Salt Lake Tribune | 1913-11-21 | Page 12 | Brokerage Firms to Go out of Business

BROKERAGE FIRMS TO GO OUT OF BUSKS Era of Frenzied Finance in Wall Street Now Drawing to a Close. By International News Service. . XRW YORIC, Nov. 20. Scores of brokerage bro-kerage firms and small Investment banking bank-ing concerns doing business In Wall stroct will go out of . business tho-first of tluAyear, owing to the prolonged absence ab-sence of speculators from the market. Many of those connected with tho firms will retire from the brokerage business entirely, while others will enter some of the more firmly established concerns as cither junior members or as plain employees. em-ployees. During the lean years since 1907 nearly all of tho brokerage houses have kopt up a bold front, but the coming year will sco a curtailment of cxpenscH such as Wall titrect never saw before It Is estimated esti-mated that more than 1000 clerks and stenographers havo already neon discharged, dis-charged, but this will be small In comparison com-parison with thoso who will bo forced to sock now positions after January 1 next. Somo firms with seats on tho New York stock exchango havo already gone out of business. Among tho moBt Inter-eHtlng Inter-eHtlng of these was B. L. Smyth & Co. of 42 Broadway. This firm had been connected con-nected with tho stock oxchango for more than fifty years In one way or another, nnd several years ago w.-ls one of the reputed "Standard Oil housos." Tho brokers who nv(. Holding on and hoping against hope are becoming discouraged dis-couraged at tho failure of the speculators to return lo tho market. They blame the "trust busting" campaign about to be launched by the administration, together with the Mexican situation and the continued con-tinued attacks against tho railroads. Tho more far-sighted ones admit that Wall street has scon the last era of frenzied speculation and that tho business of the future will bo one solely of an Investment Invest-ment nature.