Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-05


by the telegraph Offices and large force
of messenger boys dressed In blue mil
forms. There are iron standards in diff
ferent parts of the hall and on the top of
each one IS sign bearing the name of
certain stock, such as 'sLake Shore. -
"Delaware and Lac. - ssLou, and
Nashville, - and SO on. These are alb
breviated names of certain important
stocks, and the brokers who deal largely
in any one of them, may usually be
found near their respective standards.
A man talks about owning a seat in
the stock exchange. but, strictly
speaking there are but few seats to rest
on. All the business is done by the
members while standing at these stand
ards. Years ago there was seat for
each member, but now the term ga seat
in the stock exchange really means
the privilege of going into this room for
the purpose of transaoting business with
the other members. The limited mem
bership of 100 is now full, and it is only
possible to get seat by purchasing from
retiring member or from the heirs of a
deceased member. l remember, in the
early days of the exchange, when GER
tain spectators offered 500 a week for
the privilege of listening at the keyhoIe
of the door during the busy hours of the
day.
A few facts about the New York stock
exchange will give you some idea what
an important institution it is. The
building itself cost nearly 81, 900, 900 and
the amount annually expended by the
committee of arrangements for its preser-
walton and for the salaries OF the differ
ent individuals employed therein ranges
from Sl00, 200 TO $3.50 900. The "tick-
er, which prints the quotations of the
stocks on endless strips of paper, is a
wonderful invention. Its owners for
merry paid SIS ZOO yearly to the stock
exchange for the privilege of giving in-
formation about transactions in the mar
ket. Then there is telegram company
which has the same privileges.
Under the building are vaults, which
are among the strongest in the world.
They contain 1882 safes for securities.
Persons who are not connected with the
exchange hire about 400 of them. The
ventilsting apparatus connected with the
building is very effective piece of ma
chinery, and not only supplies pure air
but perfumes it at the same time; it cost
$50, 900 There are about $50 paid en-
ployes, including the officials of the ex-
change, and their salaries range from
5000 upward. There are about fifty
special messenger boys, called gray
backs, from the color of the clothing
they wear. There are ten policemen
under sergeant constantly on duty,
and in time of special excitement an
extra force of officers is on hand.
OF course 1t often happens during the
day that persons will call at the door of
the exchange and ask to see some mem
Der who is on the floor. Now 1t would
be impossible for man TO call out his
name loud enough for him TO hear it,
for men are screaming back and forth at
one another and The din is terrible. 1t
would take a great deal of time, too, for
a messenger to find the man in the great
crowd of brokers who are rapidly shift
ing about IN all parts of the hall. In
one corner of the room there are a GER
tain number of little knobs or buttons
with a figure on each. These are an
nunciators, and resemble those you will
see in the bedrooms of large hotels or
handsome houses. When a member is
wanted messenger from the outside
whistles through tube to boy behind
the snnunciator: ''Put up 318.' That
means that the broker known by that
number Is wanted by someone outside.
BY pulling the knob bearing that num-
Der it instantly pops up into sight in
front of a gallery at one end of the room.
The brokers glance in this direction from
time to time and are thus enabled to see
whether they are wanted outside the
hall.
But this institution, rich and import
tant as it is at present, like many large
enterprises, had very humble begin
ming. About a score of brokers started
the first exchange in New York in 1892,
in Wall street, not far from the East
river, holding their first meeting under
buttonwood tree which stood there at the
time. Up to that time the merchants
and business men were in the habit of
meeting one another at coffee-house on
the corner of Wall and Water streets.
This first exchange, of course. did gen.
eral business; there were not enough
stocks and securities in those days to
give business for stock exchange pure
and simple. In 1917 stock exchange
board was organized similar to one that
had already been started in Philadelphia.
This board was close corporation, and
did not allow its proceedings to be pub
lished. One board of brokers-called
the open board-was started in base
gloomy resort that it was commonly
called "the Coal Hole. -
do not suppose there is any business
or calling which has such fund of Curl
GUS words to express quickly the various
in which they are engaged
as the stock-broker. There are enough
of such words to make small sized die
tionary 1 must give you some of them,
with their meanings. a man Hbnl-
Ioons'' the market when he forces up a
stock far beyond its intrinsic worth.
Boom" is a recently populsrized term
for a rapid advance in the price of the
stock or in the market generally. accom-
panied with disposition to expect and
predict q large rise. There is a "break'
in the market when there is a sudden de- |
cline IN prices. The market is "bull- |
ish'' when stocks are buoyant and ris-
ing, and Dearish'' when the stocks are
falling. A "ourbstone broker" is a
man who is not a member of |
any regular organization-who does |
business principally on the side |
walks; he is said to carry his "offlce |
in his hat A man takes "fyer''
when he invests small portion of his |
capital in some enterprise not in the line |
of mis- ordinary operations. The terms