Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1897-09-11


Operators on the
various mnrts of exchange In the great
cities have come more and more to
rely on electricity rs nm adjunct or
trade, until today fully scventy-hvc
per cent. of the transactions OF q single
day on a representative board OF trade
or stock exchange are made by wire.
SO perfect have become telegraph'c
methods In this particular. that New
York was qucried from Chicago ;e.
Gently. and an answer returned In !h'r.
'ty seconds. The humble citizen who
has tried to telegraph his wife Mt some
near suburb that he will not be home
to dinner. and who on his arrival about
bedtime finds the police looking for
him, and IL routed out Of his c0mfOrtn.
BILE bed several hours later to receipt
for the message lie fled down town
early in the morning, will smile will,
ancrcdulity when lie rcads how diffe"'
emily they do things on Change. But
the demands Of the commercial world
and the sharp competition Of the rival
companies have resulted In q system so
perfect that impossible" feats In tho
race Of trade against time nrc perform
ed on the Board Of Trade every day.
At fair estimate 20 per cent. Of the
actual transactions on the board IRE
executed on Geographic orders. Add
to these purely 'Order" messages tho
mass Of gossip In the form Of opinions,
crop estimates and reports. ana advice
and market letters, and 1t Is easily seen
how the wires IRE kept hot. The trad.
ing on the exchange originates In three
ways: Orders are given personally by
members present on the floor; they
come over leased lines to the so.cnllcd
"private wire houses. or over public
wires from tho floors Of other CONNER.
clal exchanges In different sections Of
the country. The character Of business
done demands the greatest possible
celebrity In every stage Of Its handling.
and for this reason II Is generally ar.
ranged with the companies to have
their instruments and operators close
to tho trading pits III the various OK.
changes.
On the Chicago Board OF Trade. two
completely equipped offices. duplicates
Of each other In every respect, nre
used. Fifty-twO main line wires cen.
ter In each, and force Of one hundred
operators may he employed on them.
These lines ndiating from the ex.
change floor spread out over the cOun-
try In all directions and bring the prln.
cipal trading ccnters under the fingers
OF the telegraph company's clever
young men. Six Of the lines take care
OF the New York business, two OF the
six terminating on the floor Of the pro-
.duce exchange there, one each tapping
the Stock, Cotton and OIL exchanges,
and the remaining one working a set
OF instruments In the main Office Of the
company. Minneapolis, st. Louis. Phil
adelphia, Boston. Cincinnati, Buffalo
and few other important cities have
two wires each. and the remaining
points get along with n single one. Tho
l0Qg, narrow operating tables. cutting
the space into rows OF slender aisles,
have the instruments grouped upon
them according to the cities they
serve. and 80 contracted are the quar-
ters that the operators shoulders are
wedgcd together as they sit Mt their
keys.
This company of experts Is directly
under the chief operator and four as.
sistants. From the opening to the
close of business tho Overseers clrcu.
late among the men, watching the mes.
sage hooks to see that there Is no &c.
emulation Of business or delay In
transmission. Twenty-eIght messen.
gers attend to deliveries on the floor,
and as the operators are the flower of
the Office force, 80 the lads are espe.
,cially trained for the business and are
the brightest to be had. Their pre-
urinary education on tho floor in
wolves the acquisition Of the knowledge
OF the personnel Of every firm on the
board, and they must know personally
by name every trader operating In the
various pits. II they change from one
Arm to another the messenger must
know 1t and be careful that messages
for the old house do not fall into the
hands of the ex.employc.
The business that this force can han
die Is simply enormous. Most order
messages are shOrt-generally under
ten words. Three such messages have
been handled by single operator In n
minute In the ordinary course of bust
ness.
Eighteen hundred messages In the
four hours between 0:3O and 1880 have
been handled frequently over the two
New York Produce Exchange wires.
This Is an average of two complete
messages a minute for each Of the OPP
orators. Over the fifty duplexed lines,
therefore, II worked to their limit, two
hundred messages minute could be
handled. Accuracy Is the great thing.
A wrong figure might make differ
,ence of thousands of dollars to the
sender or receiver of the message. and
when one considers the high pressure
under which the men work, with scores
of saunders about them swapping out
and with a thousand brokers splitting
the air with trade jargOn yelps. the
percentage of error Is SO small and un
important az to be hardly worth con
sidering.
UP to year ago the orders received
lover the private wires were carried
from the private Offices to the door rep
'vesentatives Of the firms by q corps q