THE CURB MARKET 1. Physical characteristics.—One of the most pic turesque and instructive sights for a visitor to the metropolis is the New York Curb Market. There is also a curb market in Exchange Place, Boston, which does a large business, but it is not of such na tional importance as is the one in New York. This market takes its name from the fact that it does busi ness in the open street and overflows, in periods of ac tivity, the curbs and sidewalks. It has no building and therefore none of the external manifestations or ornaments of an "exchange." This peculiar circum stance distinguishes the curb from all other markets.
The New York Curb Market meets daily at the same hours as the Stock Exchange. Its present loca tion is on Broad Street between Exchange Place and Beaver Street, just south of the Broad Exchange Building. An area is marked off by means of iron standards and ropes, but the curb constantly over flows its supposed area. It has no legal rights upon the street, except upon police' suffrance, but its eco nomic function is so great that the police overlook the fact that it technically constitutes a public nuisance by blocking traffic of all kinds on a very important street.
Curb markets are among the oldest of financial in stitutions. A curb existed in London on Change Al ley for nearly a century. Paris had a roped off curb as early as 1720. The New York Stock Exchange dates from a meeting of brokers under a tree at what is now 68 Wall Street. During the Civil War the center of gravity was shifted from the shade of the old tree to William Street, the hours of business ex tending from early in the morning, usually eight o'clock, to nightfall. Often darkness did not termin ate the activity and traders resorted to the Fifth Ave nue Hotel when natural light was no longer available.
2. The great open those unacquainted with its ways the curb market appears to be an angry, shouting, howling mob. But there is almost as much system on the curb as on the Stock Exchange. Be ing in the open street, subject to the weather and often to the traffic, there can be no mechanical de vices for recording transactions or even for transmit ting orders to the brokers. This end is effected by a
deaf-and-dumb sign or wig-wag system between the brokers and clerks who sit in the open windows of surrounding buildings. Of course the noise is too great for vocal communication. The nearby windows are filled with hundreds of boys transmitting orders. Just behind them are the telephone and telegraph in struments by means of which communication is had with other parts of the city and country.
Only severe rainstorms drive the curb off the street. Any ordinary bad weather affects it not at all. There is no ticker service or any such complete system for gathering quotations as on the Stock Exchange. The curb derives great advantages from being on the street. This peculiar location serves as a sort of free ad vertisement which makes the curb a distinctive market, and without doubt appeals to persons of small means, who cannot gain admission to the Stock Exchange even as spectators.
Altho the curb has an organization and regular membership, and also has a regular "listing" process, it is an "open" market. All stocks, except those listed on the Stock Exchange, can be bought and sold on the curb, and all persons have the right to trade there. In these respects the curb differs radically from the Stock Exchange. Another important point of differ ence is that a broker on the curb is not obliged to take the first contract offered to him. In fact he can re fuse any contract he cares to, and can pick and choose as much as he likes.
3. Organization and aboLit ten years ago the curb had little if any organization. Frauds were constantly being perpetrated, and evils of every kind were rampant. Brokers frequently "lie down" on their contracts. But beginning with the work of the late E. S. Mendels, who was first merely known as the "dean" of the curb fraternity, then as "curb agent" and finally as Chairman of the New York Curb Market Association, the better ele ment of brokers has gradually taken more and more control and built up an organization.