Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-08-01


their employers expect them to be well
informed.
MOSTLY COLLEGE GRADS.
When it comes to a question of buying
or selling a block of stock they are no
more thought of or consulted than the
office boy or the youngster who comes in
every afternoon 10 regulate the tape. And
a great many of these young men who are
now scampering up and down the tinan-
cial artery of the big city like so many
gorgeously arrayed microbes are heirs TO
fortunes so vast that with them they
could buy and sell and bury their masters.
Every year the graduating class from the
big American universities send their usu-
al instalment of youths into Wall street.
From purely monetary point Of view they
are the flower and pick Of the land. The
college graduates who have 10 fight their
own battles in life without backing as a
rule do not go into Wall street The game,
with no pull" to aid them. it too swift
and too hopeless. The proud but penni-
less young grad. goes into law or medi-
cine or newspaper work. would starve
to death in Wall street unless he was a
w
mysteries of the great game of chance are
left for the young men who can afford to
learn il.
So far as their university education fits
them for Wall street apprenticeship, they
might just as well have omitted it. Mel
Their calculus nor classics nor Evidences
of Christianity form any valuable stock
in trade down there. 1t is a Pull
great big pull. spelled with a capital P
that counts. Without 1t all the energy and
faithfulness and loyalty which a young
man could give would avail him little. He
might in time become confidential man or
COLLIER for some big house. but his name
never would figure in any Of the so-called
gigantic deals" and he never would be
feared in the street.
THEIR APPRENTICESHIP.
Before plunging into Wall street the
future fnancier generally goes abroad just
to polish off his education. II he follows
the ordinary tourists trail-and nine out
of ten Of them do it will do him no more
good than his college education has. He
returns in the fall and begins work just
where he would had he not been to col
lege and rounded off his course in foreign
travel.
on going into the Street his father acts
as his sponsor and gets him a position in
some brokers' Office. II the father IS in
business down there himself he seldom
takes his son into his own concern. He
recommends him 10 some business firm.
The boy starts in as a runner run
ner is not an especially dIgnifed position
for young man who has just received his
degree Of a. B. The first day he Is prob
ably put in charge of another young man
who received his degree the year before.
This young man explains 10 him the du-
ties which he must perform.
In the first place he must reach his Office
by nine o'clock. Then just as soon as the
Exchange is opened a handful Of stocks
Is given 10 him. These have been sold the
day before on the floor OF the Stock Ex-
change and must be delivered. There may
have been twenty-five or fifty customers.
and the young man must chase around TO
the brokers Offices until the stocks are de-
livered and he has received a receipt for
them.
NO MENTAL EXERTION.
The only mental exercise which this
task calls for is to see that the receipt is
for the same number OF stocks delivered.
end this can be dones readily even by a
young man who has received d college ed
ucation.
This work keeps him busy until the Ex-
change closes. when he receives another
handful Of documents. consisting this time
Of orders and receipts for stocks which
have passed through the Office during the
days business. These ne takes 10 the Of
fees where the trades have been made.
and sees II they balance. II they do. they
are delivered to the clearing house
These are the principal duties OF the
runner" which is the first course in
Wall street. For this ne receives any
where from s. 10 50 per week.
His term as runner depends in great
measure upon the strength Of his pull. II
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