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Show :Wae Method ' of' te CuPvB "Madness : BEING the Story of a Day) on the "Little Stock Exchange," the Famous Market of Broad Street. i M . ; ( ' " " 7v '""""' . 1 ' '-t; .: : ! In the Enclosure Strongly Rcmindins: One of a T ' - 3 In the I j": . ... '. ' " ' ':; . . :''. ' . ''.'J"' Platform - '! : . J " ; K-"v: f500 Sou! w mf?$ tfm mm In the Enclosure Strongly Remindins: One of a Platform Girdled for a Pri2e Fight Are Perhaps 500 Souls All Told if the Day Is "Busy" S;if)s;rit irim to a City Hull P;irk biinona dnlfr. II 's may i I'soinMi? a Iiuiiillc lieu In' sln;iN. but there'! 1 a niflliinj, iiiid l'.'ts of it, in his iii.kI'jo-. t j tlit s1i?litcer yrywx sitmiMvii it ;i '1'ihlomcd l A tlit t tttiitli' riiovoniciit within tin: ri.pr the triuJeu :.v swnjlii hirht r jiiul thither, the Imys rnhin llko f. .- lmuiuls fi.ill'iwtn a M.enc he ii'ilr ftrialn well tic rtiiii-d .riniis that ket-p lu the main to v.oll dcfiuul i p.irts (f the eiiclosiiie T here nre no poxls surli Ms tho-e on I In- Styek Kx-chatitre Kx-chatitre tloor t lix iillze trailing In partli ular ets nl sitiirlti". But 1m fiimier days Mmc app.initus (! the sort w.i- employed, and the curb irndcrs, trained h (he early monuments, continue to respect the oil areas To-day. as was I he ease years a;", Standii'f i! has Its phuo near the pillar clock. Mines nre It lite southeast section of the enclosure, industrials, anc railroad stiw-ks and bonds are on the north elde, aut abruptly. Tin: suintnlts of the c! Ill's seem to hav-broken hav-broken off in a cataclysm. The buildings, though four or Ave floors in height, look mean, squatty, utrly Tim vista lo thi soullt docs not Improve for u thousand feet, and the sightseer mechanically checks Ids ml vanco in that direction. It is a iju trier lo ten o'cloi k. lie notes the fact because be-cause two timepiece;, one in the window of a ale at No, Jo and I he other llxed atop of no Iron pillar In front of No ;ts, tell hlin so almost simultaneously. H,- wonders why the profusion of chronometers and lie observes that on the pillar Is a bulletin hoard lienrin? not lees, typewritten and printed. A few persons are reading tli?se and groups appear to be forming hern and there In the Immediate neighborhood. Sweeping as vigorously as If be bad a conscletn or had received a special fee. a "white wing-' Is bent with the toil of making that particular part of the t'Pjrljlit. J01O. Ij the Ncft York ll'-rnM Co. All nplils rvst-rvoj ) NEW YOICK. Saturday. 'S 3 ,1: N'il,' Wu0l'e's MpV" "I say. Top. l E " b:U's 1:1 I:j,.v: a"' l-etter than v't? Why 1 I don't you move her? l'o llndcs vitri I r.oldtlc-ld. Glmitie Grccnwatcr at C." "Uather be short thau Ions in this Wash ntou weather" "What's tho low for Stewart?" "Oycz, oyez. ye mighty Yale men. Is there any iuoucv lu your lioUscrsV Diwle u cent in the lot." "Chluo Is goins borne." "Here's a rait on McKiuley at OC'.s till the twentieth. How much Is that?" ".V, uo; not Mm. La neon's? de Ids feller iu de brown combination, iv id dc pink In de buttonhole. That's Mm." "Carlsal Curlsa! Carisa!" So they cry and chaff, thionsh all seasons and all Weathers, in Hi'-' hours of every business day on the Now York Curb, the celebrated al fresco .market for Healings in miscellaneous securities not bought and lold witMn the walls of the Stock Exchange, 1 hough 5nancial houses having seats in that great institution iupply the Curb directly or indirectly with eighty per cent of the business. In 1000 the two hundred curb brokers had a turnover turn-over of $250,000,000 iu mining, rallwny. electric' and Industrial slocks and bonds of corporations with an aggregate capital of $3,000.00i'i.000. Every business morning at ten they line up iu llielr reservation with the ardor of Mohammedans at tho tomb of tho rropbel, and bow metaphorically, symbolically, sym-bolically, unto K. S. Mcndels. guide aud philosopher of the family. And well they may. for the Curb of to-day, system-ttlzed system-ttlzed by him. ou unanimous request, after the collapse, col-lapse, of dealings in outside securities following tho panic of 1007. Is the embodiment of his ideas, the expression ex-pression of his Ideals. If an Institution be the length-ned length-ned shadow of n man, the Curb is Mendels' long 3rawu out. He is the Boss. Mown on the pavement of Broad street and a few-yards few-yards south of the east-thrown .shades of the Slock Exchange the Curb fraternity and its clientele maintain main-tain a system of trading that is as unusual lu Its guarantees as It Is picturesque in its surroundings. The view one gets of the floor of the Stock Exchange from its gallery Is not a picture. It Is a -sight." but o also Is the view one gets of tho interior of a boiler factory when business Is brisk. Trading around the posts of the Stock Exchange creates a sense of power aud momt-uium like the whirling armature of a dynamo, but there really is very little in it all upon which a painter would fasten. With th Curb it Is otherwise; the whole situation stirs the pictorial faculty. mwwwmW" mm ' " ""Pl- f ' i -.r. ;-'- X' ''''''"' &'-V-.;v ' :A-A v'" vl-,' ''-v; W' : A?'- ? z.A- x,. t'. A:i A- L-. :r- A VWA' AS As A I ' ' i I AnAiAm J"A i AAA'JX ' Am::m .:.. ::'- ;f Vf-;:P ,AA'AA'-m ; j i 'A 'A ... .-" .. ' r-1 J A,,, 'J 'i V t ' - 't:'A ; Sla:i . ti : ; . .. " l (.aniorniii ons are in uie crime. It is n scon king day; the asphalt is as soft as gum and the trader imi't keep moving if he is not to stiel in the pavement. Suddenly this form of discomfort is succeeded by another a violent thunderstorm. A scurry of operators from the scene, a scurry bacl to it. and trading goes on as before, only now even man has his umbrella or Is clnd in oilskin. IMcture winter blizzard and substitute fur coats and beavj gloves. Eroui the Wall street end of the road conies the Ore signal. The thoroughfare must be cleared, and with lightning speed, for the firemen. With the precision of a tire drill traders seize ropes and standards; they sweep all to one side. The engine rolls by. Back go ropes and standards iiistJnter. Not a full minute has been lost. It used to lc a prevalent notion that the Curb was a place for lnre play -d practical Joking, but a new-era new-era is In progress. During a dull session, and possibly during the relatively quiet hours of a busy one, a few hikv. happy fellows, brimming with a wholesonio animalism. Indulge occasionally in skylarking of a discreet s..rt, but the police regulations forbid this in so many words, and it is never carried far. Trading outside the ropes is prohibited by common cnsenl. The sidewalks are kept dear at all limes by the tratllc squad, and the functionary who has supervised the Job of late is said to be a personagu who will stand no nonsense. Trading as conducted at present on the Curb l neither an obstruction nor an annoyance to the other buslucss of the vicinage. Ideas Dispelled. There is -yet nuother notion regarding this public market I hat requires amendment. It has to do w ith the limits of freedom in trading. While the Curb is open lo all who w ih to trade on it. whether they do or do not share in crenting the fund for the up keep of the furb Agency the sole administrative factor ree ognlzed the contributors to the agency look upon nil non-contributors :is strangers, and a stranger if be intend to trade in the enclosure would do well to tr.k.. his securities or his cash with him. A list of Fingers Move Swiftly'in Mystical Styles That Bear Fortune or Misfortune Measured in Thousands of Dollars from the Roadbed to rnVirjiir.fs in Windows On the stroke of ten I hey get it w ith a shrill ringing ring-ing of an alarm bell iu the dock, and the whole throng Is oif. An electrical current has passed through the enclosure, and the scene changes from comparative quirt to Intense activity. It Is as if a leviathan, sleeping sleep-ing on the surface of a lazy sea. had teen wakened by a s-wordlish and was plunging and lashing, while I lie waters sprayed and swirled in the unexpected struggle of mammoths. New York's curb market Is in operation, ami the men and Imvs participating are eiihei members of an association loosely banded for security trading purposes pur-poses and habitually using the enclosure by permission permis-sion of the municipal authorities and wUb the tacit sanction of the Slock Exchange or they are the employes em-ployes of the concerns represented in the subscription subscrip-tion list of the New York Curb Ag-.Micy. To a sightseer not. informed as to the rules and methods recognized within the ropes the whole scene appears b be n combination of chaos and Babel. As a matter of fact, there is only n minimum of real confusion. The nun within the nq.es buy and sell securities as carefully as the proprietor "f a country general store would replenish his wares from silks lo soaps. (if course, it dors not look quite so plain and simple. sim-ple. Anns are brandished furiously above heads, lingers move swiftly in mvstk-al stvles; eyi.uions .f til lie bodies spell cabalistic messages that bear fortune for-tune or misfortune measured in thousands of dollars from the roadbed to colleague. sluing in windows r.r slowed in rent iguous basements or wit hln easy Twenty Men Are Using the Deaf and Dumb Alphabet in Conveying Questions , or Answers j ' Three characteristics the Curb has that set it apart, from all other markets; three beside tbc unique pecu-. Ilarlty of an existence out of doors. First The Curb is Hie only market where the regular traders make a point of asserting that they have no organization,. Second The Curb is a public market, to which all - who desire its facilities have unrestnUned access. Third The Curb is a kindergarten for both securities securi-ties aud speculators. In the Canyon. To the ordinary sightseer who turns Into Bro id street from Wall about half-past ulue of a business morning in the dog days uud moves blowly southward. Picking up Avhat u cursory plance will reach, the aspect of this renowned thoroughfare for the first five hundred feet is suggestive of some deep canyon of polished granite aud marble, the stream at the Lotion; of which has run temporarily dry. Far down, be tween towering precipices, humauity crawls, autbke r serpentine. .. Though the roadway Is wide, it seem merely a trail Hthe base of the walls of lordly structures, soaring twelve to eighteen stories high on the right and left. Tl"ttcd curiously with multiple glass eye. The ob-wnw ob-wnw pauses to study the elegant design of the stock EcbunKc. while, chaste, its pediment like the Temple t Zen at Olymplu. adorned with sculptured figure-, owoug which pigeons dart and cluster, and ou the op-.Pwlto op-.Pwlto tdde of the street the Mills Building, long u object of devout admiration to the pioneers in tho fvolutlou of tho monster office buildings for which New York city is pre-eminent in tho world, and a I'Ulldlug even now not often surpassed in exterior graces. At No. CSlhe skylines, western ond eastern, change reach elsewhere of the market ropes. Oct nsiouallv u wild yelp breaks the dead level of the ordinary din. It marks the strain of a trader In a moment of agonv because he cannot get his connections connec-tions as quickly as he would like, but the police n-gii-litlous prohibit "unnecessary noise." aud traders jshow a laudable desire to uphold the Iheory that all souud in the wrong place Is both noise and ui.neces-s-uv piece of paper weighted wilh metal, or po slbly iu n cartridge. Is hurled from a window to a-trad'er a-trad'er standing mar a rope on the east side. It cou tnlus an order to buy or sell, couched In term intcIM--clble oiilv to sender and receiver. The bitter picks U tip warily, h-olclng around to see whether the policc-mau policc-mau noticed the incident. Tf the l'ooh-Bah had seen somebody miclit have been arrested for "disorderly conduct." as the Hinging Hing-ing of metal into the enclosure does not go with ini-punltv. ini-punltv. Offences of all sorts are dealt with V' Hnd severely on the Curb nowadays, aud the oldtlnu. license would not be tolerated. Twenty men are using the deaf and dumb alphabet in conveying questions or answers to the windows, fan vou make out what any of them is saving? lJte the li.ug. lean fellow without a collar. ' b-A-t.-y- What does that mean? I U Esperanto fo kn ;oTd or Yolnpfik for Bay Consolidated? Qa en M ? It is gibberish to all save those lo whom it is c car and sacred as IIolv Writ. Many -o,les arc h use. 3 the usvrs make no mistakes. They hit the bulls-eye bulls-eye every time. They ure sharpshooters. Many a Code. Leaf uud dumo cdes are indispensable to the trader who specializes- nrbitrage bi.sines-. A bright S 1 operator, taking .uhan.nge of sbght differences be v U le New York and the Boston quo. a tons for a o .licular sicck. will grah the.sectu.tv y Herod o Broad s t ree t . jl i : i g i i b.v wire lo the Hub and shoe in J hi profit the eighth or sixteen.!., as may be. of var I tlon. But his nrighl-r Is nu.te as rcac y to do he same thing ir possli.le. and If his own trick is to , e Sod Mess ully his code signalling mus be UP absolutely denser to that neighbor than Js a contributors the contribution being $2.1 a year can be Inspected at the Curb Agency. No. C, Wall street. There, also, the "Father of the Curb" may be inspected in-spected by any person who wishes to contrast Ids oilicc manner with his form in the "ring" Jus't turned sixty, in robust health, active as a cat. K. S. Mendel., who halls from Louisiana. I. often described de-scribed as a "Louisiana tiger." Soft and even purging purg-ing when s moo I lied (he right way. he roars like a wild beast when anvbody steps on the toe of a curb tradition tradi-tion or regulation. It is hi duty b champion both, and he does the whole tedious. laU.rloiis, many sided task for a nominul .financial consideration. Except police .superintendence and the maintenance mainte-nance of the roadbed, the two hundred subscribers to the agencv look to Mr. Mendels to provide In the highest degree prank-able whatever I requisite for their convenience and safety i:i trading. He Is the bl-h cockalorum, the onlv thing of the kind extant "business., though recently he associated w ith himself him-self a committee of advisor, including some of (inmost (in-most intluential men who deal in the "outside market." mar-ket." It is live minutes o three V. M. b.v the clock that must be obeyed. A day of tierce coioni-tltlou J ending, end-ing, large transactions have b.-eti carried throUfcti, substantial sums I-st and won. Finishing '-,,, hcs,"rff being put to scores of deals. Wigwagging puuto-mlme. puuto-mlme. facial onion Ions of grotesque suggestlv cneM are everywhere in ihe surging throug; arms wine, above bends like the tops of blading pines In a Three sharp. The alarm sounds warniugiy. peremptorily. per-emptorily. Trading I over; the ropes and are rem .ved in u llffy: the five hundred ncatter in l.ir!.,-tlons. new.sum-r men seek the 1 ual quo ta-Hons. ta-Hons. Five minutes later Broad street look ns it did -t nim "Vhxk In the morning, and the blg.i J ,, ' , ravine on the north echo with the ealit f ,,, t.r . a, .novlng ponderously down t.Pfup few luxurious tnulcrs-a mournful sound not to 1 duplicated east of a Colorado gulch. roadway as clean as the Amsterdam streets one reads about but never can find. Then somethiug happens. From the basement of No. 3S emerge policemen and a man in an unfamiliar uniform. .They are carrvlng Into the roud Iron standards stand-ards and rope such ns ate used by the New York tratllc squad at points of trafih- congestion. Bapidly they rope off a section of the middle of the road, leaving room enough on each side for the easy passage of vehicles. The arena enclosed exteuds. with several apertures In the fence of cordage, from j point near the pillar clock to a point about one hundred hun-dred feet south. Tho sightseer perceives from th label ou the cap of the man in the unfamiliar toggery that he Is in the service of the New York Curb Agency. The Game Is On. It Is five minutes to ten. and by both clocks. Bur the men und boys who nre pouring into the enclosure, some Issuing from the basements of nljacent buildings, build-ings, others coming out of the ground. or the air. so far as the sightseer can tell, are watching the clock In the caf.' window a strange, psychological clock, on which a raven and an owl might perch; a Hoc!; with a quaintly expansive Usage, half canny half cynl.-al. a if it kttew what's what iu paper values. In the enclosure strongly reminding one of a platform girdled for a prizefight are perhaps .Vo souls nil told If the day i 'busy.-' Their ng.-s range rrom slMV-five down to fifteen, the latter Including a swarm of bovs of Ibe messenger tvpe wearing numbered num-bered badges or distinguished bv numbered buttons. But. the majorltv are nearer thirty than twenty or forty, and In New York cily if you wi-h to know the trend of any vocation you must consult or analyze the tuau of thirty. Soft hats of .scarlet hue bob arouDd In the mass. Their wearers, as you learn by asking, are attaches of a concern that uses this distinctive headgear to Identify them when the mass becomes a maelstrom. A few 'palm leaf fans arc In evidence; over there i a chap with a sun umbrella. All are clad in th thinnest raiment; and they need it when the broad suu laugns in Broad street In midsummer. But the men within the rope. are not the only ones who keep the clock In sight. From every window or the buildings that overhang the enclosure and even from n few that are well beyond the lower end are peering Ivnx eved Individuals, alert, expectant. Some sit neur Morse electric telegraph instruments, other near telephones. On the window ledge of a third Hour n vouth poise serenely or swings himself bak and forth with a turnstile window pane. Forty feet and a hard bump for hica if he fell Another, on th'.-opposite th'.-opposite side of the street, leans away out over the sidewalk- only a gvmnast could do that regularly and not come to grief. H" gesticulates to some mw below, a large. sweoplug left arm movement, ending in a zig zagging fiourlsh. Ills solemnity Is Impressive. bove the cafe telephone space I to let, according to a sign a. ros fhe building, and from the footpath one can see a double row of telephone troths, with attendants at-tendants hard bv. On each side of the street fixed upon a building at a height of thirty fed. is a row of ebciric light bulbs, with a number under every bull'-The bull'-The onlooker dl-covers ultimately that when a Jignt glows in a bulb it is a signal to n man within the ropes that he Is wanted. The Sign Language. Those faces In the windows ;i,e weird f.m's; eager, dogged inMinct with dan-deviltry, willing to lake risks; faces framed in Iron grii. laces lu vUsy brown, faces that arc smooth, faces that are hairy I hey are nil looking at the face of the clock and waiting r-T lhJ WOld 'tin'" |