IU4 DEEP FURROWS 



Bang goes the gong! They're off! Above the red 

 abbreviation, OCT., at the bottom of the big clock the 

 blood-red figure 5 indicates the opening of the market 

 at |1.45 even. With a mad swirl the trading begins in 

 a roar of voices. A small forest of arms waves wildly 

 above jostling bodies. Traders dive for each other, 

 clutch each other and watch the clock. The red figure 

 5 has gone out and % has in turn vanished in favor of 

 % MJ % 4: ( ?) Instead of going up, she's falling 

 fast. Before the market closes the price may rebound 

 to |1.55. Somebody will make a " clean-up " to-day and 

 many speculators will disappear; for margins are being 

 wiped out every minute. 



To the Gallery it is a pandemonium of noise, unintel- 

 ligible in the volume of it that beats against the void of 

 the high chamber. Only one shrill voice flings up out 

 of the roar: 



" Sell fifty Oc, sev'-eights !" He offers 50,000 bushels 

 of wheat for October delivery at $1.43% per bushel. 

 It's that fellow down there with the blazing red tie half 

 way up his collar. He hits out with both hands at 

 the air as he yells. A surge of buyers overwhelms him. 

 They scribble notes upon their sales cards and go at it 

 again. 



Down there in the melee those men are thinking fast. 

 With every flash of the clock the situation changes for 

 many of them. Some pause, watching, listening; others 

 who have been quiet till now suddenly break in with a 

 bellow, seemingly on the point of punching the noses of 

 the men with whom they are doing business. Lightning 

 calculation; instantaneous decisions! "Use your dis- 

 cretion " many of them have been cautioned by their 

 firms and they are using it. A moment's hesitation 

 may cost a thousand dollars. Trading in the Pit is no 



