The world of finance — the market’ in stocks and bonds — depends heavi Iy\u00a0on the ticker, which brings almost instantaneous news of changing prices and\u00a0volume of sales. How did the ticker come about?<\/p>\n
In 1882 Charles H. Dow and Edward D. Jones, two young newspaper reporters\u00a0from Providence, Rhode Island, formed a partnership to produce a handwritten\u00a0financial news bulletin to be delivered by messengers at intervals during the\u00a0trading hours of each day to nearby customers. That handwritten bulletin, as\u00a0the years went by, developed into the great Wal I Street Journal.<\/p>\n
Dow went out and got the news, visiting not only the Exchange, but also\u00a0the brokers’ offices and the banks, listening, noting, questioning. Messenger\u00a0boys ran his reports back to the office where Jones, the inside man, dictated\u00a0to a battery of clerks, who wrote out by hand the Dow-Jones news bulletins.<\/p>\n
Now the service was soon seen to have one serious fault. No matter how\u00a0frequent or speedy the de liveries, some customers were sure to get the bu Ileti ns\u00a0earlier than others. Since security prices can change in a very few minutes,\u00a0the bulletin customers at the end of any Dow Jones delivery line were becoming\u00a0increasingly dissatisfied. Charlie Dow and Ed Jones were determined to solve\u00a0the problem, and on February 26, 1897, they came up with the answer. On that\u00a0day the Dow Jones news ticker, called the page-printing ticker, went into service.<\/p>\n
At first it was a crude device, operated by a clock mechanism which had\u00a0to be wound every ha If-hour. But gradua I I y it was improved unt ii, on the p resent\u00a0high-speed electrically operated tickers, Dow Jones flashes its accurate\u00a0and important financial news to thousands of customers.<\/p>\n
I am honestly glad to have my errors on this program pointed out, because\u00a0it shows that someone is listen i ng. Roy Lancaster, for many years a popu I ar\u00a0clerk at Emery-Brown Company unti I his retirement, quite rightly takes me to\u00a0task for saying that the Skowhegan and Norridgewock.Rrilw.ay .had a ,.\u00a0carbarn in Norr i dgewock. Mr. Lancaster knew that 0 I d tro Iley line we I I and he\u00a0won’t let me get away with erroneous statements about it.<\/p>\n
Now I never knew that line myse If. I certa i n Iy never rode on it and\u00a0don’t think I ever saw it. Where did get my information? It came from a new\u00a0little book, written by New England’s foremost authority on the old trol ley\u00a0lines, O. R. Cummings of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The book carries the intriguing\u00a0title ”Toonervi lies of Maine”. In the section devoted to the Skowhegan\u00a0and Norridgewock Rai Iway, Mr. Cummings says, “A two track carhouse, with\u00a0a capacity of six cars, was located in Norridgewock”. On the opposite page is\u00a0a picture, showing a trolley car in front of a car barn. Under the picture Mr.\u00a0Cummings has placed the legend, “The only known photo of a Skowhegan and Norridgewock\u00a0car, in front of the S & N barn in Norridgewockf?<\/p>\n
Now Mr. Lancaster has sent me a clipping from the Skowhegan Independent Reporter,\u00a0which shows the same car barn, but without any trolley car in front of\u00a0it. It can be identified as the same barn by the sign which runs across the\u00a0enti re front: “1894. Skowhegan and Norri dgewock Rai Iway and Power Companytt.<\/p>\n
As Mr. Lancaster points out, that car barn wasn’t in Norridgewock at all;\u00a0it was in Skowhegan, right on the island where the Skowhegan Fire Station now\u00a0stands. The Independent Reporter said: “The old S & N railroad barn was 10-\u00a0cated on the island when this photo was taken in 1894. It was on the east\u00a0side of Island Avenue, adjacent to the Methodist Church. When the rai Iway became\u00a0extinct, the Skowhegan Vi Ilage Corporation had the present brick fire\u00a0eng i ne house constructed on th is same site.”<\/p>\n
In the first decade of this century most of our Maine hotels used to feature\u00a0some particular dish. For instance the ginger bread with whipped cream at\u00a0the Vaughan House in Caribou was known far and wide; the Andrews House in South\u00a0Paris served cream of tartar bi scuits, fresh made for every mea I three ti mes\u00a0a day; the Harrington House down in Washington County was famous for its clam\u00a0cakes.<\/p>\n
An old menu, which recently came to my attention shows that the Augusta\u00a0House also had its specialty nearly half a century ago in 1908. That specialty\u00a0was Old Fashioned Molasses Apple Pie. Like most of the hotels of that day, the\u00a0Augusta House served quite a dinner for one dollar. First, you could have a\u00a0choice of soup, then either boiled salmon or fried fillets of halibut. The\u00a0third course was boi led fowl with sauce supreme; then came a choice of chicken\u00a0stew with dumplings or lobster a la Newburg, and with either you got chocolate\u00a0cream fritters. After you should have been pretty ful’ already, they brought on\u00a0the main dish — a choice of roast beef, roast lamb, or roast stuffed duck. For\u00a0vegetables there were boi led, mashed and sweet potatoes, spinach, squash and\u00a0peas. A’fter the waitress removed those empty plates, she set before you a big\u00a0frui t sa I ad with sweet dress i ng. Then you were ready for dessert. Of course you\u00a0had to have a piece of the old fashioned molasses apple pie, but you were a\u00a0qui tter if you d i dn ‘t have more than one dessert. Some di ners had them all :\u00a0pumpkin pie, Washington cream pie, peach ice cream, pineapple jelly, raisins\u00a0and nuts. Then, as a sort of dainty settler to the whole meal, you had Roquefort\u00a0cheese and Bent’s water crackers, and all along you had been washing the\u00a0food down WiTh cups of steaming coffee. After you were quite sure you had\u00a0eaten enough, you paid your dollar, laid down a dime for the waitress and went\u00a0your loaded way.<\/p>\n
Our old friend One Eleven keeps coming up with reminders of the time when\u00a0he and I were boys half a century ago. His mention of Daisy air rifles, Rocket\u00a0basebal Is costing a hard earned ten cents, Ingersol I dollar watches, and Dents’\u00a0toothache gum must surely bring back memories to any listener who has reached\u00a0the shady side of sixty. But I wonder how many old timers are like me in not\u00a0recal ling at al I what One Eleven refers to as Perpetual Penci Is. He says they\u00a0had a metal barrel full of lead points in a channel. You pressed a plunger at\u00a0the top end and a new lead replaced the old. Now I remember penci Is with leads\u00a0inside the top part; but you had to unscrew a cap, take out a lead, and insert\u00a0it.<\/p>\n
One Eleven does bring back memories, however, with his mention of schoolroom\u00a0sling shots. Unlike the outdoor kind, made of a crotched stick and big\u00a0rubber bands, those little weapons were made from a hairpin and small rubber\u00a0bands of the office kind. They were pretty effective, however, at close range,\u00a0and could be quickly hidden away. It didn’t take teacher long to get on to\u00a0their use and many a schoolmarm developed uncanny abi lity at detecting the marksman\u00a0when some girl’s quick yelp announced a bullseye.<\/p>\n
One Eleven is a gay fel low, not given to disagreeable suggestions. I must\u00a0therefore call him to task for the way he ends a list of old time memories\u00a0which he recently sent me. After mentioning the schoolroom sling shots, stocking\u00a0leg caps, and other gay items, he ends on this grim, sombre note: sulphur\u00a0and molasses.<\/p>\n
Neither One Eleven nor I have any yearning for a return to the old days.\u00a0Right now is a pretty good time to be living, even though we have plenty of\u00a0problems. Yet One Eleven and I agree that we deeply regret the passing of the\u00a0Youth’s Companion. The modern comics are quite a change from that fine old\u00a0weekly, which came into American homes for a hundred years. Our Kennebec region\u00a0had a part in its later days, when John Clair Minot of Belgrade was its editor.<\/p>\n
Without being sentimental or patronizing, the Companion presented young people\u00a0with interesting, lively stories, and with a tremendous amount of information\u00a0in quickly read, short articles. And best of al I, it kept the boys and girls\u00a0aware of the value of high moral ideals, without preaching to them or trying\u00a0to make them Little Lord Fauntleroys.<\/p>\n
Rev. Nelson Heikes, who writes those little sermons that appear in the\u00a0Irna Wanderer column each Saturday in the Watervi I Ie Sentinal, has shown me a\u00a0most unusua I newspaper. It is Vo I. 1, No. 1 of the Hera I d of Gospe I Liberty,\u00a0wh i ch Mr. Joe i kes assures me was the first re Ii g i ous newspape r, not on Iy in the\u00a0Uni ted States, but anywhere in the wor I d.<\/p>\n
This paper first appeared at Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 1,\u00a01808, and was published as an organ of the Christian Church, the denomination\u00a0of which Mr. Heikes has long been a minister. The denomination merged a few\u00a0years ago with the Congregationalists into what is now the Congregational-Christ:\u00a0i.an Church.<\/p>\n
In a time when the creeds bound church members very strictly, the paper’s\u00a0title meant just what it said, Herald of Gospel Liberty, for the Christian\u00a0denomination believed in true religious freedom. In its leading article, this\u00a0first issue of the paper sai d: “I tis not now a tryanni ca I government that deprives\u00a0us of liberty. No George I I I has troops in our land. The people of this\u00a0country are in general free in political matters, but in things of religion,\u00a0multitudes are ignorant of what liberty is. Many appear to know their rights\u00a0as citizens, but when they’talk or act on things of the spirit, they are guided\u00a0wholly by the opinions of designing men, who bind them in the chains of ig-\u00a0norance. It is the des i gn of thi s paper to show the liberty wh i ch be longs to\u00a0a II men, as it respects the i r re I ati onsh i p to God and to each other. t!\u00a0Elsewhere in the paper the editor told exactly what he meant by religious\u00a0freedom. “Re I i g i ous I i be rty”, he wrote, Us i gn i f i es a free dom to be I i eve in God, and to obey him according to the manifestation which he has made to man. Every kind of human law restricting a man’s belief or action in his religious life is<\/p>\n
i ncons i stent wi th rea I re I i gi ous liberty. When the magi strate interferes with\u00a0us in matters of religion, he is acting outside of his rightful sphere. The\u00a0operations of mind and conscience cannot be subject to the laws of man.”<\/p>\n
Today we take religious freedom so much for granted that we forget how\u00a0bold that statement was in 1808.<\/p>\n
The paper was published by Elias Smith at his house near Jeffry Street in\u00a0Portsmouth. He announced that it would appear every Saturday evening. Now not;\u00a0ce the terms of subscr i pt i on: “one do I I ar a year, exc I us i ve of pos tage.” In\u00a01808, as I have often pointed out on this program, postage was paid by the receiver,\u00a0not the sender, of mai I. In order to cut down the cost to subscribers,\u00a0Publisher Smith announced the following plan: “Where there is more than one\u00a0subscriber in a town, an agent is appointed to receive the subscriptions and\u00a0the rroney, and to de live r the pape rs \u2022 ” Smith had just one agent on the Kennebe c\u00a0when he started his paper. That was Mos’es Ro I Ii ns at Ha I lowe II. He h ad four\u00a0other agents in Maine, one each in Portland, Monmouth, Wiscasset and Eastport.<\/p>\n
His Boston agent was Joel Wallingford, No.9 Back Street, and Smith announced\u00a0that the papers for Charlestown would be left at Wallingford’s.<\/p>\n
The paper had no commercial advertisements, but under the head of Advertisement,\u00a0Publisher Smith placed the kind of notice these early newspaper men\u00a0were having constantly to insert. It said: “Subscribers wi II especially notice \u00a0that one of the conditions of the Herald is fifty cents to be paid when\u00a0the first number is delivered. That sum is necessary to enable the Editor to\u00a0prosecute the bus i ness. Y!<\/p>\n
And with that appeal flor 50 cents, issued 148 years ago, we must say good\u00a0night for old times’ sake.<\/p>\n
Year: 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #304, broadcast on May 6, 1956<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[790,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}