With the question of outside dealings there at once arose the closely connected question of the danger arising from having price quotations of such dealings made public. The quotation machinery of the Exchanges had been silenced by the closing of those institutions, but there remained the public auctioneers whose sales, if they took place, would be disseminated by the press and might spread panic among security holders and money lenders. The auctioneers in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago were at once approached, not only directly but through their bankers and other advisers. It was a disagreeable task as these auctioneers had to be urged to cease doing business, but it was rendered unexpectedly easy by the courtesy and friendliness with which they cooperated for the general welfare. So loyal were these various agencies that not a single sale, either of listed or unlisted securities, occurred in any auction room of the country until the urgent phases of the crisis had passed. It was not in auction rooms alone, however, that prices might be made; dealings were liable to occur in any unexpected locality, and it was urgent that prices of an alarming character should be kept from the public. For this most important purpose the cooperation of the press was absolutely necessary. To obtain this, at the outset, was no easy matter. The closing of the Stock Exchange placed the financial news writers of the daily press in a curious position. With them were allied that group of financial writers connected with the various Wall Street news agencies, the several financial journals that are exclusively devoted to Wall Street affairs, and the financial correspondents of out of town newspapers. All told there were about one hundred salaried men in these various groups, men experienced in financial affairs, widely known and respected, engaged in a work which had never been interrupted and which, as far as could be foreseen, promised to furnish them with a continuous vocation. The first effect of the war was a general curtailment of newspaper advertising, a rise in the price of paper, and a greatly increased cost of the news of the day owing to excessive cable charges for foreign dispatches. Thus the newspapers suffered a rapidly diminishing revenue, and they found it necessary to discharge many of their employees and to reduce the salaries of others. With the Stock Exchange closed, naturally the salaried financial writers were among the first to feel this hardship.