River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-09-04
WOMEN TO BE BARRED.
New York stock Brokers Start a
Movement to Exclude Them
from Offices.

There is movement among brokers
in New York to exclude women from
| their business houses and to deny
them the privilege of specializing in
stocks. Femininity, they say, has
been given a fair chance to show it's
adaptability in ''the street." and has
failed miserably, reports the New
York Times.
For a long time many brokers have
considered women undesirable patrons
for multitude of reasons. Of late
the opposition has crystallized, and
several prominent firms have taken a
bold, determined stand to ostracise
| those members of the fair sex whose
gaming instinct and desire to get rich
quick prompt them to speculate on
the markets.
The following is copy of a letter
sent out by Well-known firm of stock
brokers. 1t shows plainly the attitude
of brokers, and it is not unlike letters
that have been sent out recently by
other firms:
Dear Madam: We regret to inform you
| that in future we shall be unable to afford
| you the privilege of calling at our office
on Blank street. We find that some
| of our best customers consider it undlgnl-
! fled for women to frequent brokers' offices,
| and for that reason beg to ask that in flu
ture you will kindly communicate with us
| only by letter or telephone. In this matter
We have used II o discrimination. Every Wom-
| an who has an account or who has done
business with US will receive similar no
| nv V,
"Stock Brokers, = Broadway"
ga woman is a nuisance anywhere
outside of her own home," said we'll
known reputable stock broker to a
reporter who called on him at his Of
fee in a lower Broadway skyscraper
the other day.
''In the first place, a brokers' office
is no place for woman. The average
woman knows little about brokerage.
Business instinct is not innate in the
woman, ordinarily speaking, and,
worse than that, she can't learn. Tell
her all you know about stocks and
market conditions and practices, and
the next day she will ask you the same
thing again.
"Another thing: The woman who de-
sires to trade in stocks, knowing moth
ing of them or the business, wants the
| broker to become her confidant, to tell
Just where and when to buy or sell
If she makes something out of an in
vestment made on a brokers' advice.
she gloats over her shrewdness 'on
the street., and the broker gets nc
credit whatever. Should she lose, and
every broker must go wrong in predic-
tions once in awhile, then there's the
devil to pay"
Brokers say that a woman does not
seem to be able to realize that there
is possibility of losing in specializing
in stocks Therefore she is what a
gambler would call ''bad loser" Oh
course, there is an occasional woman
who knows the market and it's sinuos.
tiles, and is as ''game" as any man
on the street. But she is mighty
scarce. The ordinary woman specula-
tor and trader makes an awful fuss
when she makes a losing investment
Sometimes the spectacle is ludicrous
in the extreme, but more frequently
it is sad one. Many women with
the gaming instinct, who, besides seek
ing the excitement attendant upon the
speculation, hope to get wealthy in
few days, go into it when the money
they stake is needed for the necessaries
of life for themselves and their fam
lilies. The result Of the failure in the
latter instance is pitiable. To the
broker it is nerve-racking.