The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- History
There are many persons, whose transactions in the stock and gold
markets amount to millions of dollars each year, who cannot enter these
boards as members. They are regarded as unsafe, and their petitions are
invariably rejected. They usually operate through regular members.
CURBSTONE BROKERS.
Any one who can pay one hundred dollars a year for the privilege, is
allowed to operate in the "Long Room," as the lower floor of the Stock
Exchange is called. His capital may be one, one hundred, or one
thousand dollars, but if he pays his dues regularly, no one is allowed
to molest him. No rules or regulations bind these operators. The honest
man and the rogue mingle freely together. Persons dealing with them
have no guarantee of their good faith, and must look out for rough
treatment at their hands. They overflow the hall, crowd the steps and
sidewalks, and extend out into the street. From this circumstance they
are termed "curbstone brokers," a name which will probably cling to
them. A few of these operators are men of integrity, who being unable
to enter the regular boards, are compelled to conduct their business in
this way. They have regular places of business in some of the
neighboring streets, and are as fair and upright in their dealings as
any member of either of the boards; but the great majority are simply
sharpers, men who will not meet their losses, and who will fleece any
one, who falls into their hands, out of his last cent.
STOCK GAMBLING.
It has been remarked that the men who do business in Wall street have a
prematurely old look, and that they die at a comparatively early age.
This is not strange. They live too fast. Their bodies and minds are
taxed too severely to last long. They pass their days in a state of
great excitement. Every little fluctuation of the market elates or
depresses them to a fearful extent, even though they may not be
conscious of it at the time. At night they are either planning the next
day's campaign, or hard at work at the hotels.
[Illustration: United States Sub-Treasury.]
On Sunday their minds are still on their business, and some are to be
seen hard at work in their offices, where they think they are safe from
observation. Body and mind are worked too hard, and are given no rest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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