Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-11-10
SIX MONTHS IN WALL
STREET.
HIGHLY REMARKABLE ARTICLE IN
THE CALIFORNIAN BY JOAQUIN
MILLEB-H now HE WENT INTO
STOCKS AND WHAT
he LEARNED.

STOCKS AND WHAT
he LEARNED.
In recent letter Joaquin Mile
L gives the following history OF scenes il
Wall street, New York city:
Last Spring received letter from
d the editor Of the chef London maya
zine asking me to write him an arti
Gle to be entitled "A Week in Wal
Street"
| knew nothing Of Wall street then
/ | resolved, however, to oblige m,
= friend. ] went into Wall street a.
once, TO get the desired information
and experience,
This was six months ago. I have
just got back. | have not yet written
u line Of that article. But / have ma.
terial enough to write book bigger
than Macauley's"History of England" "
know all want to know about Wall
street. And, if you will pardon the
digression, | may add that am get.
ting baldheaded.
The first thing | did was to climb
in the gallery Of the Stock Exchange.
and look down into the den OF 1000
"bulls' and "bears' that were growl.
ing, bowling, roaring, aud believing
there. | have been in Bedlam. and /
have presided at n Democratic State
| Convention but | never saw or heard
anything like this. said to myself
This thing cannot 20 on long. This
thing must stop before night. These
men will kill themselves. This thing
will burst, explode Of its own internal
fury But | looked up and read the
legend above the President, "Foundcd
in l742," and then concluded it would
still 90 on.
Then ! went TO a broker whom |
had met at the Union Club, and told
him what wanted to learn. lie kindly
took hold Of the tape which continu
ally streams out from the ticker" as
the little wheel of fortune is called,
which constantly records the rise and
decline of stocks, and tried to Ca plaiu
all about it.
found it impossible to got interest
ed. There were about two hundred
different names OF stocks on tho list.
These were represented by one, two,
or three letters or figures, or some sort
Of abbreviated word that could not
understand or distinguish, and ] was
constantly getting confused.
Around this ticker" gathered and
grouped knot Of eager, nervous and
anxious men. Ten, fifteen, or twenty
at time would clutch at the tape as
it streamed out with its endless lines
ofquotations and mutter to themselves,
jabber ateach other, swear like pirates,
drop the tape and dash away. Others
would dart in, clutch the tape, swear
or chuckle, as their fortunes went,
wheel about, give orders to their broker
to buy or sell, as they prophesied the
future Of the market and so it went
on all day, from 10 to 3, when the battle
was ended by the fall of the hammer
in the Stock Exchange.
When tell you that there are more
than five thousand of these "tickers,"
or indicators, you can form some idea
of the magnitude OF the business. I'll
we give ten men to each "ticker," you
have the spectacle of fifty thousand
stalwart men standing there holding |
up q little dotted string, waiting, hol. |
low.eyed and anxious, on the smiles of |
tickle fortune. To this fifty thousand |
you may add two thousand brokers
You must give each broker at least
five clerks, Office boys and messengers,
which swell the list to ten thousand. To |
this sixty-two thousand you can safely |
add two hundred thousand spectators
on the outside. SO you have total
engaged in this gambling of more than
a quarter Of a million.
The stock broker is not necessarily
rich man. lie must, of course, have
seat in the board, which costs about
$4,000. But other than that he re.
quiros little more than on office and an
indicator, or "ticker." He takes the
stock which he buys for you to his
bank, and borows the money which
he pays for it, But they do not long
remain poor if they have fair pa.
tronage, for their commissions are
enormous, double their old price, and
they have no risks whatever. They
rarely deal in stocks themselves, and
they are careful to have plenty OF "mar-
gin" for their own protection.
OF the broker ! am bound to say
that ] believe him honest, and not void
of all conscience. Besides ! found
him, as q rule, wellrcad, welltravel.
ed gentleman. They chronicle fewer
commercial failures, by far, than do
the merchants of the great city off.
New York, and they rarely figure in
the Courts
But to rcturnt to the subject. Finding
little interest in this great maolstrom
Of excitement without taking part. |.
nndertho advice of my broker, boughta
little Wabash. bought Wabash because
Il was the first stock on the list which |
'ould distinguish from the mass of two ,
hundred names. And came TO re.
il because ! had been born on
It's banks, as it were. Indeed, on the
very banks of the Wabash River
have seen my father iurrow the field
or corn in the Spring, while my |
mother followed after dropping the {
'orn in the furrow while three little /
boys toddled after, myself of the num-
oer and covered the grain that Law in {
he little squares of the mellow earth. {
And so it was with touch of tender. /
ness that | bought Wabash, and be-
'ause one of the eager party holding
IN to the tape-watching, waiting the
urn of fortunes wheel. I
She did not betray me. NV stock !
began TO move upward from the first !
It was not so dull now. How inter. .
'sting it was; ! called the click of Z
he ticker the pulse and heart beat I
'f the nation. If the land was healthy /
md prosperous, the pulse beat high
md buoyant. II the land was
threatened with drought, short o
'rops, or misfortune Of any kind, the q
,ulse was low, fevcrish and dull. II 4
vas dark like poem. 1
! bad an interest in the prosperity |
a tIa ln,I