New-York tribune., 1899-03-26
BROKERS ON TIE "CURB.'
A noisy AND PICTURESQUE DAILY
MEETING IN BROAD-ST.

THEY PREFER oPEN-AIR SESSIONS IN ALL SORTS
OF WEATHER TO ROOF OVER THEIR
uEADs-rHE KIND OF STOCKS DEALT IN.
The rapid multiplication Of trusts and conbi-
nations Of manufacturing industries has brought
into the financial market a large number OF Sc
cuiitios which at the present time are not dealt
i'm on the floor Of the stock Exchange The re-
suit has been a vertable boom for the curb
stone brokers' wLo congregate every day in the
middle Of Broad-st.. under the shadows of the
Mills Building and the Commercial Gable Build
irg. making noise and disturbance enough to
impress the casual passerby that small sized
riot was in progress
Here Wall street transacts its business In
outside securities" only last summer the
members of this peculiar little crowd OF out
siders could easily have been counted on the
fingers Of both hands. To-day the number has
been swelled to between one hundred and one
hundred and fifty. Their cries iii the air. and
the physical energy Of their business transac-
tions sways them from one curb to the other
sweeping everything before it. The scene has
become one Of the sights Of the financial district
To visitors from Cut OF town. and the ordinary
New-Yorker unfamiliar with the game Of
finance who finds himself 10y chance in the vi
cinity is as,ounded and Interested 10y the antics
Of this troop of speculative free lances.
Police regulations keep the curbstone brokers
I'm the middle of The street But the number of
spectators at all times Of the day is 50 large
that the sidewalks ar. in Il constant state OF
blockade. To one looking for instruction ON the
methods IF buying and selling stocks visit TO
Broad-st viii afford practical instruction and
d,
those pursued on the floors of the Stock and
other important exchanges. and there is nothing
to prevent one from minglng in the crowd and
seeing how business is done
one Of the first thoughts which come TO the
average onlooker who Witnesses the scene for
the first time is embodied in the query, why
don't they hire room and get in out Of the
wet" Put this question TO one Of the curbstone
brokers ana a. viii murmur something about
charters" and "irksome rules and regulations"
BE the weather foul or fair. the crowd convenes
regularly The Icy blasts II January and the
torIid hea. of August have no tcrrors. ShiVer-
ing W perspiring. they conduct their business
just the same. When it rains they are per
rnittcd to adjourn to the big stone stairway Of
the Mills building In ell other kinds Of
weather they must keep on ,hc outside and IN
the middle OF tho street
Tho Importance Of the outside security mar
kct has reached such "a point that all the lead
irg brokerage firms in Wall Street send each day
q representative to- this curbstonc crowd. Bus-
ness follows the hours Of the Stock Exchange.
and sales BEGIN at 10 o'clock and close shortly
after > o'clock New members are quickly alb
sorb.d and on an equal footing with the others
upon presentation Of credentials showing the re
gponsibuity Of the firm whom they are sent to
represent. /, is said hat there have been some
cases of "weIching." but these have been few
and far between