3-053-824 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Money Market Panic in America: scene at the Stock Exchange, San Francisco, 1873. 'Whoever has seen the howling and whirling dervishes of Cairo would imagine, were he to visit the San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board, that the two sects were there combined, and practised together each of their rites. In transacting their business the members rush, at frequent intervals, into the middle of the room, and all shout at the top of their voices...and at the same time they raise their arms in the air ...It is principally mining stock which is dealt with in this place; and the chairman's function is something like that of an auctioneer. He reads out the stock which is to be disposed of, and the members then begin to make offers, at the same time arranging among themselves how many shares each will take, and at what price; and it is their manner of doing this which constitutes the peculiarity of the place. Each member has a desk at which he sits, but when stock is put up in which he wishes to deal he rushes into the centre of the hall shouting and gesticulating like a madman. They howl at each other and at the chairman, they push and shove as if it were a street fight...The whole scene would make one believe that murder was being done'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.