It has been urged in times past, by those who have not understood the peculiar powers of this Governing Board, that the Stock Exchange should incorporate in the manner provided by law, and thus place its affairs within the control of the State authorities, so that if mistakes occur and wrongdoing becomes evident offenders may be dealt with by the legal authority vested in the Courts. But the essential point altogether missed in this suggestion lies in the fact that the absolute power vested in the Board of Governors, by the existing plan, gives the Stock Exchange authorities vastly greater control over its members than any law on the statute books could possibly give. The Hughes Commission, which went thoroughly into the affairs of the Stock Exchange in 1909, recognized this fact, and its report emphasized the point that if changes were necessary they should come from within the Exchange itself, because of the broad control vested in it by its constitution.[93] The manner in which the Board of Governors handles offences as they occur, and the way punishment is meted out, would not have a constitutional leg to stand on if, as an incorporated body, offenders could invoke their legal privileges. Under its present organization, for example, the Board may, if it sees fit, intercept and cut off a member’s telephone connection; it may dictate with whom he may or may not do business, and in its wisdom it may determine how, when, and where that business shall be conducted. If it were an incorporated body and each offender could resort to the courts in instances such as I have cited, what would become of its rules, and how could the Exchange authorities maintain its absolute determination to protect the public at all hazards? Under the existing system, which true friends of the Exchange and of the public may well wish to see maintained, the governors are enabled to find the direct way and the common-sense way, without being blocked by a jungle of legal technicality. They are not to be delayed or restricted by alibis, by pleas of immunity, or by States’ evidence, nor are they to be interfered with by the rain of legal writs through which an accused man, in the courts, may twist and double and block and delay the punishment for his sins, if sins there be.