Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-04-09
MARK LANE.
What IL to bo eeen In the Vortd's Greatest
Grain Market

u0uto Wucr0 men bp0HA uOt III our
tongue, nor believe in our creeds, nor
worship Our heroes, men are sad or joy.
full, feel themselves rich or poor, as the
telegraph brings to them the latest quo
tati0ns from Mark lane. There are
tradesmen's shops in Mark lane, wine
merchants and printers and stationers
do business there, but to the farmers
and millers and corn merchants and
masters, Mark lane represents only one
idea, and that is the trade in grain.
The history of Mark lane may soon be
told. Originally the corn dealers of
the metropolis assembled ct q place
called Bear Quay, where now the
Custom House stands. There they met
in oofee-house (the Ship, believe).
Thence they moved to the Corn Ex-
change in Mark lane, which was erect
ed in 174O. The building IL private
property, and the money was raised in
eighty 41O0 shares, each share in time
being worth as much as 900. A year
or two since an act of Parliament was
obtained, and the market is now held
by 500 owners of H2OO. Old Mark lane
consists of an open doric colonnade
within which the factors have their
stands. At this time there are about
seventy-two stands, and more than 400
subscribers of five guineas each. For
the standfa q rental is paid of from E30
to ESQ year. At one time the place
was q close borough there were more
factors than there was room for, and
when a stand was vacant it was given
to some proprietor. The excluded
were of course indignant; they planted
themselves in Mark lane; they did
business in the street outside the Ex-
change; they We'd in respectability
with the privileged, and determined
not to be left out in the cold. Accord.
ingly, they went to Parliament, and
got leave to erect q second Exchange,
side by side with the old one. This
second erection was completed in 1926.
In the partition are couple Of arches,
in order that il atany time tho exchang-
es were amalgamated, the whole may
be formed into one capacious market.
The new Exchange has a central
Grecian Doric portico, surmounted by
imperial arms and agricultural en-
blems. Now the great merchants stick
to the old market, the small buyers
patronize the new. At the further end
Of this building is seed market. At.
tached to the newExchange is an hotel,
and in an upper room of which there
are auctions of damaged cargoes. In
the old Exchange, or rather above it, ia
a subscription refreshment room, known
as Jacks, where all the -four is sold.
At 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon the
place is crammed with millers and
bakers. In these days of free trade
foreigners abound in the market, espec
tally Greeks, who all do business in thu
neighborhood of Finsbury square, and
seem to be getting all the foreign trade
of the country into their hands. 1 sup
pose they make great deal of money
these pale-faced foreigners. If you &
into their church in London Wall on {
Sunday morning you will see theil
woman-folks all dressedlike Duchesses
and as decorously devout. It is thu
Greeks, not the English, who buy u1
the corn shipped from the ports Of the
Black Sea, aud pour it into the Englsl
markets. Many seafaring men are als<
to be met with, waiting to hear if theil
cargoes are sold, and where they are t.
be landed. The destination of some O
these ships may be Leith, or Glasgow
or Liverpool, or Dublin, or Belfast. Ii
London itself there is = pretty fail
demand for breadstufts oil the yea
round, and most of it is brought Il
London by water, and if the Londonel
eats he drinks as much and it is a.
Mark lane that the malt of which hi
beer and porter is made il chiefly sold
London is also renowned for it's horse
men, and it is at Mark lane that th'
large dealer gets his oats. Monday
Wednesday, and Friday are marke'
days. It is, however, on Mondays that
Mark lane is in all it's glory, and tha'
you rub your shoulders with distin
guished representatives of the agricul
tural districts in general and OF Eas
Anglia in particular. As you enter yo1
find each factor at his stand, and befor'
him are specimens of his wares, such a
wheat, barley, malt, oats, Indian corn
oil-cake, etc. The buyer comes up
selects q few seeds, shakes them in hi
hand, puts few in his mouth, and ask
the price. If he declines he passes o,
to repeat the operation elsewhere
Mostly, few words are wasted but
observed no one whether buyer orseller
can pass q stand without helping him
self to a few grains and putting them il
his mouth, while he scatters the rest OF
the floor; the result is, that by the tim
the market is over the place is iterall,
covered with grain, and the sweeping
bring in handsome sum in the cours
or q year, which sum is dFoted to tn
Corn Exchange Benevolent Society, /
good deal of chat goes on, and peopl
dart hither and thither in and out th
crowd, as they may see friend or som
one with whom they may wish to d.
business. There is q peculiar physiol
ogy about all. the London markets. L
Mark lane you may fancy yourself il
Arcadia. It is the Suffolk drawl that i
chiefly conspicuous. Many Of the me-
are fat and red-faced;; as if thev ha'
plenty Of good air, and food, and exc,
else they always complain, of course
but they don't seem to tax
much harm. The London factors ar
of the town, towny, but they are but
drop in the bucket of humanity toilin
around. black swans, rara aves, or wha
You will. The men of Essex and Ken
have peculiar privileges. 1t is sal
that they continued to supply the cit
when it was ravaged by the plague, an
London people are grateful, and ar
rich in their manifestations of 1t.
farthing is paid by the city to the Cay
tain of every Kent or Essec barge tha
brings up -four.
J A Cuban Jurist I'm tho Cabanas Fortress
A recent telegram from Key Westa,
nounces the arrest in Havana and til
|. incarceration in the Cabanas fortress {
Senior Ramon de Armas. This gentle
, man, who is moro than 70 years Of ag'
has for very many years occupied
, very high position in the island as
. inriak his ranutation "A such being ae