The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-23

are thrown on the desk and the book
Keeper runs rapidly over them. iotting
down the numbers on q memorandum
slip. The shares are thrust into nv
hands and away I go TO the BUYERS
Office, well knowing that if [ don't get
there by the time that last textbook
IS struck off on the ticker it may cost
my employer $50. You see the posi-
bllities for quick work in such a situa-
ton, and il often happens that for
the few minutes around 2:15 D. m. the
runner becomes the most important
figure in the office, one after another
of the clerks leaving their tasks as the
seconds grow fewer and fewer to watch
the boy dash away and perhaps to Law
a small wager as to whether he Will be
on time.
You will readily see that the first
thing required of a runner is 10 be
come perfectly familiar with the street
and TO know the location of every Of
fee. With a little experience the boys
become wonderfully proficient in this
and you can't ask a wide-awake boy
the name of a single man regularly do
ing business here that he won't be able
TO answer at once, not only with the
street and building, bur also the floor
and the exact location of the office
which that man occupies. Consider.ag
that there are some 500 firms here that
means a good deal of information to
be carried about in a small boys head,
and is in itself an education in mem
CRY.
I remember a mistake which 1 made
in my early days as a runner One
thousand shares of Northwest were to
be delivered to Benedict. The stock
had not come in at o'clock, at FIVE
minutes after, at ten, and the book
vr1 ir1r 20 r.l,n h.,
bers, and 1 stood by the door waiting TO
rush away and repeating Benedict to
myself, with the number of the street
Finally, with two minutes to spare, a
GREATNESS boy ran in. flung down the
stock, and in twinkling it was in my
hands. Away I rushed at top speed
70 the number I had been repeating to
myself. / reached the Office just as the
ticker began to number off the fatal Is
seconds, and I tell you I felt proud of
myself. Now, it happened that there
were two Mr.. Benedicts in the street.
one in Nassau street. and the other in
Exchange street, and I had gone to the
wrong one. | felt like Napoleon in
retreat when ] made my way back 10
the Office. and though 1 was very kind
" told that it didn't matter, 1 knew
that it did. I tell you this merely to
show that a boy quickly absorbs the
best for his employer. Sometimes a
runner is rewarded for especially quick
work. but that is not usual. 1t is all
in his SO or IS a week and the salts
faction he finds in feeling himself a
valuable member of the office force
But running is not ali of a stock
boys work. Between 2:f5 and 3 o'clock
he VIII perhaps be busy certifying
checks All transactions between the
brokers are settled by checks, and
each broker, before he deposits the
checks in his own bank at the close of
the days business, sends them around
to the banks on which they are drawn
to be certified. Checks amounting to
thousands Of dollars are placed in the
boys hands and he must go to half
a dozen different banks with them
Frequently this demands quick work
too. for there is a long line of waiting
boys at each bank. The boys often
work an interesting labor-savfng
scheme in doing this work. No. goes
to the Fourth National bank, we'll say,
with several checks He finds his /
friend. No. 2. from neighboring Of I
fee. already in line. He don't want to /
wait, so he says to No. ,: Here, take |
my Fourth National and give me your