, 1866-12-11

|
com was great curiosity, aud that 1t fur Il
shed = remarkable illustration of the capa- '
[&1tles OF the human mind. The p1oceeaings c
I the Board Of Stock Brokers have been '
hen described - bedlam In which all
hout at once, and shout without ceaslnE, and !
ct trnusacl bubipess tn the noe. expeditions {
nd orderly manner. Inc Stock Board Ia l
rovidcd with moderator and two report
rs, thus having the semblAnce Of parliamen-
my 1av 1or It's government. The Gold Board
as nothing Of the kind, It H ceaseless
angle, whirlpool Of voices, without order.
Without umpire, referee Or stakeholder. Yet
s 1t spins on, millions upon millions arc
,ought and sold. the prices Of all goods,
.ares, merchandise, produce, bonds, stocks,
nd property generally throughout the coun.
~ are marked up OF down, obedlently to the
ne1o1nble "inuicator" in the Gold Room.
How these men can understand each other,
md avoid making mistakes, Ia mystery. In
my large Telegraph office In the country you
will rec twenty or thirty Morse instruments
clicking together. and perhaps Hoube print
Ing machine adding Its hopskip-and-lump
to the chorus. Each operator hears
and understands his own instrument,
even though be be ten feet from It, and he
does not hear aug other. I have oflsn |
paused to admire the scene In large. tele-
graph office as a wonderful example Of the |
pssfec,ib1ltty Of tie human ear; hut In the \
roId room one must not only discern sepa- |
fnte sounds in the midst Of dense confusion, |
and record them accurately, but must have |
oil his Wits On the stretch at once, aud ret |
preserve perfect equilibrium Of judgment.
Now and then the noise Aags. and almost
ceases. While waA there, it ceased for d
moment entirely. The smokers plAcidly
pulled their blue wreaths upward. and the
mprmur Of the little fountain became audi
bic. In ten seconds Bedlam had broken
loose again. wilder than ever. Market ex-
cited" said my friend, James Boyd, 10 whose
politeness l was Indebted for M Introduction
to the room and alnost Immediately the
indicator rose from 14l4 to l4lss. The idea
that these twenty or thirty men were "the
Market" and that when they exchanged
se1ls tribe more yociferous2y than usual,
"the market was cxcited,' struck nc "a "a
Groll that laughed imuoderately. It was
nevertheless true. These men were the
market, and the market WAS excited. Some
srark Of information had just come from
some qna1ter Of the globe, which warranted
the operators in believing that United States
les al tender notes we're worth 9 fraction less
than they were ten seconds before. The
gold room Is as sensitive to news As the
"tLermo-clectric pile" to heat
There are two classes of operators in the
go1d room commission men and speculators.
Tie former buy and sell for othcra- With
them IL Is 'heads / win, tails you Loss" :"
Their commission Is certainty, and II they
can resist the temptation to do q little on
| their private account, they make money.
| The speculators mako none! Rich today,
| Door tomorrow, Is the rule with them.
Thce: who make money cannot get away.
When q man makes q million in the gold
room, it Is as though he had swallowed a
gallon Of salt xateg ut one drausht to queneh
bis thirst. he must have more. So he staJa
and loses II. If he losea more than
he has, and cannot pay his differences, he
must tako his place at tho. outer railing.
Even then he cannot drag himself away from
the plaee. The evil Eenins Of gambling ha.
possession of him. 1t holds him fast. '' Yon
"det," said my companion, t'ts younE
"man who might have gone away With twt
milliuna of dollars. He was worth It once
"Hc Is Low among the sdead.beats,' rs pool
*@as any of them. They bave aA been rich y
"thelr time" looked over to the dead
bc&t apartment and saw youth, whose cas-
| Of countcnaucc might have Inspired Teuny
son to write The Lotus Eaters. Such mill
| Mrd melancholy eyes, such An expression q
Fixed uncertainty and motionless unrest,
would BE- hard to fnd safe In the gold roor
or ut faro table. OF the " "deaa-beats" scr
orally it might be said:
m land
H. which II seemed alwAJs afternoon.
All round the coast 1he langnil air did 8wpo1
, |. D1eAlhing Ike one that hath weary dream
Applying to the gold room the rule c
| averages, It stauds TO reason that nobod
should make money in the long run. Buy
, ing and selling gold produces no wealth
, The miner In California brings gold into th
world. He adds to the stock Of uscfr
commodity. But the broker in the Eol
room adda nothing to It. Ont Of nothtnt
: nothing comes. But these men are NJ
: really buying and selling gold. Gold
= the ou1y stable thing going. 1t Is
:, tqdlDrio, OF 80 nearly thus, that Its fuctn
!, ,ions take place only through periods
. ! years. The men Of the gold room arc real
. buying and selling United States cnsrenc
:, Is ant thing to be made, in the aygEegat
ont Of this! Certainly not. Paper mouc
6 LAW 'oosne soae" nnss W., a"ss' ,.h. - .aA -. ~
l. snaao~ u suaus. .aes es..sssa n - ~, ",
It ..aue ~ .na' a .ous ~ go ..n,s,;, H. =
II 'n'ee w e.suu .s cs'ss.n. san ~ ~ :
% Paps' p.ou'.s ps.sa.s ~ sAs -haia. =. ~,
= oa 'ns "I..oAo ,.s.
f. soa.s"'as m .s.st,on s" soro.t,ms.
10 "eel'J ess,y , ~ sr.ssors,,, /,
i. "iat "n1 ,ta ,.,.s ~ ,si,sr. 49,
,ucA, "u'cu 111u.eo n"u W oe .sss as,N.
OF sne"s - ~. "neu W W 60. ,.e.I,,s,,... I XIII.
r. gone! lhe !uea u oho ~ :,
% n.tter
- Tos.y that the ro1d room Il not use
1e u,n,t, ,,e .,tar%thex wrone. It IA nat o,
r "oaW w 1A.eseene1 N1eas ~ "
H. uhel44 uNt ueeees@'J' noooAo "o~ s4s .