The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-12-12

| ne opening decade or the 10th cen
fury finds our country restless along all
lines of human interest. It seems to be
real moral awakening. Morals In pol
tiles and In business are being scrutinized
| as never before. 1t is well 1t is SO. Out
! of agitation comes progress. out OF prog
ress comes experience: out of experience
comes fuller knowledge. In such a great
awakening 1t is not surprising that zeal
should at times overreach itself that ex-
cess should occur ..or are these ex-
cesses wholly unmtigated evils The ex-
cess but helps sooner or later towards
, the golden mean. 1t is q time of new
and strange doctrines, new and strange
| practices are advocated; radical and far
| reaching reforms are being instituted.
| While the ultimate outcome of present
day agitatons and experiments will be
| good. we must not fall to use discrimina-
, ton In reform. We must remember that
legislation Is not to compel conscience,
but rather is to be moulded by 1t. We
cannot fashion all consciences alike. Nor
are we yet sufficiently advanced to make
statutory law and moral law synonymous
Man is moral only as he has the oppor-
tunity or freedom to be immoral. Mere
legal enactments, not in accord with pub
lie conscience are too apt to circum-
scribe mans liberties and result in de-
/ flance of law.
sidered proper matters for legislatures to
deal with belong primarily TO the field
of morals, and are to be governed by
the individual conscience and not by legal
enactments. This is, and always has
been, a fruitful source OF dead-letter
1 statutes, which are a menace to the great
body of laws, as is the rotten apple in
the barrel of apples Perhaps, too, re-
form movements have always been. and
,fr- I. In1 49, ha int
ance of the people when aroused. Whole
sale condemnation by it's excess may in
( time drive us to the golden mean; but 1t
may be as tardy process as letting the
evil run itself to death.
With this introduction we come now to
consider an institution that has como
many times into the limelight OF. public
criticism, namely. the New York Stock
exchange. Wall street is too broad a
term. 1t is generic and is therefore fire.
quently misused with consequent COM
fusion, misconception and error. There
Is the Wall street OF banks, with Its do
nestle and foreign exchange; tho Wall
street for the Investor. offering him Sc
curities OF the most stable sort. and last
ly, the Wall street for the Spectator,
which Is nothing less than the curb
market and the New York Stock ex-
change with its allies. 1t is speculative
change with which we are to deal. Nor
do we propose to deal at all with the in
vestment feature of the exchange, though
the daily transactions on its floor that
are made for the sake of investment
pure and simple would probably surprise
many careless critics A brief account OF
the rise of the exchange to its present
Importance is quite in place here.
The New York stock exchange did not
gain great prominence until after the
civil war. AS late as 1866 1t still occupied
rented rooms. Its growth since then has
been marked, until now It occupies its
magnificent home at the corner OF Broad
and Wall streets, opened IN 1903.
In 1879 the price Of q seat on the ex-
change was about $1,000; In very recent
years the price has been as high as
$4,000. This seat in the eyes Of the law
is property right. Membership in the
exchange Is a mark Of distinction; and
such is the esprit de corps. 1t Is certainly
a badge OF honor. In support OF this.
note the following provisions:
To maintain high standards Of CONNER
cial honor and integrity among Its MEM
bers.
To promote and inculcate Just and
equitable principles of trade and business.
Suspension OF insolvents until debts are
settled.
Two-thirds vote of governing committee
can expel for fraud or fraudulent acts.
. Professional counsel cannot represent
a member on trial before the governing
committee.
Fictitious trading forbidden: betting or
offering to bet on the floor forbidden.
1t is conceded that the New York stock
exchange transacts more business than
any other exchange in the world. While
we have no complete statistics at hand
and no official statistics are kept, still
some conception OF the magnitude of the
yearly trading may be gathered from
sufficiently accurate, though unofficial
sources.
In the year 1908, about 200. 0o0. 900 shares
of stock were traded in on the New York
exchange alone. the consolidated ex-
change, the produce exchange, and the
curb not taken into account. The price
of a share may be anywhere from a few
dollars to $50 or more. We will take
$40 as the average price per share. The
years business in stocks alone would
then show the enormous total of $780,
100000 An institution controlling such a
vast business, with a clientele scattered
from Maine to California and represent
ing all walks of life, must not be con-
demned unreservedly except after care
full and unprejudiced examination; nor
must it's governing board. its members.
and Its patrons be inconsiderately rele-
gated to the class of gamblers without .
hearing.
At the present time wave of reform
by legislation is running high in our land.
nor is 1t confined to any one section.
though It may be more radical In some
parts than In others. Statesmen and DEM
agogs, politicians and people-al arc
stirred President Roosevelt took hand,
and, If not responsible for the inception
of the movement, at least he gave 1t
tremendous impetus Our courts. the
very bulwarks of liberty, have been busy
curbing or defeating the excuses OF en-
thusiastic legislators. 1t Is not surpris-
ing that the New York stock exchange
did not escape. Mr.. Roosevelt called at
tention to it among other institutions.
men and things that como In for their
share of his condemnation. Those who
are ever ready to applaud daring attack
upon the powers in the money world,
ever ready to believe the hardness of
their lot, due to unseen yet powerful
| forces outside of themselves. had their
old-time prejudices against Wall street
revived and clamored for reform. I say
| their old-time pre1udices. because most
| men have not studied the matter and are
| indiscrininating In their condemnation.
| If after careful study and investigation,
| one Is convinced that the stock exchange
| is an unmitigated evil, then his is not a
| case of prejudice, and he has a right to
! an opinion. What il really needed IL care
full investigation, careful discrimination.
| followed by correct Judgment The stock
| exchange would probably be glad to I'M
dergo fair examination.
The stock exchange and its methods
| must he most clearly differentiated from