The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-15

1DNo NApAN AAO III Euo NO1O
Room should be, at the same time, the
the bestlinformed and the most intelli-
gent business men in the country.-
They must not only have the best and
latest Information, but they must be
able to determine instantly what is the
effect OF any given fact which may come
to their knowledge. They must be
able to resolve the most complicated
problems in mental arithmetic without
moments hesitation. If the Score
tary of the Treasury has decided upon
certain measure of financial policy,
or the President upon certain measure
OF foreign policy; If there is short
corn crop, or a Fentan rebellion, or
trouble in Europe, or a heavy immi-
grafton, or "a great oil discovery, or a
change in the tariff, or anything else,
which can affect the currency or the
public credit, they must be able to melt
down the mass and weigh the product
instantly. This Is the work of Omnis-
| cience, and of course no man can do it,
Nor can the whole gold room do it ac-
curOtely at all times. Now and then the
price Will run up wildly upon a given
state of facts, and run down again as
rapidly when it is discovered
the effect which was generally
expected by the operators. They
are pretty cool and accurate in
their calculations, but the atmosphere
of the gold room almost inevitably per-
verts mans judgment, and brings
MN TO grlet, in the long run. A few
days ago word came that President
Johnson had sent dispatch of 900
words by the Atlantic Cable to Paris.
This was known in the gold room be-
fore the dispatch had got out of the
Washington telegraph office-perhaps.
before it had left the State Department..
Great was the pow-wow in the gold
room. Gold rose from I4O1S to 1887. A
western merchant, who happened to be
there, turned the matter over in his
| mind, and concluded tnat it did not
| make much difference IUfdt kind OF II
dispatch Mr.. Seward had sent to
Europe. He reasoned that the Deople
were not well enough pleased with An
drew johnson to follow him into n for
eign war, even if that were the purport
of the dispatch. He called n broker to
his side and authorized him to operate
for decline within three DAYS, and
made fOu7 thousand dollars by having
at the moment grain more of common
sense or better acquaintance with the
temper of the American people, than
the average of the gold room.
remarked at the beginning that the
Gold Room was great curiosity, and
that it furnished remarkable illustra-
tion of the capabilities of the human
mind. The proceedings of the Board of
Stock Brokers have been often describ-
ed as bedlam in which all shout Mt
once, and shout without ceasing, and
yet transact business in the most expe-
ditious and orderly manner. The Stock
Board Is provided with moderator and
TWO reporters, thus having the SEM
blance of parliamentary law for its
government. The Gold Board hns
nothing of the kind. It Is a ceaseless
jangle, II whirlpool of voices, without
order, without umpire, referee
or stakeholder. Yet as it spins
on, millions upon millions are
bought and sold, the prices of all
goods, wares, merchandise, produce,
bonds, stocks, and property generally
throughout the country are marked uD
or down, Obediently TO the ineXorable
indicator in the Gold Room. How these
men can understand each other. and
avoid making mistakes, is a mystery.
In any large telegraph office in the
country you will see twenty or thirty
Morse Instruments clicking together
and perhaps u House printing machine
adding its hop.skip-and. Jump to the
chorus. Each operator hears and un-
derstands his own instrument, even
though he be ten feet from it, and he
does not hear any other. I have often
paused to admire the scene in a large
telegraph oticeas a wonderful example
of the perIectibility of the human ear:
but in the gold room one must not only
NlSNSA lyuAAl0 6OuuuS LQ6 midst OF
dense commission, and record them ac-
curately, but must have all his wits ON
the stretch at once, and yet preserve a
perfect equilibrium OF Judgment.
Now and then the noise flags, and al
most ceases. While 1 was there, it
ceased for moment entirely. The
smokers plaCidly puffed their blue
wreaths upward, and the murmur of
the little fountain became audible, In
ten seconds Bedlam had broken loose
again, wilder than ever. "Market ex-
ciIed," said my friend, James BOYD, to
whose politeness was indebted for an
introduction to the room; and almost
Immediately the indicator roso from
l41N to 14l2S. The idea that these
twenty or thirty men were "the mar
ket," and that when they EXCHANGED
yells tritle more vociferously than
usual, isle market was excited,U
struck me as SO droll that 1 laughed
immoderately. It was nevertheless
true. These men were the market, and
the market was excited. Some spark
of Information had Just come from
some quarter of the globe, which war
ranted the operators in believing that
United States legal tender notes were
worth fraction less than they were
ten seconds before. The gold room is
as sensitive to news as the 'Ethermo-
electric pile" to heat.
There are two classes of operators in
the gold room-commission men and
speculators. The former buy and sell
for others. With them it is "heads
win, tails you lose." Their commission
is a certainty, and if they can resist the
temptation to do little on their pri-
Vate account, they make money. The
spectators make nonel Rich to-day,
poor tomorrow, is the rule with them,
Those who make money cannot get
away. When man makes a million
in the gold room, it is as though he had
swallowed gallon of salt water at one
draught to quench his thirst. He must
have some more. So he stays and loses
1t. II he loses more than he has, and
cannot pay the differences, he must
take ms place at the outer railing. Even
then he cannot drag himself away from
the place. The evil genius of gambling
has possession of him. It holds him
fast. "YOnder," said my companion,
lis young man who might have gone
away with two millions of dollars. He
twas worth IT once. He is now among
'the 'dead-beats,' as poor as anyI Of
them. They have all been rich in
their time" looked over to the
dead-bent apartment and saw a youth,
whose cast of countenance might have
inspired Iennyson to write The Lotus
Eaters. Such mild and melancholy
eyes, such an expression of fixed un-
certainty and motfonIess unrest, it
would be hard to find save in the gold
room or at a faro table. Ofthe 'Edead-
beats" generally it might be said:
"In the afternoon they came untoa a land.
In which 1t seemed always afternoon,
All round the coast the lRnguid al did swoon
breathing IKE one tnst hath weary dream" j"
Applying to the gold room the rule
OF averages, II stands to reason that