Worst of all, the London broker until very recently was not properly paid for his work; he was not protected by a rigorous commission law, as we are in the New York Exchange. In New York a broker charges ⅛ per cent. commission on the par value of every hundred shares in which he deals for a non-member, each way, and the rules of the Exchange compel him to collect it in all cases. The slightest departure from this rule, however technical it may be, is severely punished, and no statute of limitations or other expedient will save him from the consequences of it. Thus all the brokers are insured an equal footing; competition for business is prevented, and the public which the Exchange seeks to serve is assured of equally fair dealing in every quarter. So rigorously is this rule enforced that the large and important branch of the Exchange’s business which has to do with joint-account trading between New York and foreign centres has recently been seriously restricted because, in the judgment of the governors, it involved an infraction of this important commission law. On May 22nd of this year (1912) the London Stock Exchange put into effect an official scale of commissions, which was designed to remedy the unfortunate conditions that had prevailed, and this scale is now enforced. It provides for a charge of ⅛ per cent. on British government securities, Indian government stocks and foreign government bonds; ¼ per cent. on certain other special cases, ⅛ in railroad ordinary and deferred ordinary stocks at prices of £50 or under, and a sliding scale on shares transferable by deed, ranging from commissions of 1½d. per share to 2s. 6d. per share. On American shares the commission to be charged is 6d. per share on a price of $25 or under, 9d. on prices from $25 to $50, 1s. on prices from $50 to $100, 1s. 6d. on prices from $100 to $150; and 2s. on prices over $200. In many other transactions the commission to be charged is left to the discretion of the broker who may, if he is doing a large business with a client in high-priced and low-priced shares on which the official scale of commission varies, arrange to charge ⅛ on all transactions, regardless of the rules. Whatever the London broker may lose in the quality of his commissions as compared with the New York broker appears, however, to be compensated by their quantity. A firm of jobbers of my acquaintance once handled in a single day 262,000 shares of “Americans” alone, and when it is borne in mind that this was but one of perhaps 150 firms doing a similar business, an idea may be gained as to how London brokers and jobbers contrive to keep the wolf from the door.