The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-01-05

A seat in the New York Stock
Exchange was yesterday sold for
one hundred thousand dollars This
price, the highest ever yet command
ed 10y a membership, acccntuates
the institutions great gain in bust
ness and prestige. 1t goes without
saying that ard-headed men of af-
fairs would lay out no such sum for
the mere privilege Of trading ON the
floor, If the prospective profit were
not commensurate with the outlay
"A seat might have been bought for
SO 900 "A couple Of years ago. In
the meanwhile the average transac-
tions have steadily risen, until a
turnover of "A million shares per
diem seems small With the tx
panSion Of the country's trade and
finance the list Of securities handled
has heightened Under the old re-
gIme, purchases and sales were al
most exclusively confined 10 the
bonds and stocks of public, or semi
public. corporations. Now the in
dustrials' constitute an ever increas-
ing part of the whole The capital
ization of the United States Steel
for example, exceeds the figures at
which the government debt stood in
the more primitive days Of the re-
public, and there are scores Of con-
Germs which are small only when
measured against that colossus.
There has been a very striking
enhancement in the value Of mem
ber-hips in all American exchanges.
Shares in the New York Cotton Elk
change are worth something like
S23 900, and shares of the New
Orleans Cotton Exchange become
more precious "a the months roll
around. Speculation has much to
do with this process, but n0n-spcc-
ulativc trading also counts for a
great deal In other words, the
volume of stocks and commodities to
bc handled swells with the develop
rnent of the nation. The establish
I'D exchanges have a practical mo-
nopoly of this work, because the in
tending buyer or seller can find an
immediate market there, and no.
where else. Ten thousand shares
Of Pennsylvania, or ten thousand
bales Of cotton, may bc converted
into cash III a moment, and this alb
solute compatibility il an unspcak-
able boon To people of means The
huge enterprises of the modern era
could never emerge from Utopia if
this complicated machinery of bar
t--r had not been created. Without
these reservoirs of capital Japan
could not have fought the campaign
against Russia, nor could the trans
continental lines of railway have
bcen built
One exceedingly salutary effect
follows from the increased cost of
memberships. The responsibility
of members l. presupposed by the
fact that they must sink small
fortune before they trade within the
walls. But this j. not all. for the
rules impose the most rigid scrutiny
if the character Of members deal
ings be- challenged For instance,
the New Orleans Cotton Exchange
says; When the failure of any
member has been posted, either by
his own act or lay direction of the
Supervisory Committee, he shall
forfeit all the rights and privileges
of membership, except such az re-
late IL arbitrations ON claims result
ing from business transactions with
members entered into before the
ppsting of such notice of his failure.
The said member shall, within ten
days after posting such notice of his
failure, send To the Supervisory
Committee a statement of his af-
fairs, and produce the books Of ac-
count To them for full and free ex-
animation, whenever requested by