This is one of the most extraordinary and gratifying experiences of the great crisis. In about seven weeks, at a time when money was unobtainable and the condition of panic was at its height, this huge volume of unsettled contracts was met and consummated by voluntary cooperation and without compulsion of any kind. In some few cases selfishness or indifference delayed action on the part of individuals, but these were all brought to a final adjustment by the influence and persuasion of the Committee. This achievement not only reflects undying credit upon the members of the Exchange by showing both the sound condition of their business and their zeal to act for the general welfare, and creates a deep sense of obligation to the Clearing House Committee who for many long weeks worked unceasingly to overcome the difficulties that beset the path, but it justifies and confirms the wisdom of the New York Stock Exchange in adhering to the practice of daily settlements. In all the great European centers, where trading on the fortnightly settlement basis is in vogue, the restoration of dealings was terribly complicated by the herculean task of clearing up back contracts that extended over many days. In New York, when conditions so shaped themselves as to warrant reopening the Exchange, the back contracts of its members had all been settled up _two months_ before. Had our system, like the European, involved "trading for the account," every additional day of back contracts added to the $100,000,000 worth of July 30th would have stood in the way of a final settlement, and the reopening of the market (which was long postponed as it was) would have been much further delayed. * * * * * On August 4th, a problem which had loomed upon the horizon the day after the closing of the Exchange, was brought squarely before the Committee. A delegation of houses dealing in securities for European account appeared and stated that approximately $40,000,000 to $50,000,000 of securities were to arrive "this week, beginning to-morrow, Wednesday," and that they would be accompanied by sight drafts which would have to be financed. This alleged great volume of securities had been sold in this market for foreign account and borrowed in New York in order to make the immediate deliveries that our day to day system requires. The suspension of the fulfillment of contracts declared by the Exchange made it impossible to return this borrowed stock, and the houses doing this business were therefore obliged either to allow the drafts to go to protest or finance the incoming stock until the free enforcement of contracts was again permitted.