Going to the jobber, he says he wants to “give on” five hundred East Rands. The jobber says he will “take them in,” which means that he will lend the money until next following settlement, charging interest at, say, 5 per cent., while the broker in turn charges his client 5½ per cent. and takes the interest difference as compensation for the service. The buyer’s speculation is thus extended to the next settlement, and the statement given him shows that he has been debited with the interest upon the “making-up price,” at which the transaction is arranged. The rate of interest is called the “contango,” and “contango days” are the two days during the settlement when these arrangements are in effect:[116] “The Stock Exchange has witnessed many periods of wild excitement and speculation, reminding one of the famous South Sea Bubble--perhaps the most remarkable “boom” on record--the story of which, however, has been so often and so vividly told by Smollett and later writers that we need only refer to it here. Just before the middle of the last century came the great railway boom. It began about 1834, and within one year more than six hundred propositions for railway lines in the United Kingdom were placed before the public, the nominal capital required being over 600,000,000 pounds sterling. Panic, of course, followed the boom; and, as an example of the rapidity with which prices moved, it may be mentioned that the Great Western Railway stock rose to 236 in 1845, and fell back to 55½ within three years, while Midland stock rose to 183 and fell to 64. After the railway boom and panic came several banking crises, of which the worst were those identified with the names of Overend, Gurney, & Co. in 1866, and of Baring Brothers in 1890. For five years after the latter, the Stock Exchange lay fallow, with business and credit worn to a shadow. Then came the famous Kaffir boom, of which it may be said that Cecil Rhodes stood out as the colossus. The madness of that boom has rarely been equaled, even in the history of the Yankee market. It makes one hot even on a cold day to think of the time when, as a clerk, one tore off coat, waistcoat, collar, and tie in order to run the faster in the settling room beneath the Stock Exchange, “passing names” (as it is technically called) in connection with that gamble. A Rugby football scrum was child’s play to the continued struggles; and, after the most violent excitement had subsided, there were always fights to be settled before one went upstairs to work the whole night through.