The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-30

Just after the opening hour, II
a. m, Monday, we visited the Cot,
ton Exchange, where all the deal,
ings in cotton in the United States con.
c~entrate," the bulls" and bears
in the pit" yelling and gesticulat-
ing like a band of Apache Indians,
After a half hour here, we visited
the Stock Exchange on Wall Street
and found the same scenes of turmoil.
The Cotton Exchange has several
hundred members, and the initia-
ton fee is SIC, 1000. The Stock Elk
change has HOO members and the
cost of a seat" or membership is
something over $50, 900, though as
high as $34, 900 has been paid for a
seat. On neither the Cotton Elk
change nor the Stock Exchange are
sales or purchases made by written
contract, but orally, oftentimes amid
din and excitement that would put
a mob of savages to shame. But
disputes occur very rarely and the
few are settled by the board of man
ayers or by vote of the members not
involved. a seat. once bought be-
longs to the purchaser as long as an
nual dues are kept paid. He may
transfer it to another during life, or
at death his heirs may sell it. But
the purchases and sales, involving
immense sums, being made entirely
by word of mouth, land dependent
upon personal veracity and honor,
a careful investigation is made of all
applicants for admission Some
idea of the enOrmOu business done
by the New York Stock Exchange
may be gained from the fact that
the aggregate par value of stocks
s'Iisted'' for buying and selling is
$50. 900, 900, 600. The total recorded
transactions per year aggregate
about seventy-fve million shares
with a value of about five billion
dollars. Here in one day 1,441, O0O
shares of stock have changed hands.
Those who buy, anticipating and
desiring a rise in stocks OF cotton
and expecting to sell at a higher
price, are called "bulls,' because
bulls toss up. Those who sell, ex-
pecting and desiring a fall that they
may buy back at lower figures are
bears" because bears pull down.
After leaving the Stock Exchange,
we went to the top of the Pulitzer
building, the home Of the New York
World, to get a bird's-eye view of
the city. The World building is
375% feet, or % stories, in height,
but by no means the tallest office
building in New York. The Park
Row building is four stories higher,
and it is announced that the Aetna
Company will build on Broadway
and Thirty third street the tallest
building in the world. 1t is to be
thirty stories high, and the whole
cost Will be 81, 500, 900. From the
top Of the Pulitzer building, you
find the great city with its towering
buildings, its church spires, its har-
Dor dotted with great steamers, and
its crowds of busy people, spread out
before you. From this altitude,
however, the people remind you of
nothing so much as flies. With such
a view, Tennyson might have writ
ten, as he did in In MemOriam'':
BE near me when my faith is dry.
And men the flies of latter spring,
That lay their eggs, and sting and
sing
And weave their petty cells and die. 3"
Some idea of how great newspa-
pers T run may be obtained from
this statement Of the Worlds pub
fishers:
In the Worlds main press room
there are eleven presses, or combina-
tiOns of presses, consisting of double,
quadrUple, sextupIe and octuple ma
chimes. The eleven presses are the
equivalent of IA q~uadruples, or %
doubles, or So single presses. Each
of the So single presses has a ca
pacity of u, 600 eight-page papers