New York Stock Exchange memberships are obtained in only one way. Having assured himself that he can meet the requirements of the Committee on Admissions, and having provided himself with two sponsors, the candidate enters into negotiations with the secretary of the Exchange for the purchase of a “seat,” as it is termed. As there are only 1100 members, and as the membership is always full, he must either purchase the seat of a deceased member, or make a bid sufficiently high to attract a seller. He may, of course, subject to approval by the committee, inherit a seat or acquire it by private transfer, but the customary process is to buy openly through the secretary, a salaried officer of the Exchange, whose authority in matters of infinite detail is such as to make him a mighty power in executive affairs. Thereupon he pays over the purchase price, together with an initiation fee of $2000, and presents himself and his sponsors before the Committee on Admissions. This committee first calls his proposer, and then his seconder, and they are subjected to a careful inquiry as to how long they have known the candidate, and whether in a business or social way; his qualifications for membership, his health, his character and reputation, and his previous business experiences are all subjected to a microscopic scrutiny. His sponsors are also asked if in the ordinary course of business they would accept his check for $20,000.[94] If the answers to these questions prove satisfactory, the candidate himself is summoned and put through a similar examination. As his name has been publicly posted on the bulletin board for two weeks, anything detrimental concerning him will probably have been communicated to the authorities before he is examined, but if not, provided he proves satisfactory and the particular department of Stock Exchange work which he proposes to undertake meets with the approval of his inquisitors, and provided also his partners are not objectionable, he is elected to membership after he signs his name to that _magnum opus_, the constitution.