Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1868-09-25

are wanted in every county and town t.
canvass for it. -. il = 81, .a.a.3r-
The following chapter from advanced
sheets of the forthcoming work will Civ,
some inca of its character:
CHAMBER OF THE BOARD OF BROKERS. !.
This controlling institution is entered
from Wall street and Broad. It is mar
BILE building, Of great elegance. Th'
Gold Room, where the daily sales tax,
place, is one of the most brilliant room,
in the city. The vaults are models of Sc
curity. They have in them two hundred
and fifty safes, each secured by indepen
dent locks, which have in them millior
combinations. No two locks are alike. -
Each member of the Board of Brokers ha.
a safe assigned to him. In these vaults
repose the treasures of the millionaires O
New York. The board was organized in
1874. At one time the entrance fee was
fifty dollars. It is now three thousand
dollars. A candidate is put on probation
for ten days. His financial honor must
be without stain. Application must be
made through some well-known member
and the fact is made public. If no objec-
ton is made, ballot is had: Fourteen
black balls defeat an election. The ini-
tiation fee is put high, that none but men
of capital and honor may be admitted
The rules are extremely stringent. A
violation is followed by summary election.
Every contract is made on honor, and
must be kept to the letter, or the party is
expelled. whoever he may be. For 10
stance, hundred shares of Erie are sold
at the board by one broker to another
The seller delivers the stock, and takes
in payment the check of the buyer. The
buyer cannot pay till he has delivered the
stock to the customer who ordered it,
But the check will be made good before
three o'clock. Millions of stock pass dali
| ly from one hand to another in this way.
During all the years of the existence of
the board but one member has been found
guilty Of fraud. Some of the sharp bold
operators, who bull and bear the market,
cannot get into the board at any price,
They would give ten thousand dollars to
become members. Their financial repu-
tation is bad, and they cannot enter.
These mem operate through members of
the board. 1as 14 =
AN INSIDE yIEX--------------zz
On small
ante-room, where their tickets are exam
ined. They are then admitted into Gold
Room. It is as elegant as wealth and
taste can make it. The stuffed arm
chairs are inlaid with gold. The walls
are covered with green. silks Tapped in
heavy folds, instead of paper. The cell
ing is deliberately painted, chandeliers
hang around. The presidents seat is
magnificent. The president has no sala-
ry. His position is one Of honor. The
work of the board is done by the first
vice-president, who from ten to one calls
the stocks and declares the sales. :. For
this monotonous service he has salary of
seven thousand FIVE hundred dollars
year. The second vice-president presides
over the second board and has three thou
sand dollars a year for his work. A re-.
gular stock list is made out. No stock
can be sold at the board that is not on the
list. Guarantees are required from all
parties who offer stock and none can be
put on the daily list without the vote of
the board. At BIZ h change, Che room,
that will hold a thousand. is packed. J In
front of the presidents desk is deep ba-
sin, called the cock pit. In this basin is
an oblong table. fastened to the floor by
iron clamps. Without this, the excited
crowd who huddle together in, the cock
pit would trample each other to death.
Daily some stock excites the market
It's unexpected rise or fall produces ia
tense feeling. The lists of stocks are u.s.
ually quietly sold without attention. The
exciting stocks are well known. and when
called, arouse the whole chamber. Chairs
are abandoned, men rush pell-meH into
the cockpit, and crowd, justle, push and
trample on one another. They scream
out their offers to buy and sell? They
speak all at once. yelling and screaming
like hyenas. The scene is very exciting.
Pandemonium is not wilder, Or more dis
oAuoiAy. no PieoAoAuS oASSt oPsoAs .>Ac
erect cool and silent. Several hundred
men surge before him, stamping, yelling,
screaming, jumping. sweating. gesticu-
lating, violently shaking their fists in each
others faces, talking in tongue not spo-
ken at Pentecost.L The president holds
in his hand mallet of ivory, and before
him is block of wood encased in brass.
On this he strikes with his mallet, to con-
troll the intense excitement. Without it
he would pound his desk to pieces in
short time. So many minutes are allow
ed for the sale of stock. In the midst of
this mad frenzy and apparent disorder,
every word of which is understood by the
initiated, the mallet comes down with ?.
shower of, vigorous blows ''Order! or
der" runs through the chamber. The
noise and tempest is hushed in moment.
''No more offers to-day, gentlemen p the
officer says, as the name Of the buyer is
announced. If the sale is contested the
president names the buyer. If an appeal
is taken from his decision, it is settled on
the spot by vote of the board. A hum
dred thousand dollars often hangs on that
decision. The party against whom it is
J. Al L. IL