New-York tribune., 1902-01-24
CAPEL COURT.


History ana Position. BY Charles Duguid with
Illustrations by Joseph Pennell and Dudley
Hardy. octave, PIP. X. 1863. f. p Dutton & CO.
Conceived in a coffee house and born with the
nineteenth century, is the terse description Of
the genesis of the London Stock Exchange
which Mr.. Duguid gives in this book Then he
plunges into the interesting history of the great
English mart Of finance going back far as the
reign of William ILL., when the seeds Of specula-
ton sown for the first time in England.
he tells of the old Royal Exchange which. at
the end of the seventeenth century. was the first
stock exchange. He follows the stock brokers
and jobbers in their migration TO Change Alley
two hundred years ago, and then takes up their
last move TO Capel Court. The development of
the Exchange is traced step by step from the
days when usurious stock brokers traded on
England's financial extremity. to the present
day. with its solid financial structure honored
trusted. sand a material factor in the prosperity
of the country.
The bursting of the South Sea bubble, Eng
lands first and most disastrous financial crisis
and the conditions which brought ii about are
described in detail Change Alley then the
headquarters Of financiers was frenzied with a
fever of speculative manipulation and there
were more dishonest company promoters than
one could count. Stocks were terribly inflated
that of the South Sea Company for instance
having been forced from par to 200 in very
few weeks. at bounds of more than a hundred
points n day toward the end. Then came the
break. and in less than month the stock was
quoted al Sc, to the ruin and desoation of thou
sands. Other bubbles" as the unfortunate
companies Were called, were broken at the same
time. and the panic complete Some of the
companies were formed to carry strange lines
Of business. these names selected at random
from a long list which the author gives. will
show; assurances of Marriages from Divorce;
Flying Engine; Lending Money Stocks: Cure
ing the Gout and Stone; Extracting Butter from
Beach Trees: Transmutation of Quicksilver Fit
ting Ships against Pyrates. and Air Pump for
the Brain. There were other companies the
names of which would be scarcely fit for publi-
cation nowadays. After telling about Sir John
Barnard's act against speculation. the Napol-
comic hoax. the railway mania and the lotteries
IN which the Exchange was interested the
thor takes up the more recent history of the EX-
change. He describes in detail the new house
which the managers of the Exchange erected
Throgmorton-st. in 1885
Its style is Italian, almost Roman. and the
whole design is marked by a solidity and reality
work of the older building. The piers of the
Dome of solid Peterhead granite many of
the stones being more than three tons in weight.
The Dome ITSELF covering the central octagonal
area, is 30 feet in diameter and 100 feet high.
The entrance lopbles and stalrcases are hned
with marble, and the street fronts construct
ed Of Portland stone and granite. At the time
of the addition the walls Of the Old House were
covered with Pavonazza marble TO bring ii into
consonance with the New House, and the pillars
were covered with Rosso and Giallo-Antico mar
BILE from the Roman quarries near Carthage.
The peculiar veining of the new marble it was
which Immediately earned for the House the dis
respectful title OF "Gorgonzola Hail.. The floor
Of the New House. giving eight thousand feet
Of additional area, of oak two inches thick,
but il is now OF teak, the oak having been worn
down in places to thickness Of only quarter
of an inch in the course OF ten years. A STOCK
Exchange floor does not always last as long as
this. An interesting calculation shows that the
members boots convert into powder, which is
swept up dust, some 80 cubic feet of oak or
teak in every year!
The members of the London Stock Exchange
manage to have as exciting times their broth
ers in Wall Street. and play just as hard when
they play. They have their superstitions, too.
It is believed, for example. that when one of the
four house clocks stops. slump will oc-
cur in the market over which 1t is placed AS
is usual in such cases. much evidence can be
cited in support Of the superstition During the
last few years there has been slump in the
habits OF the Exchange members Although
the glossy silk only is acknowledged as proper
headgear." straw hats and panamas are openly
worn. Sometimes the members appear even In
light flannel suits, a garb that would have
caused a riot on the floor twenty years ago.
There are many athletes among the members.
and the doors Of the Exchange have generally
been most Hospitality open 10 visitors who were
distinguished men Of muscle. Captain Webb.
who swan the Channel; Frank Slavin the Aus
tralian fighter and many others have received
a cordial reception. An interloper. however. is
liable to harsh usage, although he is sometimes
politely bowed out by waiter; it all depends
the hunor of the house.
When member describes a stranger he some
times cries Fourteen Hundred" Various
plantations given OF the meaning Of the
mystic cry. One is that a stranger was suddenly
eccosted with the request for the price of GER
tain stock by an inquisitor with gleam in his
eve. Terrified, the discovered intruder gasped
out Fourteen hundredH'-a high price, indeed.
for any stock-and gave himself away. Another
explanation goes back many years-the cry is
certainly an antiquity-when the number of
members of the Stock Exchange, after rapidly
advancing, stood for nearly two years in sue
cession st 1893. Who would be the fourteen
hundredth became quite point of interest. One
day a palpable stranger strolled in through the
Capel Court door. and a happy inspiration struck
Mr.. William Eykyn, the Charlie Clarke or those
davs who introduced him TO the market
number fourteen hundred"-the significant title
OF stranger ever since.
In summing up his story of the Exchange Mr..
Duguid says:
The conditions not what they were even
twenty years ago. There is rapidity and rush
now and wear and tear. and business must be
sought, and because of the vast growth in Its
extent must be minutely specialized; business is
dangerous too and the rapid growth of the
one-pound share and of the small investor has
altered irs whole tone. Still prosperity reigns,
and the House is held in honor and esteem. The
absolute trust and credit, the high code of busi-
ness law which exists within the walls OF the
Stock Exchange, are unequalled elsewhere IN
the spheres OF commerce. and strike the mind
of him who realizes them with wonder The
vast wealth of the Stock Exchange is ever being
indicated in the noblest way-in the cause or
charity. The methods of the Stock Exchange