Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1897-09-22

S>~/--~ WI uelu OF BUSINESS
Operators on the
various marts of exchange In the great
cities have come more and more 10
rely on electricity as an adjunct oil
trade, until to-day fully seyenty-hye
per cent. of the transactions OF single
day on representative board OF trace
or stock exchange are made by wire
So perfect have become telegraphIc
methods In this particular, that New
York was queried from Chicago ;e-
Gently. and an answer returned In mir
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 fol
him, and Is routed out of his comforta
bic bed several hours later to receipt
for the message he filed down town
early In the morning, will smile will
incredulity when he reads how differ
emily they do things on Change. But
the demands of the commercial world
and the sharp competition of the rival
companies have resulted in system sc
perfect that impossible feats In the
race of trade against time are perform
ed on the Board of Trade every day.
At fair estimate 20 per cent. of the
actual transactions on the board are
executed on telegraphic orders. Add
to these purely "order" messages the
mass of gossip in the form of opinions
crop estimates and reports, and advice
and market letters, and 1t Is easily seen
how the wires are 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-called
private wire" houses, or over public
wires from the floors of other CONNER.
cial 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 1t is generally ar
ranged with the companies to have
their instruments and operators close
to the trading pits in the various ex.
changes.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, two
completely equipped offices, duplicates
of each other in every respect, are
used. Fifty-two main line wires cen
ter In each, and force of one hundred
operators may be employed on them
These lines radiating from the ex-
change floor spread out over the coun-
try in all directions and bring the prin-
cipal trading centers 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 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 single one. The
long, narrow operating tables. cutting
the space into rows of slender aisles,
have the instruments grouped upon
them according to the cities they
serve, and so contracted are the quar-
tiers that the operators shoulders are
wedged together as they sit at their
keys.
This company of experts is directly
under the chief operator and four as
sistants. From the opening to the
close of business the overseers circu-
late among the men, watching the mes
sage hooks to see that there Is no ac-
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. so the lads are espe-
cially trained for the business and are
the brightest to be had. Their pre-
liminary education on the 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. If they change from one
firm to another the messenger must
know it and be careful that MESA ges
for the old house do not fall into the
hands of the ex-employe.
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 Il
minute in the ordinary course of bust
ness.
Eighteen hundred messages in the
four hours between $50 and / 30 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 op-
orators. Over the fifty duplexed lines,
therefore, If worked to their limit, two