James Rutledge Shares Six Decades of History Inside the NYSE

**Anna Mello** (0:12)
Hello, and welcome to Inside the ICE House. My name is Anna Mello. I am the curator for the Historical Archives here at the New York Stock Exchange. And I am joined today by the manager of the Stock Exchange Archives, Dave D'Onofrio.

**Dave D'Onofrio** (0:25)
Good afternoon.

**Anna Mello** (0:26)
And I am also joined by our special guest today, James Rutledge, longtime member of the New York Stock Exchange and former member of the Exchange Board of Directors. Welcome.

**James Rutledge** (0:36)
Thank you. Pleasure to be here.

**Anna Mello** (0:39)
It's a pleasure to have you. So, for the sake of our listeners, James, tell us a little bit about your relationship with the New York Stock Exchange. And how did you originally find yourself here in the Financial District?

**James Rutledge** (0:50)
Well, I found myself at the New York Stock Exchange in a rather securitous path in 1967, having just graduated high school. I was 18 years old, and it was in the throes of the Vietnam War, and I was drafted immediately. So I thought my next stop was Vietnam. However, I was ultimately classified as 4F, which was a deferment.
So I did not go in the service. But I was in Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn when they gave me this determination. So I said, hmm, now I got to get a real job. So I took the subway across the Manhattan, and my mother in the 1930s worked for small brokerage on Wall Street. And she always loved to talk about it with, she had real fond memory. So I said, huh, let me go look around Wall Street. And I roamed up Broad Street. And as I walked along, I saw a place with a sign out front, Help Wanted. And it was the New York Stock Exchange.
So now this is 19, I graduated early 68, very early. Late 67, early 68 I answered that Help Wanted sign and I walked in. And they were pretty shorthanded because so many people were in Vietnam of my age. And they were only looking for what was then called a squad boy.
So they interviewed me for about one and a half minutes and said, okay, kid, let's see your draft card. I showed it to them. All right, go down there. You got to see the nurse and then go see the tailor. And they fitted me for a uniform and they said, be back tomorrow. You start, okay?
So the next day, I showed up with a small group of guys. And they ushered us up the stairs by the main entrance, the back Broad Street entrance. And when I first time I'm ever going to even see the floor of the exchange, I go up the stairs. And in all honesty, I thought I walked into Yankee Stadium. It was just the coolest thing I ever saw. And I mean, I immediately fell in love with the place. And that's almost 60 years ago. I still love the place.

**Dave D'Onofrio** (3:31)
So I've actually actually haven't come across a term squad boy. So what was that?
Was that your first job?
Or did you have a different specific?

**James Rutledge** (3:41)
Squad boy was kind of the low end of the totem pole. And your job was to roam around the floor. And when a broker raised his hand, if he was standing in an active crowd and his number went up on the enunciate board, and it would flash telling who wants him and where on the floor, he would raise his hand. And a squad boy's job was to come over and say, yes, Mr. So-and-so, take this to Booth and find out what they want. I'll be right here. So you would run over and you would run back. And that's how the whole process worked. The other important part of that job was every morning, I had to run through the graveyard at Trinity Church and go to the florist next to the American Stock Exchange, Creamers, I think was the name, and get a half a dozen boutonniers for multiple brokers on the floor that were real Natalie dressed and they wanted a boutonnier every morning. However, I was being paid $54.50 a week. That was the pay.
I also got tips from these six or seven guys, which were equal to $54. So it was considerably more important to me than just a normal go get the flowers. Having done that for a while, I graduated to a tube man carrying those things around when they were leather.
I don't know if you've seen the real old ones.

**Dave D'Onofrio** (5:17)
We have a few wood ones in the collection with the leather band around them.