The daily sentinel., 1910-10-04
PARIS B0URSE
HISTORY AND METHODS
Continued from page -

monopoly to the stockholders, the
committee of public safety of finance
was to appoint "25 stockholders; 20
of them shall be assigned to banking
operations and negotiations in for
eign bills in Paris; the remaining
shall be assigned to the purchase and
sale of coined metal and gold and
silver bullion" This return to a
monopoly was due to the desire of
the government to regulate specula-
tiOn in gold, which it held responsible
for the depreciation of the assignats,
the legal-tender notes of the Revolu-
tion. The monopoly of the stock
brokers, however, applied only to
bullion and bills of exchange.
This monopoly of the stockholders
was reaffirmed by subsequent enact
ments which enlarged the powers of
the bourse. The extent of the monop-
oily is fixed by article Z 6 of the Code
de Commerce, which dates from 1907.
The stockholders, organized in the
manner prescribed by law, have alone
| the right to negotiate government
securities and other securities sus-
ceptible of being quoted; to negotiate
| for account. of others bills of ex-
change, notes, and all other com
mercial instruments; and to verify
the quotations thereof" The law
! does not forbid the direct sale of
these securities without the interview
| tion of a stockbroker, but when the
sale is through an Intermediary re-
sort must be had to these govern
ment-appointed stockholders.
But the stockbroker need not be
femployed in the negotiation of all
| transferable securities; it is only in
| the case of government securities
! and other securities susceptible of
being quoted" By government Sc
curities" are meant the securities
issued by the duly constituted au-
thorities especially the rentes of the
French government or of foreign gov
ernments, securities issued by the de
partments or townships, French
| treasury bonds, which form the float
| ing debt, etc.) or issued by permits
sion of the authorities (shares and
| bonds of railroad companies, shares
and bonds of corporations created
with the authority of the government
by virtue of article 81 of the Code de
! Commerce). On the other hand, sim
liar securities issued by private cor
porations not subject to preliminary
authorization are not "effets pub
lies. "Other securities susceptible
of being quoted" are those which
have been acknowledged by the stock
| brokers as qualified to be placed on
/ the official quotation list of the
i bourse.
| Certain securities can not be placed
on the list. Among these are the
I 9 a IF or, /,
value of which is not on plane with
the par value of shares sanctioned by
French law. Article 3 of the decree
of February G, 1880, also empowers
the minister of finance to prohibit
the official quoting of foreign Sc
curity.
Frequently one may hear on the
Bourse two words used in opposition
to each other-the parquet (tthe
| floor, the coGlisse 1.-THE curb. BY
parquet is meant the stockholders
market, on account of the parquet
floor on which they stand. The
| coulisse equivalent to the New York
curb is thus called owing to the fact
that formerly the bankers congre-
gated in a narrow passageway called
La Coulisse."
The stockholders and the curb
brokers have always been enemies,
each seeking to limit the power of
the other and take away its business.
In 1859 the stockholders succeeded
p in having the curb market suppressed
for time. The disappearance of the
curb had, however. most disastrous
effect upon French credit. Accord
ing to financial publication of that
time, the stockholders who hoDed
that the suppression of the coulisse
would bring back business to the par
quet, were mistaken. The business
of the coulisse has disappeared with
the coulisse itself. The market has
been hit and destroyed, but has not
been transferred. The government,
which expected that by suppressing
the coulisse it would raise the level