Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-22
INTEREST IN STOCK
EXCHANGE GROWS
Public Attendance at Ses-
Sions Has Increased Great
Iy This Summer.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
BY LEMUEL r. PARTON.

BY LEMUEL r. PARTON.
NEW YORK, September 21.-The
New York Stock Exchange Is today
compiling figures which indicate that,
when the totals are reached, 1t will be
found that during the Summer the
number of visitors to the exchange was
perhaps so per cent more than during
last Summer.
Since the beginning Of the bull
market the exchange has been in the
very center and focus of the national
spotlight. National interest has been
reflected not only by the increasing
numbers of outside visitors, but by the
Swarms of automobiles from outside
States which thronged the financial dis
trict during the Summer.
Visitors Are Numerous.
Three years ago it was unusual to
see Middle Western or New England
region. This Summer this correspond
ent noted cars in Broad and Wall
streets and lower Broadway from Ohio.
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,, New
Hampshire, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia.
Louisiana and Oklahoma, and one car
from California. Some of them were
luxurious cars, but most were small
family touring outfits. and many were
rugged with vacation conveniences.
showing that the Stock Exchange had
been put on the itinerary Of the coun-
try's vacationers en- tour. No statistics
are available as to the number of these
cars, but it is generally noted in the
district that this was the first season
in which the multitudes on wheels were
journeying to tickerland.
The invasion is regarded as the in
evitable result not only of the new'y
awakened interest in securities amonr
adventurous millions from coast to
coast. but of the widespread publicity
which million share days and undrec-
edented prices have brought to the
exchange. The old melodrama of the
Wolf Of Wall Street" in which the
exchange was almost as wicked and
dangerous as the Five Points Mission,
has been supplanted by a family drama
with happy ending-at least the mil
lions of resident and nonresident seat
holders hope 1t will be So-and even
unchaperoned girls may now visit the
exchange with propriety. In fact. there
have been more school teachers looking
on, studying operations and taking
notes than ever before. Public and
private schools in and around New York
are making requests in increasing num-
bers for permission for their classes
to watch a session from the gallery
Restrictions Necessary.
Exchange. officials say that If 1t were
not for the restrictions which they i'm
opse on admissions the exchange would
be swamped with visitors. The visitors
gallery is supposed to be open only to
the guests of members and representa-
tives of the New York City banks, but
the visitor frequently manages to find
some New York contact or relationship
which opens the way. Last year $4,000
persons visited the exchange. This year
the total will be much larger.
BY far the larger proportion of the
visitors are from out of town, say the
exchange officials. While some of the
glamour Of the money mart has passed
with such colorful figures as Jim Fiske
and "Betcha Million" Gates, there is a
newly stirred curiosity which brings the
incoming hordes clamoring for admis-
sion to the big pit where the favored
OF fortune carry on the LAGOON strug-
gle with the ticker tape.
1t Is a good show-much better than
many of the Broadway offerings, ar1 it
holds the gallery pop-eyed with atten-
ton. The flip of the brokers' numbers,
on the huge boards at the ends of the
arena, summoning them to the tele-
phone, Is confusing, and most of the
visitors at first think they are stock
prices. but somehow the correct infor-
nation gets passed down the line.
For the last month, an increasing
proportion of women have been OBJ
served among the visitors. and while
occasionally one hears them make some
ingenious inquiry, they have by no
means the naive ideas about finance
with which they used to be credited.
This correspondent talked to a busy,
tight-lipped little school teacher from
near Tulsa, OKLA. button holing every
body within reach and asking them
about trans-lux tape, the communica-
ton system, prices and conditions of
membership and innumerable other de-
tails, noting the answers in men,
orandum book.
Organizes New Glass.
Everybody ought to know something
about finance, and the national system
of handling money" she said. at am
organizing new class in economies in
our high school. Instead Of teaching
those old definitions Of wealth and the
turns, and all that, I am going to
show my students Just how the wheels
60 round. believe they ought to throw
out lot of the old economics and get
new approach. based on actual pro-
duction and distribution of wealth
today"
She-and she was by no means alone
in her sophistication, among the visit
ing women-was widely and accurately
informed about the whole business, In
Guiding such reconcile matters as pools
and r1anipulations. Altogether, 1t is
perhaps revelation of how far the
new psychology Of participation in, in
stead of hostility to the big money deals.
Is penetrating the national con-
seriousness.
"If you can't lick 'em, join 'em, says
old John w. Public"