The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-08-15
TIE BULLS AND BEARS,

THE BULLS AND BEARS.
Observations from the Gallery of the New
York Stock EnchanCe-Ypu Lady vi
7tors Irquiring for Vanderbilt and Gould
a Busy Time.
The ffutter of pink ribbons and a
balmy odor OF roses caused the waiting
nnessenger-boys in the Wall street en-.
trance to the Stock Exchange to hush
their noisy chatter for a moment. A
dozen pairs OF eyes cast admirine
chances upon busting party of young
people WHO were about to climb the
long iron stairway. The party included
three vivacious young ladies and two
sedate young men. The ladies wore
bright spring costumes Of blue, and
pink, and olive, the charming effects of
which were heightened by profuse floral
adornments.
'-Oh, my, what a queer placer
t.lsn't it splendidp"
Goodness, just hear the racketr'
Such were the calculations that
escaped from feminine lips in quick
succession. One of the gentlemen led
the way to the visitors galleries with
the air of person who had a proprie-
tory interest in the building. He was a
a jaUnty little man. with brisk, know
ing air. A bunch of pansies nestled in
the top button-hole of his cutaway coat.
The vigilant doorkeeper recognized in
him member of the Exchange to
whom fortune had been kind. The
squeeze in Lackawanna stock week
ago Is said to have put cool $780, 900
into the pocket of this jaunty little
man.
A noise like the moaning of a gale
saiuted the ears of the visitors when
they reached the top of the stairway.
1t grew louder as they advanced
through glass-fioored vestibule
toward long, narrow corridor. A
partly-open door at the left of the yesti-
bnle revealed to the curious gaze of the
ladies large, square room. with a high
pulpit desk on one side, with two hun.
dred or three hundred seats arranged
in amphitheater fashion. Ten or
twelve men were grouped around the
high desk sIhis is the bond ROOM"
the young broker explained. "All
Transactions in bonds are carried on
there, and the meetings of the govern
ing committee are also held in that
Soom.'
The young ladies were impatient to
Ind out from whence came the nose.
Their iaunty chaperon led them the
entire length of the narrow corridor.
and, pushing open swinging leather
door, ushered the party into a small
gallery at the south end of the building.
1t was two o'clock p. M. and the place
was comfortably filed. The broker ell
bowed the strangers right and left. and
placed his friends close up against the
front of the gallery, where they could
command an unobstlucted view of the
great trading-room. The roar of
voices from below was inceSsant and
'deafening. The market happened to
be fairly active, and there We're per
haps three hundred and fifty brokers on
the floor of the Exchange They were
divided up into groups OF ten, twenty
and thirty persons each, and to the puz-
2ied spectators each group seemed to
be striving to make more noise than its
nelghbor. Most of the men on the floor
were young-some mere bows in appear
ance. Here and there perhaps a gray
beard might be seen, but nine-tenths of
the active brokers were apparently I'M
der forty years of age. A lew were
bare-headed, and those who wore hats
had them tilted back on their heads as
slough they were in the way. The
more eXcitable men had also pushed
their coat sleeves up above their ell
bows, and, as they waved their arms
above the heads of their fellow rokers,
the rafting of their cuf-buitons could
almost be heard in the galleries.
1t was a curious and perpIexing sight
AS changeable as the shifting views of
a Kaleidoscope, and as amusing at times
as mlschievous boys ct play. An eager,
1ostling crowd, drawn together in the
street by some trivial accident, will in
yariably form a picture of more or less
Interest Here in the Stock EXCHANGE a
dozen such crowds are in view at once.
Like eddies in the water, they start I'M
from slight disturbances, expand in un-
dulatlng circles. and then gradually
break away into mild ripples here and
there. At no time during business
hours does the noisy activity cease.
Through the length and breadth of the
great blue-domed hall men hurry
and scramble. rudely pushing and shout
ing in their eagerneSss to Bargain. or
1ostling one another in playful sport.
Here at one end of the room dozen
brokers swarm like bees around tall
man with flushed face and up-Iifted
arms. de seems to be bristlinp with
indignation, and his voice is heard in
ferse, piercing EXPLANATIONS. The men
about him press closer and return his
shouts with cries equally shrill. He
shakes clenched hand at them. and
immediately dozen arms are stretched
coward him with vicious energy. He
increases the violence of his gesticula-
lions and seemingly hurls defiance at
the excited crowd. Then there is an
Smpetuous rush, many voices mingle in
a prolonged yell, and in a twinklino
the crowd has dissolved, and two ur
three brokers are quietly jotting down
memoranda in their little books. A
few feet away two men meet and ex-
change mild salutations. A third man
comes up and drops remark that falls