Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-11-26
Gemany's Anfi-Sfock Gambling Law

States has been seen In Germany.
and the consequences have been so
serious that the reichstag has passed
Ia restriction law that would seem
almost tyrannica in the United
States, writes William Il. Curtis, In
the Washington Star. 1t LAYS down
minute requirements concerning the
organization of stock exchanges and
thci.' methods of doing business. and
authorizes Il government official call.
cd "boursc commissioners" to 70 on
the bourse every day and see that
the law Is strictly obcyed The pro.
duce section of each bourse has also
TO put up with 1--WE g.pat landed pro.
prietorS on its committee, who are
no. members of the bourse at all, bu,
are appointed to be present when the
quotations for agricultural produce
are announced. The aristocratic
farmers made great fight for this
concession. having the usual rural
conviction that produce quotations
were manipulated against producers:
but they are satisfied by experience
and now rarely appear in the COM
mittee to discharge their functions.
The law does not attempt to estnb
lish uniform practice on all Ger
man exchanges; though it lays down
principles to which all must conform.
II is left to the government of the In.
dlvidnal states to approve the details
OF the regulation for speculations up.
on the exchanges in its territory. The
states can charter COURSES or they
can close them.
The organization of the hourse at
Berlin is in the hands of the Cor
poration of the Merchants" q body of
SOME 1000 members. The corpora.
ton chooses a general committee
called the eldest of the merchants -
which controls the bourse and acted
until n few months ago ms the cham
Der of commerce for Berlin. The
bourse committe. which has direct
charge OF the institution In all it's
parts. is composed of thirty-two mem.
bers, OF whom twenty-four are elected
by the corporation and eight by the
eldest The members are elected
Tor three years, and one-third of them
drop out every year. a section of
the committee has charge of the pro
duce division. The bourse commit
tee sees that the laws and the reg,,.
lations are obeyed. and appoints va
rious committees for that and for
o,hr purposes. The listing committee
however. is appointed by tho eldest
Terms of Membership.
The terms OF membership on tho
Doursc are extremely easy. from the
American point of view. Tho mum.
Der OF members is not fixed and seat.
ac not bought and sold as in Wall
street. The applicant for seat must
either be member OF corporation.
or director in joint stock com.
pany. o. n responsible member of n
legally registered firm in Berlin or
It's vicinity. Employees of such com.
panies can acquire cards OF admis.
sion, but are not permitted to do bus
mess 10 ftheir employers. There Is
no membership fee, but the yearly
card costs from 81 to so, VARYING
from year to year. as the budget of
the eldest" requires. Many news
paper reporters buy cards but nomi.
nally they are not entitled 10 trade.
THESE liberal teims of y<amLarshin
make the attendance very large. The
number of persons entitled to adniis.
sion TO the floor of the Berlin bonrse
Is above two thousand three hun.
died. 1t is impossible to state the
actual attendance. since many firms
hold a membership merely. for use as
needed. and some for the standing IL
gives; while many large banks send
formidable delegations of their EN-.
pioyes to the bourse every day. The
Deussche Bank alone has twenty.four
OF its officials on the floor The aver
age daily attendance may be placed
Mt between one thousand eight hun.
dred and two thousand. The bourse
meets every week day at noon and
closes at o'clock The official quo.
tation list is made IN at Q O'clock
Salient Points of the Law.
Germany. under the pressure of the
agrarian party, has been DESTROYS of
doing, to check speculation in stocks
and also in food products. especially
grain. Whether this will be accom-.
plished by the new law remains to
TO seen, and it will certainly be in.
terestinS for other nations to watch
the experiment. Below are given the
most salient features of the law:
i: No exchange can be established
without the consent of the govern
ment which, through commission.
eN VIII exercise continued super-
vision over its actions and dealings.
z: a court of honor is created.
which may exclude persons from the
exchange after due trial. Parties who
nave been judicially declared bank.
rupt VIII be excluded for at least six
months. and permanently il the bank.
rnptcy was fraudulent.
3. When the listing OF stocks or
ponds is applied for at the exchange.
committee will make a thorough
investigation of all circumstances af-
fecting their security and desirabjli.
ty and will then decide whether they
may be admitted. Before this is done
prospectus must be issued, giving
all particulars of such securities.
Stocks will not be admitted until one
NGlr q flor. iiia.