Evening star., 1924-11-27
CUR|OUSF[0CK|NG
TO WALL STREET
Stock Boom Brings Flood of
ViSitorS-Scene of
Confusion.
BY ROBERT II. SMALL.

NEW YORK. November 26.-The |
public is fiocking to Wall Street, not
alone in it's orders to buy and sell, |
but in the flesh as we'll. The curious |
are going there daily TO see the |
wheels go round in these piping times
af the post-election boom. What they !
gaze upon. and above all. what they |
hear. is bedlam. Some one has |
called il a we'll ordered, scientific con- |
fusion. 1t is all of that and more.
Wall Street does not invite close in |
spection as a rule. The quarters for |
visitors at the New York Stock EX- |
change are exceedingly small and de- |
cidedly uncomfortable. The fighting |
bulls and bears down in tha pit are !
not like the gladiators of old Rome. !
They are a shy lot and hate to be |
ieuked at. 1t makes them nervous.
So the visitors may come and stand
for a few minuteS-Stand on a narrow
little balcony. They may take moth
Ing resembling parcel with them.
They may not even take note with
pad or pencil. And they cannt get
too close to the railing which over
looks the turmoil ON .'-.- Uttered floor
for the very good reasrr. mat long
coils of steam pipes are placed along
the bronze grill and one can get
burned" without ever going near a
ticker
Exchange Always Noisy.
The stock exchange is noisy a,
all times. The record making mar
ket of the past three weeks merely
has added TO the squawks, the CO.
manche yells. the shrill whistles and
halloos that seem to be necessary
concomitant to a deal in stocks. Some
of the noise appears essential: much
of 1t unquestionably is superfuous.
can hIapoe be hrnEerS
giving a few extra whoops at a time
like this when the public is buying.
letting go of its accumulated earn
ings and the commissions for buying
and selling are mounting into the
millions of dollars. 1t is fat" fall
Tor the brokers. When the public is
in the market. the brokers can't lose.
They get their commission no matter
which way the cat may jump.
These days of prosperity for the
brokers followed long and tedious
weeks in the doldrums. when the
market was what they call A pro
fessional" one. In it. the brokers
We're trading among themselves. try
: ing to outsmart each other for an
eighth OF point or quarter. if they
could. 1t was like lot of bookmak-
ers a race track betting only with
each other. Then came the crowd
the public with it's unlimited buying
real money passing through the tills.
There will be no lean Christmas in
Wall Street this year. The goose
hangs high. The geese are doing
pretty well at the moment, too.
PerpIexing to OnIookcr.
To the casual onlooker the pro-
ceedings on the stock exchange ap-
pear to be without rhyme or reason.
A lot of men, some with hats on and
others with them off, go running and
yelling from telephone pillar to stock
trading post. Each one of the two
score and more posts" on the ex-
change floor is an auction block.
Certain stocks are traded in on each
post. The broker with a block of
stock to sell will dash to that trading
post and offer it to the broker who
has been hanging around there to
buy at a certain figure. Every now
and then certain stock will take a
sudden boom and it will seem for
time that all the brokers, all the
messengers, all the trained reporters
for the ticker service, are trying to
crowd around that one particular
spot. The yelling becomes more and
more desperate.
Aside from the noise, the running,
the turmoil, all that the public sees
is a lot of men making notes on tin!
pduS ana oCcdSlOHdhy up an
entry in book. In various nookn
and corners there are other men
standing at hundreds of telephones
How they ever make themselves
heard or how they ever hear over
these phones in the midst of that
babel of raucous roarings, nobody
knows. But over these phones come
from the brokerage offices the orders
that make for the dealings in 100000
shares and more day. Shouted over
these wires into the ear-bursting
money medley of the stock exchange,
have come the orders that have sent
the face values of stocks up $4,000
100000 and more since the presiden-
tial election day.
The stock exchange is mans abode.
1t has not yet been invaded by wom-
an. seeking ever to extend her rights.
It's A tough and firing game there
on the floor. You would think it
would be left entirely to the Young