The San Francisco call., 1907-03-03


OF our manufacturing pursuits, by the
formation OF powerful trusts and COR
porations.
Imposing Wall Street Exchange
Many of the exchanges were in their
infancy held in coffee houses. These
houses were at the close OF the eight
eenth century the chief meeting places
for merchants as well as for the liter
ary and artistic folk Of the time, and
ideas destined TO reyolutionize men and
methods were born under their low,
smoke grimed roofs, those of the
French republic and the London Stock
Exchange being perhaps the two that
have most greatly influenced the So
cial, political and industrial life of the
civilized world. Today the leading ex-
changes are housed in magnificent
structures, which impress their import
ance upon the beholder. The Stock Ex-
change Of New York. recently COM
pleted at a cost of $4,000, 00e. is one OF
the most imposing buildings OF its kind.
The majestic Corinthian columns adorn-
ing the front of the exchange give it an
air of classic seriousness and grace but
little suggestive of the mechanical
equipment within. The architectural
repose of the exterior is in sharp con-
trast with the hundreds of telephones,
dozens Of tickers and pneumatic tubes.
telegraph instruments, huge black
boards and many other devices for
facilitating trade for here time is a de-
termining element Even the greatest
flight of fancy could not have pictured
TO the twenty-four charter members
who met in 1892 under a buttonwood
tree this modern palace Of Midas. The
exchanges Of London. Paris. Berlin and
St Petersburg are not less imposing
than that OF our own Wall street.
11,r
or less similar scenes of excitement,
though they are by no means alike in
their organization and methods. IL
the casual observer they all possess
during change" hours a common char
acteristic. They all seem the play
ground of maniacs. In this respect
they differ little from the old London
exchange, OF which an eighteenth CEN
tury writer says
The. noise OF the screech owl. the
bowling of the wolf. the grunting of
the hog. the br2ying of the ass, the
nocturnal wooing OF the cat, the hiss
ing of the snake. the croaking of. toads.
frogs and grasshoppers. all these. in
unison. could not be more hideous than
the noise which these beings (the
brokers) make in the Stock Exchange"
Yet out OF this pandemonfum of noises
has come the worlds greatest civiiizer
unifying the innumerable and varied
forces OF the nations
The modern exchange shows more
strikingly than any other battlefield OF
present, day commerce hat there is
method in. the, chaos Of competition:
system in the madness of struggling
buyers and sellers; that however great
the rush. however deafening the roar,
however incomprehensible for the unir
itiated the movement. there are always
certain rules which are adhered 70,
certain customs and usages that are
respected.
There is hardly place. the army
and navy quarters not excepted. where
stricter discipline is maintained, than
on the floor of the exchange, or a place
where the words Of those in authority
are SO readily and unQuestionably
obeyed, and where a single rebellfous
act spells speedier and a more def
mite destruction.
The Organization of the stock ex-
changes, their system OF management
and their business methods vary in
different countries. the most striking
dissimilarities being those between the
stock exchanges Of London, Paris and
New York