The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-02

Each active trader on the floor OF the
Stock Exchange has from two to hVe
assistants or messengers. In every OF
| flee a similar wealth in the number OF
assistants is 10 be found, while the
number of messenger boys on call is
also unusual. 1t is estimated that there
are from eighty to one hundred spe-
cial messengers available upon each
acre of the Wall street district. The
boy population of the Office buildings
| is rather more than twice this. For
every acre, therefore, there are some
$50 messengers. Imagine an acre lot
filed with $50 boys They would pretty
comfortably crowd it.
1t is difficult to realize the extent of
the enormous daytime population OF
| Wall street district. 1t is crowded with
great intricate hives of office build
| ings. OIL of which are densely popula-
ted. The largest Office buildings in the
world are to be found within stones
throw of the Exchange, and many of
them have long waiting lists. The nat
ural congestion on the surface is in
creased by the unusual narrowness of
the streets whereabouts. Many of them,
though lined with tWenty-story struc-
lures, are little more than alleyways.
Should all the inhabitants of the great
buildings on Wall street, near Broad
way, chance for instance, to leave
would only be standing room for about
one-fourth of them. In other words,
the popula ton of Wall street
between Broadway and Broad street,
would be sufficient to completely fill the
street four times over. The fatal
crowding of the famous Black Hole of
Calcutta seems trihing by comparison.
The enormous volume of mail mat
ter of all classes which finds its way
in and out of the Walk street district
daily is another striking indication of
it's tremendous activity. The average
bushes man throughout this section
receives his mail every day by eight
cen different deliveries. A delay of,
say, thirty minutes in deliVering3a let
ter is likely to be far more serious
matter in the Street" than a similar
loss of a day or two in almost any other
business activity. The efforts of the
postal authorities to satisfy this de-
mand are unequaled in any other part
of the country. In q single building
on Broad street, with frontage of less
than forty feet, there are, for example,
three letter carriers constantly busted
delivering the mail And the letter
boxes to be found at every corner are
absolutely inadequate for holding the
mails Every building of any preten-
sion, and there are scores of them, has
the first to the twentieth floor, or what
ever it may be, which are in constant
use.
1t has become something of an axiom
that men in Wall street have no
time even to eat. And this is literally
true as far as the regular business
hours of the day are concerned. From
ten to three, while "'Change" is the
center of so many revolving dollars, the
of
Each minute is far too valuable. But
the population of Wall street is so
enormous that restaurants are natur-
ally an important feature of its daily
life. The financial district is so bound
ed with great rivers, so far removed
from the resident section, that every
one is dependent upon the public din
ing rooms. There are restaurants at
every turn, on the roofs or sky scrap
ers, in cellars far below the street level
or in the interiors of great buildings,
far removed from any possible day
light There are restaurants to cater TO
every taste and every pocketbook. The
millionaire dimes in restaurants famous
the world over whose very names are
household words. The man who has
lost practically his last dollar, the Of
flee boy or the bootblack are served
with dishes for a few pennies along
so crowded is every one for space.
The most picturesque feature of the
street is the curious open-air push
cart cafes. Nowhere else are they to
be found in such variety They are
arranged with stoves and broilers in
winter and with ice in summeH and
they offer limitations more or less pal
atable of practically every dish of the
expensive restaurants and for one or
&c no
honored custom for the carts to as
semble in the side streets leading into
Broad street. near the Stock Exchange,
lust before noon. At the first stroke
of the clock they all start in one mad
rush to gain the most advantageous
positions Not infrequently a cart is
overthrown in the hurry and lit
orally free lunch is scattered about the
street.
The menus of the push-cart cafes are
amazingly varied. You may enjoy a
variety of sausages, cooked to order
and served hot, for penny. The waf-
file wagon from which this pastry is
served with sugar or syrup at cent
a portion, is one of the oldest contribu
tors to the bill of fare. Other wagons
make specialties of soups, still others
serve some vegetable, such as hot
corn in the season. The desserts are
the more stable dishes, and one is sim
ply bewildered by such deicacies as
ice cream, water ices, pies, cakes and
ruddings. Hundreds are to be seen
daily crowded about the push-cart
cafes.
Not the least important detail of the
mechanism of Wall street is it's elab-
crate system of detective protection.
A very effective dead line has been es-
tablished at Cortlandt street for years,
beyond which no crook known to the
police, nor even a suspicious looking
person. is allowed to pass. AS an adj
dition precaution, however, a score or
more of Central office detectives are
constantly on guard at the principal
entrances to the financial district. They
usually congregate in the vicinity of
the United States Treasury building
at Broad and Wall streets.
Millions of dollars are constantly be-
ing carried past this point. 1t comes
in gold. packed in sacks. and carried
by the ton in steel wagons: it is
brought by the ton in steel wagons;
it is brought downtown in cabs or
carried in ordinary travelling bags or
in the pockets of the crowd which con-
stantly pours into Wall street. Such
a thing as a hold up is unknown. A
cry for help in the financial section
would instantly bring a formidable
force of armed detectives to the spot.
The men Who stand guard here can
usually tell from their long experience
when a man carries a large sum of
money from the nervousness of his
manner or some sign of Self-cOnscious-