Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-04-11
BULLS AND BEARS.
sketch Of the Operators OF the New
York Stock Exchange.

| Sketch Of the Operators OF the New
| York Stock Exchange.
TURBULENT SCENE FROM THE GALLERY-'THI
DEAR PUBLC"-YoUTHFUL BROKERS AND THEI
| OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES AND FRoLIC IN TIL
| HALL-NTTIArNG A NEW MEMBER STRAY
CoUNTRYMAN on THE FLOoR-HOw THE gro
TATIONS ARE TRANSMITTED.
| From the.Brooklyn Eagle
suppose we take look at the menagerie? p
| suggested my Wall street friend.
| THE menagerie? Where is II"
Just up the street. Sometimes we call 1t
| the bear garden, or the lunatic asylum, for q
| change"
By either Of these names, 1t seems, the New
| York Stock Exchange is more Familiarity known
in the region of bulls and bears than by its
proper name. A stranger entering at time OF
| excitement In the stock market would certainly
| consider the last name the most appropriate.
At such time downright madness seems to rule
| supreme. The scene presented is one of such
clamor, confusion, furious gesticulation and
wild surging of the crowds OF brokers on the
floor that person witnessing it for the first
| time might very naturally regard the roaring.
hustling, believing throng as mass meeting of
| violent lunatcs.
Standing in the gallery provided for the pub
lie. and looking down upon the three or four
| hundred men who struggle and shout and
| scramble below, the stranger may well wonder
what all the tumult Is about and whether any
| real business can be done In the midst of such
| mad confusion. 1t seems impossible that these
l men can understand each other. They are
scattered in swaying groups over the floor of
the large chamber, and almost every man in
| each group appears to be In desperate alterca-
| A h,Yp6 rnA
shaking violently before a hundred faces: a
| hundred Threats are roaring as though their
owners were so many screaming dervishes; and
| 10 make the deafening din still greater, squads
| OF Well-grOwn boys rush hither and thither be-
tween the groups, calling brokers by name In
| the highest and shrillest key their voices can
| command. Surely no bedlam ever presented a
| more turbulent scene or one more dazng and
bewllderlng to an unaccustOmed mind than may
| be witnessed at the Stock Exchange when the
eXcitements Of a field day stir up the spirits of
| the bulls and bears.
| About ninety years ago-in 1792--this famous
institution was established. If the ruin it has
wrought. financially and morally as well as the
good it has done-the millions that have been
I lost, and the fortunes that have been made
| through Its instrumentality-the brains that
nave been turned, the hearts that have been
| crushed, and the homes that have been de-
stroyed, or made prosperous and bright since
| speculation began within its walls-if all these
could be ascertained and fttngly described,
| they would form an impressive and valuable
| study for philanthropist or economist 1t is.
| and always has been, a sort of maelstrom, in
which argosy after argosy has been engulfed
| and utterly wrecked: and yet so powerful is the
| charm Of speculation that all the costly lessons
which the Stock Exchange has taught have
| Jailed to warn inexperienced mariners from its
| dangerous straits, where Soylla surely awaits
them on one side, and Charybdis as surely On
! the other.
Strangers visiting the Stock Exchange always
express surprise at the yOuthfulness of the men
| by whom the enormous business of the place is
| transacted. Hearing so often of
| THE MONEY KINGS OF NEW YORK
and naturally picturing to themselves solid
| looking men, well on in middle life as the bulls
and bears in the great Stock Market, they are
astonished at finding merely a multitude of
| young men, most of whom have the appearance
OF clerks, and any one of whom WILL on the
| slightest provOcation, yell at an unknown yisi-
tor like Comanche or Apache savage. The
magnates of the street. who are the men we all
read about In the newspapers, are hardly ever
seen IN theEXchange, and some even are not meEl-
bers OF it. They generally remain in the back
| ground, concoct their plans in little private
offices, and issue instructions to their various
brokers as general issues orders to his subalt-
| ems on battlefield. One of these magnates
| may have half a dozen brokers employed in the
Exchange at the same time. without one Of the
| six men knowing that five others are executing
| orders from the same man that employs him
1t Is oy the secrecy OF their operations that the
| leading bulls and bears achieve particular sue
cess; and, in order that there shall be no leakage
Of information, they keep all their plans and
purposes to themselves. The whole number of
| brokers who have the privilege of trading in the
| Exchange Is about one thousand, while the
number Of operators recognized as leaders prob
| aoly does not exceed twenty-five or thirty. These
| are the captains who organize and conduct cam
paigns; the others are the rank and file who do
| the MISUNDERSTANDING and goring, OF growing
and squeezing according to their classification
| under the signs Of Taurus and Ursus
| THE ADMISSION.
| broker desiring to become member of the
Exchange Is required to undergo sort of in
| QUESTION before a committee, in order that his
qualifications may be determined. He must
also make full statement of his business
affairs and satisfy the committee that he is in
proper financial condition. If he passes the ex-
| animation successfully, he must then purchase
seat in the board. or. in other words paw for the
| privilege of membership This privilege is an
| expensive one, At the present timea seat costs
from S27 900 to $50, 900, which must be paid be-
| fore the purchaser can do any business in the
| Exchange. The value Of seats varies according
| to the demand If broker fails in business he
can neither use his seat nor sell it until his
affairs settled; the seat is held as part of his
asSets, dIlu may Ue sofa Tor the benefit of his
creditors. 'Seat." by the way, is msnomer,
for seats would only be in the way during the
daily battles on the floor.
1trequires very stringent rules to keep the
lively gentlemen Of the Exchange within any
bounds of propriety. A stockbroker though
he be thirty years old (and not many are much
beyond this age) is just as sure to be in mischief
as an rrepressible school boy, unless business
or the rules Of the board deter him. He is a
volatile and exnberant animal, who finds delight
In
FRANKS AND PECCADnLos,
| and looks upon the playing Of practical Jokes
almost as duty. Anecdotes innumerable might
be told to illustrate his pe'sckdnt for fun and
frolic When not engaged in bulling or bearing
stocks, he is pretty sure to be found indulging
in some wild sort Of capers with the boys, this
being the familiar and standard term for his as
sOciates Now and then when business is dull.
he starts q war whOop, in which he is quickly
Joined by fifty others; and presently he and the
fifty are skylarking all over the hall II the
season be the end Of summer, when the time
for discarding white hats Is supposed to have
arrived, and q member enters with one of these
objects on his head. it is sure to come TO grief
Immediately. Before he is fairly inside howl