The Stock Exchange from WithinVan Antwerp, William C. (William Clarkson)
History
The Stock Exchange from Within
Van Antwerp, William C. (William Clarkson)
New York Stock Exchange; Stock exchanges
As the Stock Exchange is, as we have seen, an unincorporated body with
a set of rules which no legislature and no court could enforce without
depriving a man of his constitutional prerogatives, it is obvious that
this and all other reforms must come from within; all the many reforms
that are constantly lifting the Exchange to a higher level come from
that quarter. There are 1100 members of the Stock Exchange and perhaps
600 of these are engaged in active commission business. A committee of
the governors can enter any member’s office at any time, and demand
every book or record without reserve. It has absolute power to compel
him to do anything that in its wisdom seems desirable. If he is doing
too much business on too little capital, he can be forced to restrict,
or to retire from business altogether. Failure to comply immediately
means expulsion and a peculiarly stinging disgrace. Naturally in
the face of these despotic powers any plan of mutually guaranteeing
brokers’ accounts, such as that employed by Lloyds in London, or by the
_Agents de Change_ on the Paris Bourse, would seem unnecessary.
The remedy lies, first with the members themselves in striving to
attain continually to a higher standard of business morality, and
second with increased watchfulness by the committee having this matter
in charge. In point of fact it is apparent that both these solutions
are now being employed to a greater extent than ever before. The two
failures that occurred some years ago as a result of this iniquitous
practice hurt the Exchange, and stung the members to the quick. It can
never happen again if the vigilance of the governors can prevent it,
and yet every now and then a bank fails even under the watchful eye of
the bank examiner. No committee and no group of committees can watch
the books of 600 houses engaged in a business in which the dividing
line between sound and unsound business may be crossed and recrossed
with surprising suddenness many times a day. The members themselves
must look to this, and that is what they are doing to-day, as never
before, with an earnestness begotten of real pride in their great
organization.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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