out a man's plans, to circumvent him,
to thwart him, to start a scheme and manipulate it, to catch somebody, to
escape somebody; it is a perpetual excitement."

"The machine in the Chamber appears to run very smoothly," I said. "Oh,
that is a public register and indicator. The system back of it is
comprehensive, and appears to be complicated, but it is really very
simple. Spend an hour some day in the office of Flamm and Slamm, and you
will see a part of the system. There are, always a number of men watching
the blackboard, figures on which are changed every minute by the
attendants. Telegrams are constantly arriving from every part of the
Union, from all over the continent, from all the centres in Europe, which
are read by some one connected with the firm, and then displayed for the
guidance of the watchers of the blackboard. Upon this news one or another
says, 'I think I'll buy,' or 'I think I'll sell,' so and so. His order is
transmitted instantly to the Chamber. In two minutes the result comes
back and appears upon the blackboard."

"But where does the news come from?"

"From the men whose special business it is to pick it up or make it. They
are inside of politics, of the railways, of the weather bureau,
everywhere. The other day in Chicago I sat some time in a broker's office
with others watching the market, and dropped into conversation with a
bright young fellow, at whose right hand, across the rail, was a
telegraph operator at the end of a private wire. Soon a man came in
quietly, and whispered in the ear of my neighbor and went out. The young
fellow instantly wrote a despatch and handed it to the operator, and
turning to me, said, 'Now watch the blackboard.'

"In an incredibly short space of time a fall in a leading railway showed
on the blackboard. 'What was it?' I asked. 'Why, that man was the general
freight manager of the A. B. road. He told me that they were to cut
rates. I sent it to New York by a private wire.' I learned by further
conversation that my young gentleman was a Manufacturer of News, and that
such was his address and intelligence that though he was not a member of
the broker's firm, he made ten thousand a year in the business. Soon
another man came in, whispered his news, and went away. Another
despatch--another responsive change in the figures. 'That,' explained my
companion, 'was a man connected with the weather bureau. He told me that
there would be a heavy frost tonight in the Northw