
tion was brought to them after the
contracts were made, and used as a
club in an attempt to force them to
give up the contracts already entered
into, which would have .reduced. the,
price of fertilizer materially in this
country..
An official high In the government
here is authority for the statement
that the cost of this controversy must
necessarily fall upon the consumer,
and that it should, therefore, be set
tIed quickly. While the American
companies paying a penalty have met
the prices made by the German trust
that pays no penalty, this has been
done at a loss, and should thiey with
draw from the field because of this,
the price of fertilizer in this country
would be dictated the German
monopoly untrammelled in Berlin.
The Walkers.
James M. Beck, the famous corpora
tion lawyer of New York, is a native
of Philadelphia, and to Philadelphia
he often. returns to see his old
friends.
Mr. Beck, at a recent banquet in
Philadelphia, defended corporations
with an epigram.
"The trust buster and the Socialist
may do what they please," he said,
"but mankind will still be divided into
two great classes-those who walk to
get an appetite for their dinner, and
those who walk to get a dinner for.
their appetite."
DISTEMPER
In all its forms among all ages oi hiorses,.
as well as dogs, cured and others in same
stable prevented from hiaving the disease
with SPOHN'S D)ISTEMPER CURE.
Every bottle guaranteed. Oirer 600.00G
bottles sold last year S$.50 and $1.00. Any
good druggist, or send to manufacturers.
Agents wanted. Spohin Medical Co., Spec.
Contagious Diseases, Goshen, Ind.
Inherited.
Knicker-Jones has as bad memory.
Bocker-His mother never knew
what were trumps, and. hiis father
couldn't remember anything on the
witness stand.
TO DRIVE OUT XLAIAA^
Take the 01 8 Sanar 305 A~T
CLTONIlo Yo uow whas you r akig
less form. Ta n aveS on; the mal
and thelo b u tesystem. Sold byanl
dalesrs for aoyas: et
Any New Methfods?
"Ain't it strange, th' way Kelly beats
his wifey'
"I dunnoa How does hedoltt
There are many kinds of pleasue,
and some of them aren't so pleant.
teh Cure4I S3.intates by Weelford.'
SanitaryLotin. ever fails. At
No noble thins not drea