Influenced by this grave uncertainty the Committee of Five resisted the pressure brought upon them by certain representatives of the bond dealers who raised this question first on the nineteenth of August. Several of these gentlemen represented important firms and institutions which were not members of the Exchange, and their freedom from any obligation to be controlled by the Committee created a situation which threatened to become strained. In all cases of this kind, where an independent outsider and the Committee could not come to an understanding, the practice had become established of appealing to the Clearing House Bankers to act as a court of last resort. The banks, with their power to call loans, exerted an influence which could reach every nook and corner of the business world, and, at the same time, their immense facilities for feeling the financial pulse made them the best judges of what risks it was as yet safe to take. A series of meetings consequently took place between the Bank Clearing House Committee, the representatives of the bond houses, and the Committee of Five. At the first of these meetings the bank Presidents leaned very decidedly to the views of the Stock Exchange, and it was decided to postpone any consideration of a departure from the status quo for at least a fortnight. The general situation remaining very critical all through August, no further steps were taken until September 8th. By that date a new factor had intruded itself into the situation. Certain corporate obligations were about to come due and the refunding of these obligations, whether in fresh issues of bonds or in short term notes, was going to make it necessary to withdraw the prohibition against placing investment securities upon the market. When this necessity became clear it was decided that some strict supervision and safeguarding of the sale of bonds and notes was necessary and the so-called "Committee of Seven," appointed by the bond dealers, were requested to formulate a plan for this purpose. This Committee of Seven consisted of members of the firms of: Brown Brothers & Co.; Guaranty Trust Co.; Harris, Forbes & Co.; Kissel, Kinnicutt & Co.; Wm. A. Read & Co.; Remick, Hodges & Co., and White, Weld & Co. On September 9th, this Committee issued the following notice to bond dealers: "Your Committee is pleased to report that New York City's financial needs have been taken care of satisfactorily, thereby considerably clearing the foreign exchange situation which existed when our communication of September 3d was sent out.