The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-25
PRIVATE WIRES.
A REVOLUTION BROUGHT ABOUT IN
METHOcc or SPECULATION.

Telegraph Wires by the Broken OF
WALL street.How some big Deals are
Made-They are Expensive.
Nothing in Wall street shows a moro mar
vicious growth in a short time than the use OF
private telegraph wires Only a few years
AGO a man would have been thought q crank
j.. lie had suggested the possibility Of q stock
broker enjoying the expensive privilege OF
having a Geographic service I 800 miles long
for his own exclusive use. Now there arc
fifty houses in the stock and produce ex-
t.laEges which have leased lines The West
..-l Union company alone has 100, 600 miles
Of wires leased for private use, and the Boil
tirslore and Ohio, the Postal and other COM
panies have about $1,000 miles more. The
private wire has revolutionized the methods
Of speculation anil stock gambling In five
years time, and has about completely super
aeled the old ways Of business"
The speaker was a smart telegraph operator
in a brokers Office business was over for
the day, and he stool in converse with q re-
porter among a crowd Of Well street men ut
popular resort not far from the stock cx-
change. The artist behind the bar had COM
pleted an exceedingly satisfactory creation in
the way of silver fizz, and the operator DIAL
lied with it he continued: "Expensiyel
Yes: the rent of a special wire between New
York and Chicago is f.o.n Sa5, 900 to eD,OOO
year, and there at least twenty OF them
in use. All the big stock and grain houses
have them, because what one does the others
must do to keep up with the procession. The
speculation in grain on the Chicago board has
grown rapidly and enormously In this city
that New York now almost controls the bust
ness in Chicago. Instantaneous and constant
communication between the two cities Is q
necessity for this gamble. ~
"rhen there are scores Of wires to Boston,
Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Al
bany, and in summer to Newport, Saratoga,
Long Branch and other watering places. OF
course, the rental Of these shorter lines Is not
80 high as the Chicago circuits, but none Of
them costs less than 81, 900 year each. Tho
average price is $50 per mile year.
PRIVATE WIRES INNUMERABLE
las to the private wires in the city con-
Meeting Wall street with the up town and
Brooklyn branch Offices Of stock exchange
firms and produce exchange brokers, they
are innnmerable. One big house alone has
eighteen branch Offices in New York, Chica-
90, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere, all
connected by private wires. Sometimes on the
more expensive wires, like Chicago, the cost
is divided between two firms, one in New
York and the other in Chicago. Then, again,
some lines 'quadded or quadruplexed.
This splits the wire, enables two distinct
circuits to be worked over at the same time.
In this way four parties-two ut each end Of
the line-may the same wire without in
reference. The com; anies keep the leased
lines in repair, but the brokers hire their own
operators.
The private wires have been the salvation
Of Wall street speculation. Brokers complain
of duh times now, but some Of them couldn't
iIik. enough to Jay for a walk home il it
wasn't for the new business which the pri-
waite wires have brought into the street.
Practically, all the principal cities in the
country have been put into instant communi-
cation with the stock exchange. A man may
sit in AN office in Chicago, 1000 miles away,
watching the ticker reporting New York
stock exchange quotations, and he may order
the purchase or sale Of stock in Wall street,
and have it executed five minutes later He
couldn't do it quicker il he was in New York
the floor of the board room. By far the
greater portion of the transactions in the
stock exchange now are on out Of town orders
by telegraph The biggest operators in the
country never come into Wall street, and
of them rarely come to New York
during their deals. All their opera
tions are conducted by wire from
distance with the same care As though
they were in the exchange in per-
son. Some Of the biggest deals on record
have been carried out altogether over the
private wire. Fortunes are made and lost
every day by the tick Of the telegraph key,
and the. man 900 miles away can, and does,
speculate in Wall street with same opportu-
nitie-s enjoyed by the operator who hangs
over the tape watches the blackboard in a
Broad street office, within sound Of the
tumnlt of the board room."-New York
Herald