But the business of vending fake drugs in the city of Chicago had been broken up and the city made unsafe for this most detestable class of swindlers, who prey upon the sick and wounded and endanger human life by the sale of their nostrums. "It was worth $1.00 to put the rascally crew out of business," said Detective Wooldridge afterward in discussing the matter. "It is surely worth a dollar to a man to know that he has been instrumental in saving thousands of human lives." And there the matter rested. BUCKET-SHOP. Every day the American people squander $100,000 in fictitious speculation in grain. There are 1,000 bucket shops operating in the United States at this time, their geographical distribution marked by the boundaries of the country. For each of these 1,000 shops an average of $100 a day gross income is necessary to meet its expenses, chief of which are for wire and ticker service and blackboard writers. Thus, in order that 1,000 of these shops may live and remain open, they must have $100 a day each, which, in a year of 300 days, means an income of $300,000,000 annually. Many of these bucket shops fail for lack of money, while others "fail" in order that they may keep the money of the investor. While $100,000 a day as the losses of the people in the illegitimate speculation in grain is very conservative, one must add another $100,000 a day as tribute which the gullible pay to the fake "get-rich-quick" and kindred sharper concerns of the country. "SPECULATION" AN UNMEANING TERM. Yet with this $100,000 a day going into the hopper of frenzied speculation of all kinds, Bradstreet's for the year 1907 showed business failures from speculation as one-eighth of 1 per cent of the total failures of the country. Whatever may be Bradstreet's definition of the word "speculation," as used in his lists, the word to the average business man who knows whereof he talks is as unmeaning as any other in the business dictionary. Suppose a man somewhere in a country town loses money in any speculative venture anywhere under the sun. If it is a few dollars only, he may not speak of it at all. If it is enough to embarrass him, perhaps he may have to speak. Under these circumstances the best possible thing to do is to explain that he lost it "on the Chicago Board of Trade." If he has no credit at stake in the matter, and is sore, he may yell murder over his losses "on the board." But hundreds of such men have lost their money in bucket shops, and scores of them have lost it at poker or some other gambling game. "BOARD OF TRADE" FALSELY BLAMED. Every little while a banker somewhere goes wrong with funds that are intrusted to him, and in the telling of the story the "Chicago Board of Trade" is the secret of his undoing. One of the marked cases of the kind was that of the Aurora banker who defalcated with $90,000, "lost on the Board of Trade."