Speculation and Gambling

Boston, Mass.: The Stratford Company, 1936. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good-. First Edition. Black cloth with gilt lettering on spine and front cover. Interior is bright, clean and unmarked. Dust jacket chipped at head of spine; chip to bottom edge of front panel; wear at corners; in an archival mylar sleeve. Includes a glossary and a 56-item bibliography. xi, 252 pages. Critical of both speculation in investing and gambling, MacDougall discusses and defines gambling, draws its connections with crime, describes its ruinous effects--largely emphasizing stock and commodity gambling, and advocates for public education to combat its evil effects. He stresses that, while both the lower strata of society and the investment classes engage in wrong-doing, it is the crimes in ''high finance'' which adversely affects the greater number of people. Written a few years after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 by Chicago attorney Ernest David MacDougall (1879-1949), who had previously edited Crime for Profit: A Symposium on Mercenary Crime. He was the President of the National Institute on Mercenary Crime and was the 1931 Chairman of the American Bar Association's Committee on Mercenary Crime. In 1941, he authored another book: The Great Game of Futures: an expose of a gigantic racket.