The total amount of information that is thus laid before the public is as complete and as instructive as could be desired, and yet in London and on the Continent such information is never published, although the two leading financial newspapers in London, because of the immense field covered, actually publish a mass of miscellaneous news and gossip that exceeds any similar American effort. They make it pay, too; dividends declared by these newspapers are altogether unapproached by the American financial press. The essential information lacking, however, is the number of shares dealt in, and at what prices; even if they had a thoroughly good ticker system I doubt if this information could be recorded, because the volume of business done is too great. It is encouraging in this connection to note that so eminent an economist as M. Leroy-Beaulieu frankly concedes our superiority in these matters over the practice of the foreign Exchanges and urges their immediate adoption abroad.[108] The second serious objection that may fairly be lodged against the London system applies, as I have said, to the increased inducements offered to foolhardy and reckless speculation by the plan of deferred settlements. Whether members of the various Stock Exchanges in the world’s capitals like it or not, they must recognize the fact that there are evils in speculation just as there are benefits, and that these evils are becoming a subject of increasing comment. The recent attempt to repress speculation in Germany and the conditions which led to the appointment of the Hughes Committee in New York are signs of an aroused public sentiment that cannot be ignored. With these examples before them, members of Exchanges everywhere must realize that if it lies within their power to discountenance and discourage foolhardy ventures into speculation by persons ill-equipped to undertake them it is their plain duty to do so. The London Stock Exchange’s system of fortnightly settlements clearly does not aim at this highly desirable object as well as the method of daily settlements employed in New York, for it requires no student to see that by postponing the settlement risks will be incurred that would be impossible if a reckoning were called for each day. Moreover, the fact that there are ten failures on the London Stock Exchange to one in New York furnishes ample proof that the precautionary restriction imposed by daily settlements is quite as important to the welfare of brokers as it is to the protection of the public.