Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-03-10
Neo York Correspondence of the Hartford
Times

NeC YORK Correspondence or the Hartford
Times.
Some days ago, having occasion to
call upon several brokers in cotton and
grain in search of some explanation of
the recent uneasy fuctuation of the
market and the reports of the total ruin
Of no end of small spectators known in
the exchange as '1ambs," | was not a
little surprised at being informed of two
universally acknowledged facts First,
that about One-fftieth of the business of
the cotton exchange and the same pro-
portion OF business Of the produce ex-
change, was legitimate buying and sell
ing, the rest being speculation of the
widest kind; secondly, that such specu-
lation was comparatively unknown ten
years ago. The conservative members
of the excahnge deplore this state Of
affairs, and do not hesitate to character
ize the business as a vast gamble. worse
in its effect than gambling in stocks, be-
cause stocks affect only well TODD people,
whereas the price of cotton and wheat
affect the coat on a mans back and his
bread and butter Ii will surprise good
many persons to know that not in the
days of the widest war speculation did
the operations upon New York's ex-
change approach the present figures.
When cotton was selling at 81 80
pound in 1862, and fortunes were to be
made in ripping up old cotton mat
tresses, when army contracts for flour
and pork were flying around as thick as
leaves, business of our exchange was
sluggish compared to what it is now. In
New York at present there are seven
thousand stock brokers'. or persons call
ing themselves such, five thousand pro-
duce brokers, of whom $500 belong to
the exchange, and 1000 cotton brokers,
of whom only 366 belong to the ex-
change. Judging by the estimates of the
most careful brokers whom | have been
able to talk to about $50 out of these A.,
600 brokers are really engaged in buying
and selling actual grain, cotton or stocks
for persons who wish to export, or
weave or grind, or invest permanently.
The 13, $50 other we'll dressed gentlemen
who pass their lives with their feet up on
desks watching the stock ticker through
the smoke of half-dollar cigars, gamble
On their own or some one else's account
''Do you see that handsome man buy
ing strawberries at So quartz" said
friend of mine as we were walking past
fashionable importer of Southern and
dollhouse fruits yesterday "DO you
know how he makes living7 Well he
has done nothing for the last five years
but buy and sell fictitious lot of 100
bales Of cotton. He passes his life at it,
He buys 1t and sells it half dozen times
a day, when the fluctuations are heavy
He does not know one grade of cotton
from another; he probably never saw a
cotton field or the inside of cotton mill,
and it is doubtful whether he ever sees
any cotton even in bale; bat his calcula-
tons in life, his interests, his very being,
are wrapped up in that lot of cotton
which exists only on paper. He is
nothing but an inveterate gambler, en-.
gagged in fleeing foolish people. In
reality he is not particle better than
the faro player, upon whom the police
might pOunce-but do not. The social
difference, however, is immense; one is a
pillar of the church, a highly re.
spected member of society, who can
not find words too severe for the faro
player, while the latter is social out
cast.
"Some day, in the chance which
comes to all men once or twice, that man
will be carried out of his depth by some
run of luck, and will be tempted to ex-
tend his operations beyond the 100 bales
of fictitious cotton. He may make a
fortune in week. The chances against
his keeping it are 90 to 1. Once gambler
always a gambler He knows no other
pleasure. Since he was an office boy he
has known and heard of nothing but buy
ing and selling his 100 bales of cotton;
he knows nothing about books, art or
music, and of the theatre he knows only
the worst side. His intellectual vision
is limited to the gyrations of that 100
bales of cotton. lie is elated OF de-
pressed according to its behavior. When
it makes $40 or $50 in a day for him, he
rides home in a cab and buys some
strawberries at Sc quart"
This is not pretty picture, but it is
true one. One has only to listen to the
talk of the young men who haunt the
neighborhoOd of our exchange to find
thousands of just such men. They are
intelligent young fellows in appearance,
sprucely dressed, quick in talk, and
always have their red.leather. covered
notebook in hand. If they have got to
the supreme happiness of actually buying
and selling stocks, then they sell certifi-
Gates among themselves. A gives to B
paper which says in substance: "Good
for a bale of cotton at 1880 to-day,
February 24"-a value of $56 %, the
standard bale of cotton being supposed
to weigh $50 pounds. At 8 o'clock the
transaction is closed. If cotton at the
exchange has gone down to 10 cents a
pound, A makes So %, or half cent a
pound on 450 pounds. which B is obliged
to pay. If cotton closes at 10 cents a
pound, A loses So 25. This is simply
betting on the price of cotton at certain
hour. but a supposed dignity is given to
the operation by trading in fictitious bales
of cotton.
After all, what the brokers' boys do in
the streets is precisely what the brokers
do in a more systematic fashion. They
are betting on whether cotton or grain
will go up or down, the size of the bet