214 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
the same price. He might, for example, discover that he had
200 shares of Union Pacific to buy, and 200 shares to sell, at
1go. Before he can “cross” these orders, as it is called, he
must publicly offer the 200 to sell at 14 higher than the 200 to
buy. Thus, if anyone in the crowd is willing to pay 1904 for
the stock to be sold, its seller gets the advantage of the 13.
But if no one accepts the offer, he may then cross the orders
without the possibility of doing the seller any injustice.
Occasions for Specialist’s Services.—Before a clear notion
of the specialist’s work can be acquired, reference must be
made to the actual methods by which it is conducted. If our
friend Jenkins, the commission broker, is called to his telephone
and given an order to buy 100 shares of Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad at 115 when the stock is selling around 125, Jenkins
knows it would be a waste of his time to take the order to the
post where this stock is dealt in and attempt its execution.
Accordingly, he instructs his phone clerk to dispatch the order
to William Brown, the specialist in “B. & O.,” through the
pneumatic tube system which connects members’ telephone
booths with the stock posts.’ When the specialist in B. & O.
gets Jenkins’ order for 100 shares at 115 from the tube attend-
ant at his post, he inscribes the order in his book, and there it
stays (unless it is canceled, in the interim) until the stock
declines sufficiently to permit of its execution at the limit of
115 set. The order to the specialist is sent on a slip shown in
Figure 12a. Attached to this slip is a carbon copy (Figure
(2b) which the specialist signs and returns to Jenkins’ phone
clerk by way of confirming the receipt of the order.
A somewhat different case might call for a slight departure
from the above routine. If Jenkins receives an order to buy
100 American Sugar Refining at 100, at a time when it is sell-
ing at about 101, he will probably go to the Sugar post with it
himself. He will not give the order to a specialist to execute
if he can avoid it, since, if he does so, he must pay the specialist
12 See Appendix I1lg.
