With the above came a letter from a correspondent whose thoughts carried him back to the old days of buyers' and sellers' options, when most of the security business was done on 30 or 60 day contracts. He proposed that the Exchange be reopened so that "all trades made be 'buyer 60'. No other bids or offers to be valid." This would postpone for two months the settling day for the expected liquidation, and he felt certain that by that time there could be no trouble in meeting obligations. Unfortunately at the time he wrote there was no way of obtaining assurance of this happy outcome. The same idea in a somewhat different form came from another correspondent who, instead of deferring payment by a buyer's option, proposed that stocks and bonds be sold on a 10 per cent. basis "That is, the seller of 100 shares of Union Pacific at 112 will deliver to buyer 10 per cent. of amount sold, and receive a check for $1,120, together with a contract in which the buyer agrees to take 10 per cent. more, or say 10 shares at the end of six months, 10 shares in 9 months, 10 shares in 12 months, 10 shares in 15 months," etc., etc., at the original price of $112 per share. This plan seemed to contemplate a bequest of unsettled contracts to future generations of unsuspecting brokers. The author of it was particularly solicitous that, in the event of its adoption, his name should be handed down to posterity along with the unfulfilled contracts. An idea of very wide prevalence, which was touched upon in nearly all communications to the Committee and which even some bankers approved, was that a preliminary step to reopening should be an agreement by the banks not to call loans made prior to July 31st, 1914, for some specified period of time. This idea was very thoroughly discussed and looked into by the Committee. It was found to present great practical difficulties, but was never definitely abandoned until the resumption of business was shown to be possible without it. * * * * *