The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-11-27
a COsMOpoLITIAN DEMOCRACY.
Ele 1rl nts That Make Ep the 1flmis
World Of the New York stock
y e Exchange.

A'pS "a 10 I1at make Up the M1m10
World Of the New York stock
Exchange.
IN considering the exchange as n q
mimic world, we perceive that it Is
not. only made up Of men early trained
In brokerage and banking. and Of
bright fellows that have won their
seats By preliminary outside specula-
ton. but it includes representatives. of
almost every trade and profession.
some Of them notably successful before.
entrance upon Wall street life, writes
Edmund Clarence Stedman, in Life ON
the Floor :" in Century. It is alleged
that the board itself rarely graduates
men who afterward attain distinction,
butt do not enter upon that topic.
TWo-thirds Of the LOO members are
more or less wonted to the floor, and
OF these one-half pass the working
hours upon it. Thoreau, when asked
If he had travelled, replied: "Yes, for
years about Concord" but he could
not there have found the diversity of
origin and training that he would en-
counter in an hour on change, where
men OF so many nationalities, sects
and grades of culture are packed to-
gether. Former merchants, manufac-
turers, politicians, art students, jour-
nalists, are to be found among them.
The gold room boosted a clergyman:
Tor It's chairman, who in time returned
acceptably to his spiritual charge.
There Is a large contingent of country
gentlemen, who stand for open air,
broad acres and blooded stock at their
beautiful homes in New Jersey, and
Long Island and beyond the Bronx.
Besides those brokers who, as I have
said, have worked their way to men,
bership, a percentage of university
men Is steadily increasing-sons of the
Well-to-do who believe that broadly
disciplined mind is no hindrance to
ultimate success. The room is curi-
ously encyclopedia, and has included
authorities on science and even
Sanskrit. Its occupants come from
many regions at home and abroad.
There has always been a. gallant
southern delegation, frank-spoken.
open handed, equal to any mood of
fortune, and, on the whole, to be
classed among her favorites. The Ger
mans outnumber any other foreign ele-
ment, and years ago were suspected of
having an advantage through traf1ick-
ing in their own tongue. A rule was
aopted that all transactions should be
made in English, and was thought to
bear severely upon certain native-born
members whose nouns and verbs were
seldom in perfect accord. The bear
ing OF the board members, as a whole,
Is not thought to be inferior TO that
of any similar class in the transatlan-
tic world; and comparison, in man
ners or attire, of the New York broker
off duty with the typical London
broker, or jobber, on his way to
Brighton or the races can be made
without injury to Yankee sensibilities.
One classification of the room as
semblage is simple enough; it is COM
posed Of Gentiles and Israelites-the
latter, with their peculiar genius, bid
ding fair to make, in time, their nu-
merical proportion conform to their
surprising share of population and in:
duence in the metropolis at large. Nor
would the orator of the board be forgot
ten, learned in law and with the classics
at his tongues end, a historic factor
In the mart's vicissitudes, and one of
the trio still living who have held
seats in congress as well as in the
stock exchange. Here too, awaiting
their Ella, are the Philistine, the rad
fcal, the trust-def1er and socialist
who. like Fourier, adjusts himself
under protest to the present stage Of
civilization; the promoter, the sports
man of every stripe, the roughrider
and sailor Of the war; the altruist to
whom none has gone for aid in vain:
the strong and dreaded mugger, who
at least is no hypocrite, but makes
open declaration that he spares no
debtor; the recounter, the silent man,
the oracle, the wits, the artists, the
musicians, the tale-writers and the
poets.