The times., 1899-12-24
WALL STREETS CIGAR BILLS.
brokers and Their customers Smoke
$4,000 Worth II Day.

HrOLers and Their customers Smoke
$4,000 Worth II Day.
NEW YORK, Dec. 23.-Probably $50. 600
is spent by fnanciers every business day
for cigars, and the amount may be much
larger, but careful averages seem to show
that it cannot be less than the sum men
toned
1t has been argued that the Wall Street
man and his cigar are fnseparable It
would al first blush appear TO be so. There
are few men, however, who do not puff
but they are so completely swallowed up in
the crowds that do that they are lost sight
of. The average broker who has any stand
ing at all and is fond Of the weed will
smoke five for ST." and will make two
trips day to the cigar stand. He prefers
to do this as against getting a box at q
time, as he delights in picking out care
fully, one by one. such cigars as he fancies
are bit better made or matured.
He buys cigars by the box, however, but
not for his own consumption. His Gus
toners smoke likewise. and they must be
appeased. These cigars cost from SIS 10
$l7 per hundred, and a box for such service
viii last about three days
For his own smoking the broker runs the
gamut. When he departs from his regula-
tiOn size he gets 'Liliputians" " about the
sons, costing 30 cents apiece. The big
Simpsons are generally for home consump-
tion, however, the little ones for short
smokes.
There are ] 200 members of the StocI,
Exchange, and two-thirds of them will
come under the category Of fanciers Of good
cigars. So these 500 can be put down
for 81, 500 worth of cigars consumed daily
during business hours They viii give
lFsrav- Z ,,
can safely be figured that every operator
who amounts to anything has in his employ
at least three men who smoke say, FIVE
10-cent cigars daily. This is 81 zoe the
help burns up.
There are eight other exchanges in or
near Wall Street and, roughly, 1t is con-
servatlye to estimate that 400 members of
each OF these smoke as much and as eX-
pensively as the Stock Exchange men do.
The amount, at 81 per day each. would then
be $6,400 Give these latter the same pro-
portion of smoking help and the latter 5
indulgence Will foot up 81 500 Then they
will get rid of S. worth a day in their
offices.
Curbstone brokers, numbering 1000, Will
get away with l0-ceuJ cigars to the value
of $1,000, when things are coming their
way
The presidents of national and State
banks in the neighborhoOd which number
fifty, get their cigars in bulk. s0~ledmes
putting in a months supply. The banks
invariably pay the bills. These smokes are
handed out to the men who are TO be
soothed, and get cigars instead of loans
They cost from $15 TO $17 per 1CO. Each
banker using two boxes week would
make mis- extravaganza cost him s. a day
So fifty will get rid of $3.50 worth day
1t must be borne in mind that many OF
these bankers buy their own weeds and s.
q head is a safe estimate Of their reckless
ness This yields $160. In kind come the
trust companies which within sight of old
Trinity are forty-twO in number. over in
the Subtreasury there are deyutees OF the
weed and elsewhere in the district they
are also to be found. In the custom house
for instance, the attaches buy cigars, and
good ones The private banking houses,
the big Law and corporation Offices. and in
surance and other financial enterprises EN-
ploy hundreds OF men in the towering
buildings overshadowing Wall Street
These help to pay the rents of the many
generously stocked cigar stores in the
neighborhood Their tastes are as well cul-
tivated as the men of puts and calls"