There are some talented musicians on the floor, men who are not only proficient themselves, but who by their liberal support of all forms of music do much to encourage and maintain New York’s supremacy as a musical centre. Grand opera, the Philharmonic Society, the symphony orchestras, the choral organizations, and the army of virtuosi from abroad who have earned applause and money on these shores--all are accorded cordial support by Stock Exchange members. One of them gives rein to his altruistic tendencies by providing free concerts once a week for the submerged tenth in a crowded foreign quarter of the East Side.
In the realm of amateur sport and sportsmanship the Exchange has many enthusiastic devotees. There are several tennis champions, one of them holding a title in singles for seven years, and another a title in doubles for five years. Famous university oarsmen, football and baseball players, American golf champions, expert yachtsmen and commodores of fleets, four-in-hand drivers, polo players, horse-show judges, breeders and owners of famous stables, racquet, court-tennis, and squash champions, deep-sea fishermen and disciples of the placid Izaak, who lure their game from cowslip banks; hunters in every quarter of the world, motor-boat racers, swimmers, men of muscle and mind, men of brain and brawn, these are types that keep ever in mind the _joie de vivre_, the blue sky above, and all the stimulating enthusiasms of youth.
There is little need to speak of the New York Stock Exchange’s charities and benefactions, because these are well known. Scarcely a day passes that some one of the members does not ask of his fellows a contribution, however small, for a worthy charity with which he or the ladies of his family have come in contact, and invariably the mite is freely given, although there may not be time to spare to hear the story. The private and unostentatious benefactions of members go on at all times, and cannot be discussed here.
When the _Titanic_ went down, a fund of $25,000 was raised in a day, and a committee of members of the Exchange was on the pier when the survivors arrived to do what could be done. The Mississippi floods met with a similar response; indeed, every great calamity that spells suffering and sorrow and need finds an instant expression of sympathy and practical assistance from the floor. In times of national gravity, such as an outbreak of war, the Exchange will always be heard from with its volunteers and its funds for equipping a regiment; hospitals, churches, and all worthy charities well know that appeals are responded to with a zeal that is alike nonsectarian and generous.