184 History op the greenbacks

next door to the stock exchange. For some time the mem-

bers of this exchange, that came to be known as the " Gold

Room," contented themselves with a very loose organization.

It was not until October, 1864, that a constitution and by-

laws were adopted and regular officers elected.

Besides the stock exchange and the " Gold Room," there

were two other markets for gold in New York the "open

board" and Gallagher's evening exchange. The "open

board" of stock brokers was a more popular organization,

running as a rival of the "regular board" i. e., the stock

exchange with which it was amalgamated in 1869. The

"evening exchange" was a characteristic excrescence of the

times. Speculation was carried to an unprecedented extent

In New York during the winter and spring of 1864.

Though the regular exchange was kept open long hours,

crowds of men thronged the corridors of the Fifth Avenue

hotel speculating at night. A certain Mr. Gallagher seized

upon the opportunity in March, 1864, to open a luxuriously

appointed room opposite the hotel, where gold and railway

and petroleum stocks could be bought and sold till mid-

night. So injurious was this continual round of feverish

business deemed that after the disclosure of the Ketchum

gold-certificate forgeries 1 in August, 1865, the city banks, the

stock exchange, the "open board," and the gold exchange

united in an effort to suppress the evening exchange by

forbidding their members to frequent it. As a result Gal-

lagher was forced to close his rooms. 2

The volume of transactions in these markets became very

great. Importers came to buy gold, not only for payment of

customs dues and for making payments to foreigners, but

also for protection against fluctuations in the value of the

currency between the time goods were bought and sold.

1 See, e. G., Hunt's Merchants' 1 Magazine, Vol. Liu, p. 226.

2 Cf. New York Herald of August 20, and the money article of August 24, 1865 ;

Tribune, news columns of March 22, 1864.

SPECIE VALUE OP THE PAPER CUEEENCY 185

Bankers doing business in foreign exchange had to purchase

gold for remittances. Exporters and apparently many men

engaged in domestic trade or manufactures bought or sold

like importers to guard against changes in the value of the

currency. But the volume of speculative dealings probably

far exceeded these transactions growing out of the needs

of business. Indeed, gold became as favorite an article to

speculate in as petroleum stocks or railway shares. Many

persons whose occupations presented no need for such opera-

tions bought and sold gold clergymen, physicians, law-

yers, small merchants, anyone who had sufficient funds to

provide the necessary 10 per cent, margins. Members of

Congress, clerks in the government departments, and news-

paper reporters frequently tried to obtain pecuniary advan-

tage from their positions by operating through gold brokers

on the information that came to them before it was given to

the public. Most large operators in gold had correspondents

In Washington, Baltimore, or Louisville the centers of

war news charged with sending them early dispatches con-

cerning any event that could affect the credit of the govern-

ment. In the "gold room" itself the struggle between oppo-

site parties of speculators partook largely of the sectional

feeling of the time ; and when the air was full of exciting

war news, the "bulls" would often sing "Dixie," and the

"bears" try to drown their voices by chanting "John

Brown" in chorus. 1

The price of gold in currency, as determined by transac-

tions in these New York markets, was regularly reported by

telegraph in all considerable towns of the United States, and

everywhere accepted as authoritative. There is no necessity

for taking account of the premium on gold in other places,

because local markets were dominated by the New York

quotations. The money columns of the daily newspapers