CHAPTER XI.

THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE.

HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR NINETY-FOUR YEARS.—FROM A BUTTON-WOOD

TREE TO A PALACE COSTING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.—ENORMOUS GROWTH AND

DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS.—HOW THE PRESENT STOCK EXCHANGE WAS

FORMED BY THE CONSOLIDATION OF OTHER FINANCIAL BODIES.—PATRIOTIC

ACTION DURING THE WAR PERIOD.—REMINISCENCES OF MEN AND EVENTS.

The New York Stock Exchange is not a building, as people generally

suppose. It is an Association of brokers united, but not incorporated by

law, for the purpose of buying and selling representatives of value

called “stocks” and “bonds.” Stocks, in the American sense of the term,

are properties consisting of shares in joint stock companies or

corporations, or in the obligations of a government for its funded debt.

In England, government obligations only, are called “stocks,” and the

obligations of companies or corporations are called “shares.”

The edifice in which the Stock Exchange meets, and which, in common

parlance, is designated by the name of the association of members,

occupies a large portion of the block bounded by Broad, Wall, and New

streets, and Exchange Place. Its main entrance is on Broad street, and

it has entrances also on Wall and New streets. It has a frontage of 65

feet on Broad and 158 on New, on which the back entrance is situated.

The members of the Stock Exchange have no need of a charter from the

Legislature. In fact, they have steadily resisted all attempts of the

Solons of this State to legislate in their interest. Their notion in

this respect is more fully commented upon in my chapter on “Corners.”

The Tweed Ring, in the height of its power, made a bold attempt to force

a charter upon the Stock Exchange, but it was indignantly rejected. The

irrepressible “Boss” and his henchmen, by the presentation of false

names, had a charter for the incorporation of the Stock Exchange passed

in 1871, the year prior to Tweed’s downfall, and it was signed by the

Governor. For these gratuitous services the sum of $100,000 was

impudently demanded; but the charter was refused, and the demand

repudiated by the association. Since 1879 until recently the membership,

which has been full, was limited to 1,100, but by a resolution lately

passed the limit is now placed at 1,200. The seats for the past year

have sold at from $25,000 to $30,000.

The Stock Exchange building is a fine, solid structure, devoid of

anything showy, pretentious or decorative. It was designed by James

Renwick, the architect of Grace Church and of St. Patrick’s Roman

Catholic Cathedral, on Fifth avenue at Fiftieth street. The cost of the

building was nearly $2,000,000. It costs nearly $200,000 a year to pay

the salaries of the various officials and keep the building in proper

repair. The apparatus for ventilating the building is one of the best.

It cost $30,000, and supplies an abundance of pure air and perfumes at

the same time. The heating and cooling arrangements are the best of

their kind, and the lighting is admirable. There are three chandeliers

containing 200 electric lamps, which throw a flood of beautiful soft

light around the whole interior. The building is well supplied with

rooms for members, lavatories, and closets. One great feature of the

interior consists of the large vaults, which contain more than a

thousand safes for the safe keeping of securities. About 400 of those

safes are let to persons who are not members. The vaults and safes are

considered the strongest in the country.

The growth of this institution appears marvelous when we go back to its

humble beginning in 1792, when the originators formed the association

under a button-wood tree in front of what is now No. 60 Wall Street.

Following is the text of the simple agreement into which the original

members entered: “We, the subscribers, brokers for the purchase and sale

of public stocks, do hereby solemnly promise and pledge ourselves to

each other that we will not buy or sell from this date, for any person

whatsoever any kind of public stocks at a less rate than one-quarter of

one per cent. commission on the specie value, and that we will give a

preference to each other in our negotiations. In testimony whereof, we

have set our hands this 17th day of May, at New York, 1792. Lem Bleekez,

Hugh Smith, Armstrong & Barnewell, Samuel Marsh, Bernard Hart, Sutton &

Hardy, Benjamin Seixas, John Heary, John A. Hardenbrook, Amurt Beebee,

Alexander Gunty, Andrew D. Barclay, Empn. Hart, Julian McIvers, G. N.

Bleecker, Peter Inspach, Benjamin Winthrop, James Ferrers, Isaac M.

Gomez, Augustine H. Lawrence, John Besley, Charles McIvers, Jr.,

Robinson & Hartshorn, David Reedy.”

This arrangement existed, and was the only one by which the members were

bound, until 1820, when daily meetings and the regular call of stocks

began. The Board met in various places, including the old Merchants’

Exchange on the corner of Wall and William streets, but did not take

root in permanent shape until the year 1842, when it became established

in the new Merchants’ Exchange, now the Custom House. An illustration of

the old Merchants’ Exchange is given on another page. The sight of it

will doubtless awake a host of endearing reminiscences in the minds of

some of the oldest merchants and speculators. It will be remembered by

the few survivors of that period that about the year 1820 the meetings

of the Board were held in the office of Samuel J. Beebee, at 47 Wall

Street. The Board also met in a room in the rear of Leonard Bleecker’s;

also in the office of the old _Courier and Journal_. Subsequently the

meetings of the Board were held in an upper room of the old Merchants’

Exchange. This building was destroyed by the great fire of 1835, and

afterwards the new Merchants’ Exchange was built. The Board moved into

this building in 1842, and remained there until 1853. Up to this time

the Board was the very closest of corporations, its membership being

governed by the most iron-clad rules. There was no field for financial

news agencies in those days, for the Board kept its proceedings a

profound mystery, and its members were bound to the strictest secresy on

pain of expulsion. That wonderful development of our later civilization,

the ubiquitous interviewer, was then unknown. The business of the Board

excited the most intense curiosity, and so impatient did outsiders

become to learn the mysteries of the interior, that the members of an

open Board which was organized about the year 1837, after failing to

force themselves into the regular association, engaged a building next

to the Board-room, and dug the bricks out of the wall in order that they

might see and hear what was going on.

The Board removed from the Merchants’ Exchange building in 1863 to a

room in the Commercial Exchange Bank building, at the corner of Beaver

and William. About the year 1857, memorable as the period of the great

panic, and my advent in Wall Street, the Board removed to “Dan Lord’s

building,” which had entrances on William and Beaver streets. It was

here, about the time of my advent, in Wall street, more fully described

in another chapter, that some of the great speculators of that era

figured. Among these were Daniel Drew, Jacob Little, and the lightning

calculator, Morse, who made and lost a fortune of millions in little

more than a year. In this building the rule of secresy was not relaxed,

and the fact is on record that a hundred dollars a day were freely

offered for the privilege of listening at the key-hole during the time

of the calls. The Board continued to hold its meetings in this building

during the war, and up to 1865, when it removed to the present edifice.

[Illustration:

BOARD ROOM OF THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE.

]

It is worthy of note here that the Stock Exchange, during the war, for

the purpose of assisting the Government, passed a resolution prohibiting

members from selling Government bonds “short;” and also a resolution

forbidding all dealings in gold. The latter resolution was the principal

cause of the formation of the Gold Exchange. This action on the part of

the Stock Exchange was taken at a pecuniary loss of many millions of

dollars, the sacrifice having been made for the highest and noblest of

patriotic purposes; yet, in the face of such an historic record as this

some people still imagine that the members of the Stock Exchange never

have been anything but a selfish set of money grabbers. Is there any

other institution in the country whose members would have made such a

personal sacrifice in the interest of the Government? I doubt if there

is. Certainly, none did.

There was a second Open Board of Brokers formed in the year 1863. It

took up its quarters first in a basement in William street, called the

“Coal Hole.” The membership began to increase rapidly, and the business

accumulated so fast that the Board was soon enabled to take more

capacious accommodations on Broad street, contiguous to the Stock

Exchange. In this menacing attitude the new Board began to make serious

inroads on the business of the old one, almost one-half of which it had

acquired by the year 1869, when the old Board called a truce. It was

seen by the judicious members of the Board that the competition was

likely to work the ruin of both, and amicable negotiations were begun

which culminated in consolidation. So the Open Board, the Stock Exchange

and the United States Government Board were consolidated in May, 1869,

making the strongest public financial association in the country, and

one of the most important in the world, and placing it upon an almost

impregnable footing. Mr. William Neilson was the first President in the

new building.

The following are the names of the Presidents of the New York Stock

Exchange from 1824 until the present time:

1824 EDW. LYDE.

1825 “

JOHN WICKER.

1828 “

1829 “

1830 RUSSELL H. NEVINS.

1831 JOHN WARD.

1832 “

1833 “

1834 R. D. WEEKS.

1835 E. PRIME.

1836 R. D. WEEKS.

1837 DAVID CLARKSON.

1838 “

1839 “

1840 “

1841 “

1842 “

1843 “

1844 “

1845 “

1846 “

1847 “

1848 “

1849 “

1850 “

1851 H. G. STEBBINS.

1852 C. R. MARVIN.

1853 “

1854 “

1855 “

1856 “

1857 J. H. GOURLIE.

1858 H. G. STEBBINS.

1859 W. H. NEILSON.

1860 “

1861 “

1862 A. B. BAYLIS.

1863 H. G. STEBBINS.

1864 WM. SEYMOUR, JR.

1865 R. L. CUTTING.

1866 WM. ALEX. SMITH.

1867 JOHN WARREN.

1868 WM. SEARLES.

1869 W. H. NEILSON.

1870 WM. SEYMOUR.

1871 W. B. CLARKE.

1872 EDW. KING.

1873 HY. G. CHAPMAN.

1874 GEO. H. BRODHEAD.

1875 GEO. W. MCLEAN.

1876 SALEM T. RUSSELL.

1877 HENRY MEIGS.

1878 BRAYTON IVES.

1879 “

1880 DONALD MACKAY.

1881 “

1882 F. N. LAWRENCE.

1883 A. S. HATCH.

1884 J. EDWARD SIMMONS.

1885 “

1886 JAMES D. SMITH.

1887 “

1888 “

1889 WM. L. BULL.

1890 “

1891 W. B. DICKERMAN.

1892 “

1893 F. K. STURGIS.

1894 “

1895 F. L. EAMES.

1896 “

1897 “

1898 “

1899 R. KEPPLER.

1900 “

1901 “

1902 “

1903 “

1904 R. H. THOMAS.

1905 H. K. POMROY.

1906 R. H. THOMAS.

1907 “

1908 “

* * * * *

JACOB ISAACS was Secretary from 1824 to 1831.

BERNARD HART was Secretary from 1831 to 1855.

GEO. H BRODHEAD was Secretary from 1855 to 1870.

B. OGDEN WHITE was Secretary from 1870 to 1883.

GEORGE W. ELY was Secretary from 1883 to 1900.

WM. MCCLURE was Secretary from 1900 to 1905.

GEORGE W. ELY was Secretary from 1905 to 1908.

* * * * *

TEN OLDEST LIVING MEMBERS TO 1907, ALL OF WHOM JOINED THE EXCHANGE PRIOR

TO JULY 1, 1864.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER SMITH.

HENRY CLEWS.

E. C. BENEDICT.

JOHN H. JACQUELIN.

H. S. CAMBLOS.

L. D. HUNTINGTON.

J. H. WHITEHOUSE.

A. S. CLARK.

EDWIN CORNING.

L. J. VAN BOSKERCK.

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