The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-05-16


as man, and their labor does not cost over
onc-third as much,--Couatiy Gentlemen.
Mark Lane--The Worlds Greatest Grain
Il Market.
Let us go along Lombard street and plunge
into Fenchurch street-what a world OF com
mercial enterprise opens on us! Let us .eX-
pore the mysteries of Mark Lane. Not a
farmer in the land but has heard of Mark
Lane. Far away under the Atlantic and
across the continents where men speak not in
ouI tongue, nor believe in our creeds, nor
worship our heroes, men are sad or joyful,
feel themselves rich or poor, rs the telegraph
brings to them the latest quotations from
Mark Lane. There are tradesmens shops in
Mark Lane, wine merchants and printers and
stationers do business there, but to the farm
ers and millers and corn merchants and malt
sters Mark Lane only represents one idea, and
that is the trade in grain. The history of
Mark Lane may soOu be 10 d. Originally the
corn dealers Of the metropolis assembled at a
place called Bear Quay, where now the Gus
tom House stands. There they met at cof
tce-house dhe Ship, believe Thence they
moved to the Corn Exchange IN Mark Lane,
which was erected in 1749 The building is
private property, and the money was raised
in eighty e100 shares, each share in time be-
ing worth as much as $4,000. A year or two
since an act Of Parliament was obtained, and
the Market is now held by 800 owners of
5000 shares. Old Mark Lane consists of an
open Doric colonnade, within it the fac
tors have their stands. at this time there are
about Seventy-two stands, and more than 200
subscribers of five guineas each. Fol- the
stands rental is paid of from $50 to EGO a
year. At one time the place was n close Dor
ough; there were more factors than there was
| ~ N nd NIID a ctn
was given to some proprietor. The excluded
were of course indignant; they planted them
selves in Mark Lane they did business in
the street outside of the Exchange; they We'd
in responsibility with the privileged, and de-
termined not to be left out in the cold. Ac-
cordngly, they went to Parliament and got
leave to erect a second Exchange, side by SIDE
with the old'one The second erection was
completed in 1926 In the partition are a
couple OF arches, in order that if at any time
the exchanges were amalgamated the whole
may be formed into one capacious market.
The new Exchange has central Grecian
Doric portico, surrouned by imperial arms and
agricultural emblems. Now the great mer-
chants stick to the old market, the small buy
ers patronize the new. AT the further end of
this building is a seed market. Attached to
the new Exchange is Il hotel in an upper
room OF which there are auctions of damaged
cargoes In the old Exchange, or rather
above il, is subscription retreshment room,
known rs Jacks, where all the floor is sold.
At four O'Clock on Monday afternoon the
place is crammed with millers and bakers.
In these days of free trade foreigners abound
in the market, especially Greeks, who all do
business together in the neighbOrhOod of
Flnsbury square, and seem to be getting all
the foreign trade Of the country INTO their
hands | suppose they make u great deal OF
money, these palc-iaced foreigners. If you
go INTO their church in London Wall on Sun
day morning you will see their women Iolks
all dressed like Duchcsses, and as decOrOusly
and gcnteclly devout 1t is the Greeks, not
the English, who buy up the corn shipped
from the ports of the Black Sea and pour it
into the English markets. Many seafaring
men are to be met with waiting to hear if
their cargoes are sold and where they are to
be landed. The destination of some of these
ships may be Leith or Glasgow, or LIVERPOOL,
or Dublin, or Belfast. In London itself there
| Is pretty fair demand for breadstutfs all the
year round, and most of it is brought to Lon
don by water; and if the Londoner eats he
drinks as much; and it is at Mark Lane that
the malt of which his beer and portor is made
is chiefly sold. London is also removed for
It's horsemen, and it is at Mark Lane that the
|
nesday and Friday are market days. 1t is,
however, on Mondays that Mark Lane is in
all its glory, and that you rub shoulders with
distinguished representatives Of the agricu.
tural districts in general and of East Anglia
in particular. AS you enter you find each
factor at his stand, and before him are speci-
mems of his wares such as wheat, malt, bar
ley, oats, Indian corn, oil-cakc, etc. The
buyer GENES up, selects u few seeds, shakes
them in his hand, puts a few in his mouth,
and asks the price If he declines he passes
on to repeat the operation elsewhere. Most
ly, few words are wasted but | observed no
one. whether buyer or seller, can pass stand
without helping himself to a few grains and
putting them in his mouth, while he scattcrs
the rest on the floor; the result is, that by the
time the market is over the place is literally
covered with grain, and the sweepings bring
in very handsome sum in the course of II
year, which sum is devoted to the Corn Ex-
change Benevolent Society. A good deal of
chat goes on, and people dart hither and
thither, in and out the crowd, as they may see
friend or some one with whom they may
wish TO do business. There is a peculiar
physiology about all the London markets
In Mark Lane you may fancy yourself al
most in Arcadia. 1t is the Suffolk drawl that
is chiefly conspicuous. Many of the men are
fat and red.taccd, as II they had plenty OF
good air and food and exercise; they always
complain, of course, but nevertheless they
don't seem to take much harm. The London
factors are Of the town towny, but they are
but drop in the bucket OF humanity toiling
around black swans, rara ayes, or what you
will The men of Essex and Kent have pc
) culiar privileges. 1t is said they continued
to supply the city when 1t was ravaged by
the plague, and London people are grateful,
| and are rich in their manifestations of it, A
iarthting is paid by the city to the Captain of
) every Kent or Essex barge that brings up
fOur.-LoRdoR city Press
AMMONIA FOR WuOOPISG.C oUGH-A writ
or in the Nedicdl J0yWdl, London, states that
, in case of whooping. cough in the last stage
! that is, after the third week-he has had one
ounce of the strongest liquid ammonia put
into gallon of water in an open pan, and the
steam kept up by means OF hall brick made
red-hOt throughout, and put into the boiling
/, water containing the ammonia, the pan being