The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-05-09

BROKERS' PRIVILEGES SOMETIMES
BRlNc FAgULoUS Prices.

the New York Stock Exchange should |
be valued at $4,000 is not TO be eX
planned by the fact that the number
Of these seats 60 be owned Is iunex
lbly limited to 100, says the New
York Times. In the first place, It is
not a seat at all that this $4,000
buys but the opportunity to stand for
five hours Of every business day and
trade with such Of the 1899 members
as may be about I'm those elusive com
modities known as stocks. bonds, bull
lion, and loans. And the reasons why
the privilege OF buying and selling
with these other 1909 members Is so
valuable is that more money is poured
into the hands OF these same members
for purposes Of trading than is fur
nished to ten times that number of
men anywhere else in the United
States.
That such countless dollars should
be poured into the hands Of the 100
members of this institution must be
explained also in the fact that on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange
is to be found the greatest opportu-
nifty for speculation this side of Lon
don. 1t is one Of the paradoxes OF
Wall Street that the Stock Exchange
should be the greatest speculative
mart in the United States, while one
of the great laws Of the Exchange is
that there shall be no betting or of.
fers to bet made upon the floors of
the Exchange"
1t was only a year ago that seats
on the New York Stock Exchange
were selling for half their present
figure. The Unprecedented bull"
market sent the prices for seats climb
ing from $4,000 Up, up, and. still
up they went until a few days before
the collapse Of May 8, 1901. when they
were bringing more than $4,000.
The public came and went, however,
with no diminution in the price of an
Exchange seat. Wall Street felt that
prosperity would continue, and the
privilege Of doing business on the ex.
change would be ever more precious.
And SO there has been a steady APP.
probation Of the value OF seats until
the high-water mark of $4,000 was
reached a few days ago. This sum
really signiGed that the seat cost the
buyer SS2,000 for in addition to the
sum he had to pay to the previous
owner Of the seat, he had to pay an
initiation fee of $1,000
The privilege of trading upon the
New York Stock Exchange is not the
only exchange privilege in New York
or the United States which is consid-
cred of money value. There is the
New York Consolidated Stock and
Petroleum Exchange known in the
Street as ''the little board"
Next in Importance for amount of
business done IS the New York Pro
duce Exchange Here the same gen
eral advantages apply as on other ex-
changes for dealings in wheat corn,
oats, pork, -four and similar products.
1t is on this exchange that most of
the trading in wheat is done
The New York Cotton Exchange
has 450 members, and is strictly lin.
tied to that number 1t has it's own
building, and its own pit" around
which the trading is done. Go there
on most days and you will find per
haps two dozen men sitting near q
brass railing around a small amphi
theatre in the middle of the board
room. They seem listless, and unoc
cupied. Yet from this small centre il
moved the cotton crop of the UniteC
States. A membership on this ex
change sold recently for $4,000. ant
the buyer paid the transfer fec Of
$50.
One important exchange in New
York handles a product which il
scarcely grown at all in the United
States-thc Coffee Exchange. It's QUO
tatiODs largely rest upon the coffe,
shipments from Brazil, and the very
inaccurate and unsatisfactory reports
which come from Brazil accounts 70
the apparently violent fluctuations il
price daily seen upon this floor. Tn
statistical department maintained b,
, this exchange is Of necessity very i'm
portant, and some effort is made +
t accurately forecast the coffee situa
! ton of the future. 1t is the most dil
, ticult problem that c0nfronts any ez
} change, even if not The most momen
. tous. The membership of the COTE
Exchange is limited to a little owe
] 500 members. a seat sold recently fo
t $500.
, The Metal Exchange has principal
: to do with iron and copper Seats ar
Y curreltly valued at about 5000, a
i though members say that intrinsicall