The members of the Stock and Gold Exchange, as has been stated, are men
of character. Their transactions are governed by certain fixed rules,
and they are required, on pain of expulsion from the Exchange, to observe
the strictest good faith in their dealings with each other and with their
customers. If the operations of the street were entirely confined to
them, business in Wall street might be regarded as in safe hands. But
there is another class, even more numerous and quite as well skilled in
the ways of the street, who transact a vast part of its business. They
are not members of the Exchange, and in former times used to assemble
around its doors in Broad and New streets, and carry on their operations
on the sidewalk. Hence their designation, "Curb-stone brokers." They no
longer assemble on the pavement, for the Exchange has thrown open to them
its Long Room. Any one who can pay $50 a year for a ticket of admission,
and who has brains and nerve enough to enter upon the struggle, can sell
or buy in the Long Room. This is better than standing in the street,
exposed to the weather, and moreover gives a certain respectability to
the "operator," although he may carry his sole capital in his head, and
his office in his breeches-pocket.
No rules or regulations apply to the Long Room. The honest man and the
rogue mingle together here, and the broker must be sure of his man. Many
of the members of the Exchange buy and sell here, either in person or
through their representatives, and many good men who are unable to enter
the Exchange conduct their business here. Others again prefer the
freedom and the wider field of the Long Room. Still, there are many
sharpers here, who would fleece a victim out of his last cent.
The daily transactions of the Long Room are said to average about
$70,000,000, or ten times the business done in the Regular Board.
Fortune is much more uncertain here than in the room up stairs. Men buy
and sell here with the recklessness of gamblers. The noise and
excitement are almost as great as in the Gold Room. The absence of the
fixed laws of the Regular Boards puts every one on his own resources, and
men are compelled to use all their ingenuity, all their determination to
guard against a surprise or unfair dealing. It is every one for himself
here. A dozen or more small or new operators are ruined and swept away
daily, and in times of great financial excitement the Long Room shakes
the foundations of even some of the strongest houses in the street.