The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-05-05
BROKERS GETTING RICH,
They Haven't Time TO Give Attention
to All Of the Orders.
MANY OF THEM HAVE BEEN WORN OUT
BY the Strain on Them During the Rec
ord Breaking Career Of the
III Stock Market.
fspecIal Correspondcnce Of The Pos. !

Especial Correspondence OF The Post)
New York. May The present record
breaking career of the stock market Is
something really wonderful. The business
done has never been equaled. ana yet many
orders have been turned down by brokers
because OF the lack of time to give atten-
ton to them.
Old commission houses have been beg
gng the specialists to take their orders
and many times they have been turned
away. Disputes and Observation-Disclosures
have been numerous, and the tanGle will
not be Strengthened out for some time
Many specialists not only refuse To accept
stop orders, but they also refuse to accept
orders except from their regular customers
Other specialists have had to quit. ms the
strain was too great This has been espe
cially true Of the old men The vigorous
youngsters have had to fight their way in
the big crowds. like those Of United states
Steel and Union Pacific. and the old men
could not compete with them
The, average outsider believes that the
broker has a very easy time Of II and that
all he has to do is to take n shovel and pile
mp fortune. Nothing is farther from the
truth. Take. for instance, a commission
broker, who executes orders for other firms
are making from $500 to $1,000 a day, Int
when they take such orders they assume
responsibility for the proper execution Of
them. For example broker Yesterday
received an order to buy 5000 Union Pa
clfc at the market He read the order
''sell" instead of buy" After he execut-
ed 1t and notified the sender OF the order
the error was ascertained, and the broker
had 10 buy back the 5000 shares and 5000
more to make good the mistake. Last night
he was figuring that be had lost $4,000
on the TRANSACTION, simply because In the
excitement he read sell instead Of buy
Today IL was announced that three or
four more specialists had quit. The strain
and dread Of coStly errors were responsible
for their action. Mistakes are matters OF
hourly occurrence, aud 500 ones are com.
monplace. a broker Is responsible for his
mistake, and that Is why many of the spe-
ciallsts are Inclined TO absent themselves
In times of panic or great excitement. MIS-
takes are TOO costly.
Yesterday one specialist handled many
orders that he absolutely refused TO send
reports until the day was closed. "Your
stock was bought or sold he explained TO
one commission house, but | AM too busy
10 stop ana send You prices. aln handling
enough business to XII two ordinary men
Commission houses OF course. refuse to ne
eept stop loss orders and the traders who
market are now at a tremendous disad-
vantage, with the ticker seven or ten min.
utes behind. To show how this works out,
a trader vest erday had this experiences Del.
aware and Hudson was selling on the tape
at lI9. He gave an order To buy 100 shares
al the market, as 1t looked good enough for
bet, and he was loaded with the stock
nj 1871, Quite bunch coming out at that
price. he decided to take chances on very
small loss or proAt. He gave an order Ia
sell 100 Delaware and Hudson at the mar
ket and the price he got was lsQkt, In Ave
minutes he had lost 5000 aud was satisfied
TO suspend his scalping operations. This
is one straw that emphasizes the point that
this Is an extraordinary market
Unless there Is some unforeseen calamity,
the profits Of commission houses this year
will he the greatest Ia their history and
more than one broker viii hc able Ia retire
on a fortune. Only two months ago Louis
Bell and Edward Talcott. two of the ahlest
room traders that over operated on the
floor OF. the exchange retired. each credit
ed with having nee imulatcd Si.Ou0 OOO
Last year the cashier of little commission
house In Broad street contracted the
gambling fever and started TO pyramid on
the bull side. He ran a few thousand dol
lars Into n roll that enabled him to buy
stock exchange seat. He caught the rise
In Burlington and quincy ana PLAYED II to
the limit OF his capital; he quit Quincy and
swiiche into Rock Island when the Moore
brothers boosted II from l2s to iG5, aud
then Into Union Pacific. A friend Of his