The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-12-25
WocL AUCTIONS IN LONDON.


4 WOOL AUCTIONS IN LONDON.
One OF the Most Curiou, Things to BE
Seen In the Largest City in the World.
There is no more curious sight in the
city than one of the wool auctions
which are now being held every after
noon in the Wool Exchange, Coleman
street Imagine large and lofty room,
l.capahie of holding about five hundred
/ people. Benches, in the form of q
semi-circle, rise tier above tier, so that
all the sitters are plainly visible from
the tribune, or rostrnm-an elevated
desk at the bottom of the room. Every
seat is numbered, and the highest num-
ocr is 1913. A narrow gallery provides
! accommodation for the spectators. At
$3.50 o'clock nearly every seat is occu-
pied. the demand for them exceeding
the supply, and as the clock strikes the
hour the auctioneer, or selling broker,
takes his place in the tribune He is a
cool, self-possessed, good-looking man,
with keen eye. rosy cheeks, and hair
parted in the middle. On either side of
him sits clerk-one bald ard dark,
the other hirsute and blonde. No time
is lost in preliminaries; an eloquent
wool auctioneer would be an intoler..
| able nuisance. and this one is as.aparine
of words as telegram from China.
Every buyer before him is the busiest of
men, and he has to sell 100000 worth
of wool before six O'Clock. "Lot 213,
ten bales" he says. Simple words, but
the signal for very tempest of excite
ment. From every part of the
room come, as it were, scattered shots
in quick uccession-''Eight, half, nine,
ten, ten-half." Then up spring a
dozen. or it may be score, of eager,
earnest men, who shout passion
ately at the top of their voice.. and al
most in chorus: Ten half, ten-half, ten
half" until it seems rs if the roof would
split Some stretch their arms toward
the tribune, as if they were th, eateniny
a foe; others work them to and fro, as
if they were engaged in mortal combat;
others, again, raise them upward, as if
they were appealing to Heaven. They
yell still more loudly, gesticulate still
more wildly, some in their excitement
bending forward until they nearly top
pie over on the seats below. 1t is a
bear garden, Babel, q scent of indie
scribable confusion, and to the uniniti-
ated spectator it seems rs if the frantic
bidders were about to spring from their
places and punch each others heads.
But the aucLioneer speaks enc word,
and the storm is lulled; every voice is
hushed, every man resumes his seat.
That word is "Tomkins." One lot has
been knocked down to Tomkins. With
out drawing breath the selling broker
goes on to the next lot, and then there
is another startling roar, followed by en-
equally sudden collapse. The faces of
some Of the bidders are study. One
gentleman, with bald head surrounded
by fringe of black hair. and features
unmistskably French. gets 50 excited
that you fear he may break a blood
vessel or have fit of apoplexy His
wide nostr;ls culver, his swarthy
face becomes dark, he fights the air
with his arms and hurls bids at the
auctioneer, as if he would annihiTate
him. Near the GauI is fair Teuton,
stalwart and TALL shouting offers as
if he were crying .'Vorwartsr' in the
smoke of battle, and glaring at his COM
petitors as if he would like to charge
down Oh them as the, UhIans charged
down upon the French at Gravelotte
and Sedan. Not far from the foreign
ers sits gentleman whose cast Of
features and style of dress leaves little
doubt that he is a manufactured wool,
or staplsr, and halls from a northern
coun ~ To make his bid more effect
i've he puts his hand to the side of his
mouth and gesticulates with the other;
but he needs no artificial aid, for he has
n voice Of thunder and shouts like q
Boanergcs. But why all this noise?
Why can not wool auctioneer' knock
down his wares to the higest bidder,
All the firms represented ut the auc-
ton know to a fraction the value of
every parcel they wish to acquire. and
five, or ten, or a score, as the case may
be-, are willing buyers of a certain lot
at, let us say, shilling pound
more than they can afford to, give. The
rule is, when there are several bidders
at the same price-and there are gen.
orally several bidders-to prefer theone
who bids the first, which is practically
the one who first succeeds in attracting
the aI,etioneer's attention. In such a
contest the fecble-voiced have no
chance to come out of it victorious.
When the selling broker names the
buyer who has caught his ear all the
rest sabside Ike would-be orators in the
House of Commons who fail to catch
the Speakers eye. The confidence in
the Speakers impartially seems to be
absolute; he never loses his seif-posses-
sion- and time is too precious to be
wasted in wrangling.-LOndon SpectG-
tor.