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Show EOROPE SWEPT I BY WILD CRAZE I FOR GAMBLING I Even School Children of j 1 France Speculate in j Foreign Money GERMANY HARD HIT Suicide and Rum 'Follow Reckless Trading in Chinese Markets PARIS, Jan. 21 (By Associated B Press.) Even the school boys of Paris K now speculate In money of foreign : I countries. The fever which has Hj prompted French people of all classes to Invest their francs in German K marks, recently led a 12 year-old boy R to one of the larro Pari- 'e b- 1 mt ho asked for "a fntne's worth of Ger- H I The clerk was amazed at the youth- H fttl request and stuck his head out of H the boy whose head scarcely reached J j tht window ledge. The h.Li mmin wt haps it would be bettei li I houpin m Hungarian money I read in the pa- 1 pi this morning that marks bad sons ip bul Hungarian monej hadn't, but J Hungary has lots of corn and I think k,- her nn!te will go up oon. don'l you " The clerk told the child die banlt H did not transact business on such a limited : eale, and advised him to In- Hi 3i SPECULATE TO LIVE. BERLIN. Jan. 21. Thousands of H Germans have been bankrupted by tho H recent craze for speculating in the 1 stcok market. The losers were not Im limited to vaj?e earners and profes-Blonal profes-Blonal men with Inadequate Incomes but included many comparatively wealthy men. The workmen and professional men claim that speculation Is not a vico V but a necessity for men whose , in- 3000 marks a month or less. HrC They say they "plunRed" In the mar- icet in the hope of being able ;n win tL- enough to pay their bills and to buv clothing for themselves or a dress for flj their wives. Bfl Some of those who lost their earn-ings earn-ings in this way have disappeared from their positions. Others are mak- WM the round oil Lhelr acquaintanci j H-In H-In an effort to borrow and the re-mainder re-mainder are stolidly facing debts which they cannot hope to pay. Gro-cers Gro-cers and butchers generally have closed all credit accounts. Hj One of the speculators who lost his monthly salary ot 2000 marks in stock, market speculation, said. fll "We have to gamble. We cannot buj anything but the barest ncc-essl- K ties on what we earn and when prices HE' go up and money for even the noces- sarlee is lacking we take a chance f rather bopelessl) thinking thai our loLs cannot be much worse ,nnd that we mlccht have uci Wk CHINA WORRIED SHANGHAI. Jan. 21 Efforts of H ci rtain Chln se of Shanghai to launch i jfl out in imitation ot great American 'iH trading centers ith the formation by HJ wholesale of stock and brokerage e- BJ changes have been fraucht with o ) BJ much financial havoc that not only , BJ has the Pekintr government set about 11 to take action, but the foreign police S authorities of the international settle- W menl as well, has begun to show con- WM cern. Ki The past year In Shanghai has seen Mj the formation of scores of "exchanges" . 31 ostensibly opened lor the purpose of ' B' trading, generally in staples, but also Bi In every form of commoditv. Operat- W ing without restraints of any kind, I y shares, stocks and commodities of ev- Bl' tv sort have been dealt with In the B abandon of a gct-rich-quick era which now has begun to prove most distress- BJ ing to many victims. BJ Portions of a recently Issued official Shanghai police report on the sltua- ion are given as follows. BJ "speculation mania took deep root HK 'after the rapid formation of many ex- Ba changes and persons who in their san- BJ jer moments would never have con- pH E i ated to part with their cash unless lor some safe and profitable invest- FtM nn at were attracted by the glamor of MH large fortunes. B "On the other hand not a few fami- B lies were ruined and cases of suicide H and attempted suicide occurred. The fc situation presented a strong tempta- ml tlou to employes in places of trust to ifl make their fortunes b what appeared to them to be a few simple transac- wi t ions with the temporary loan of their 1 employers' money. WU "Numbers of employes absconded after having embezzled sums of mon-ey. mon-ey. A rough estimate of the total H amount of money thus reported lost places the figure well over $1 000.000. In idd i in men who had hitherto been LflH respected for their Integrity and re-garded re-garded as strong financially disap-peared disap-peared alter incurring liabilities they were unable to mc-eL ' It Is almost Imperative that action should be taken as soon as possible to these establishments under con- I on . IK |