The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-01

| future nnancier generally goes ABROAD
just TO polish off his education. If he fol-
lows the ordinary tourists trail-and nine
out of ten Of them dot 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
college and rounded his course off in for
| eign travel.
On going into the stret his father acts
as his sponsor and gets him a position in
some brokers' Office If the father is in
business down there himself he seldom
takes his son into his own concern. He
recommends him to some business firm.
The boy starts in as a runner" A run
ner is not an especially dignifed position
for a young man who has just received
his degree of A. B. The first day he is
put in charge of another young man who
probably received his degree the year be-
fore. This young man explains to him the
duties which he must perform.
In the first place he must reach his Of
fee by 9 O'Clock. Then just as soon as the
exchange is opened a handful of stocks
| is given to 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 apprentice must chase
around to the brokers' offices until the
stocks are delivered and he has received
a receipt for them.
The only mental exercise which this
| task calls for is to see that the receipt
is for the same number of stocks deliv-
| cred, and this can be done readily, even
| by a young man who has received a col
| lege education.
This work keeps him busy until the ex-
| change Closes when he. receives another
handful of documents, consisting this time
| Of the orders and receipts for stocks which
| have passed through the office during the
| days business. These he takes to the Of
| fees where the trades have been made,
| and sees if they balance. If they do they
are delivered 60 the Clearing House.
These are the principal duties of the
| runner which is the first course in Wall
| street. For this he receives anywhere from
| 81 to 50 a week.
His term as runner depends in a great
| measure upon the strength of his pull If
! the broker for whom he is working thinks
| that his apprentice can bring customers
to the office in the form of incident papas
and interested uncles. the young graduate
| is raised to the position of buying and
| sales clerk within short time.
| Here his duties are a trifie more arduous
and eXacting but not sufficiently severe to
| bring on nervous prostration or brain few
| er. As purchasing and sales clerk he is
| supposed to keep a record Of the custom
ers to whom stock is sold, the name of the
| stock, its price and on whose account 1t
is delivered
Unless the pull is sufficiently vigorous he
| gets an advance of only g in his wages.
AS buying and sales clerk he also is re-
| quired to keep a record of the clearing
! house sheet.
In any number of cases on the street
the young mans pull has completely
eclipsed his ability. There have been in
stances innumerable where promising
young men have put all the stocks sold
during the day on the debit side of the
sheet and all the stocks bought on the
credit side. There was one case not a
month ago where young graduate OF
Harvard so tangled the accounts every
night that it required the services Of two
extra clerks 70 90 over his work and un-
ravel it. But he had pull. His father
was anxious for him TO succeed and sent
big orders into the house where he was
employed. The firm could not probably
disgrace their young apprentice, so they
kept him, and hired two men to undo the
work that ne did every day.
The next course, having graduated from
runner and purchasing and sales clerk.
| is that of cashier His duties are like
! those of any cashier in a big mercantile
| or banking house. But he receives q sal
| airy of about $50 a week, and in some Of
the big house he may even get 500 a week.
If he is in the street without pull
! that is about as far as he viii ever get
There are hundreds Of men grown gray and
| bald and wrinkled in the service who have
| reached the position of cashier who have
never been able to get beyond it. They
have not the money to buy a seat in the
| exchange. and unless they have wonderful
| shrewdness they can never earn it,
| There is man in j. Pierpout Morgan's
| office who is an exception to the rule He
| is not a member Of the exchange, but he
was a gentleman born, and he receives
now salary of $4,000 a year, equal to
| that Of the President Of the United States
| Al q Is IN ioll V qt1l l.
! knows every man in New York who is
| worth knowing, and he can talk sa-ely
| about the value Of every stock and bond
! that is in the market When customers
come in with desire to speculate, he adj
! vises them TO play the long or the short
| side of the market, according to his judy
ment, and nine times in ten they follow
his advice.
\ bright young clerk the other day was
asked what his duties cons .sted OF.
Il am here he said Quickly "to guess
what Mr. b. is thinking about" And
that is just what he does. AIr b. hur-
! RES in from the exchange mumbiiug
incoherently about some SOCKS which
he has been ordered TO buy or sell Be
fore he has reached the ecker the bright
young c.Crk Gals out Chicago gas an
eighth" or "Burling on &C." and in
| nearly every case Ne calls The turn. When
he misses II he is uear.y heartbrol5en and
of the day.
When the young college graduate has
served an apprenticeship Of year or
two he either IS taken in as q partner OF
the firm for which he is working, or else
his father buys him a seat in The stock
exchange, ana he is left 70 shift for MIN
sc.f
on entering the exchange he finds that
the initiation s. more severe than he has
| ever received upon entering a college club
| or Greek letter society. Some one will
come up 10 him and say. BUY me POO
shares of SO and So and before he knows
| Ii all the other members have swooped
down upon him, and ne has bought 700
| instead Of 200 shares.
Tho future Napoleon goes to work az .
O'Clock and does not get through until :
In the afternoon. n trades are brisk he
has no time for lunch AM cannot get any
| thing more than a sandwich or a glass Of
| milk until business is over. IL is hard work
physically-and mentally too-after he II
once started, but the rewards is worth the
toll, ana that is why thousands OF young
men with lQrtuncs already theirs are
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