The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-17
MjllllE Eagle
PEDDLERs OF WALL STREET.
Ways and Fashions of the People Who Sell
to Busy Brokers and Their Clerks.

Ways and Fashions of the People Who Sell
tn Busy Brokers and Their Clerks.
The peddlers of VOL street are a
curious lot. They are altogether differ
ent from ordinary peddlers and rarely
obtrude themselves upon ones atten-
ton. They are of two distinct kinds.
One caters to the cheaper clerks and
office boys, and consequently deal in
ordinary articles at ordinary prices and
make ordinary profits Of this class is
the young man who goes from one Office
to another with a satchel full of scarfs.
He carries big variety, but his price
never varies. 1t is fifty cents always
whether the material is silk or cotton
or the scarf is large or small Some
times the wealthy brokers and bankers
patronize him, too, for many of the men
who own millions are not above wear
ing fifty-cent scarfs, and few grUm bic
at paying even that price. in fact,
even some of the millionaires who have
brown-stone palaces on Fifth avenue
and castles at Newport are saving with
their personal apparel The reporter
heard a broker who is known to all the
financial men of Europe as well as to
nearly everybody in this country, and
who is reputed to be worth about ten
millions, say one day:
81 pay a swell tailor $3.50 for suit
for my coachman, but / get my own at
ready-made store and never pay more
than S25 for it
Another of the same class as the
necktie pedGlers is the man who sells
fancy fans, screens, and other cheap
ornaments for rooms He usually occu-
pies the corner in front of the sub
treasury building.
The peddlers Of the other class are
much more interesting. and have I'M
enviable patronage. Their customers
are only high salaried clerks and their
employers. The peddlers know that
these men will not buy unless some
particularly odd or fine things are
offered to them, but that cost in such
cases is no object; so they are constantly
on the lookout for handsome novelties.
Two Italians have made considers bic
money in that way. Last summer they
appeared on Broad street with some big
Chinese sun umbrellas for the garden.
They sold large number of them at
$40 apiece to brokers' and managing
clerks who were living in the country.
Lately they have dealt in curiously in
laid card and parlor tables.
The man who sells rare and beauti-
full books is also said to have made
great deal of money in the years that
he has visited the bankers and brokers
He never handles any ordinary books,
but devotes himself to the lovers of
elegant and costly bindings, handsome
illustrations, and beautiful letter press.
Books that are not usually offered at
public sale he makes a speciality of, but
these. too, are always handsomely got
ten up Wan street men do noo have
much time TO spare during business
hours, as rule, but in certain Offices
this peddler is almost always sure to
find welcome Very few of the books
he deals in can be bought for less than
five dollars a volume, and some cost
twenty times that amount Sometimes
his profits on a single sale are very
large, and occasionally he receives a
commission to buy lot of books for a
broker or banker who is too much oc-
cupied to spare the time to visit the
book stores
The peddfer who sells game at the
custom house also deserves mention.
He hangs his wares on the iron fence
that surrounds the government build
ing, and waits for customers. The other
morning he had at least five dozen birds
hanging from the iron pickets at
William street and Exchange place.
They included prairie chicken, grouse,
cartridges, quail and mallard ducks.
In the evening they were all gone, and
their purchasers were carrying them to
their suburban homes in Jersey, Long
Island, Staten Island, and the villages
along the Central, Harlem and New
Haven railroads What this man does
for living when game is not in season
aobody knows
There are a few other peddlers who
work in the streets, but they are not SO
old or well known as these. No ped
der can succeed in Wall street who
posters the men who make its daily
population. He must learn to come and
go without disturbing anybody, and
without making himself too prominent.
He must understand that when nobody
notices him nobody wishes to buy of
him and that he must, therefore, move
on as quickly and quietly as possible.
He must also have wares that arc
worthy of attention because of their
quality, beauty and novelty. If he
learns to observe all these points he
may hope to win the profitable custom
of the men who often purchase without
asking the cost-N. y. Sun.