Evening star., 1928-12-01
EXCHANGE RECORDS
ARE BROKEN DAILY
Sales of Seats at Mounting
Prices Keep Pace With
Market.
BY LEMUEL F. PARTON.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, December 1.-Todays
consummation of the previously ar
ranged sale Of Stock Exchange seat
for s5S0,000 and the sale of a curb seat
for $170,000 is routine daily news on
this flood-tide market. smashing some
kind of record or other.
America today has no computation
OF its wealth and no possible segrega-
ton of basic and speculative value.
Rounding out another week of the i'm
possible, the stock market continues to
scon at the laws Of economies, and to-
day no staff Of economists, not even a
whole college faculty could draw the
line between paper values and those
which may be negotiated without some
body getting hurt.
Former Days Recalled.
In the days of Lamar, the Wolf of
Wall Street" there we're critical en-
counters in the pit between raiders
and defenders, with a dash of melo-
drama which has since associated boom
markets with a wild frenzy, in which
disheveled men tear off their collars
and fight for their millions. This mar
ket, which has broken all records for
sustained flight and altitude. is less
personalized and dramatic, as it repre-
sentS the incesSant pressure of surplus
money, rather than the savage attack
and defense of a few manipulators.
For this reason. the scenes on the floor
Of the Exchange, while exciting enough,
are rather tame compared to the rough
milling Of the old days.
There are swirls and eddies around
AiHarANf he
begin to boil, plenty of clamor and
gesticulation, and a generally diffused
excitement all over the floor. due to
the spread Of speculative interest over
almost the entire list. The old market
might have been controlled by police
authority. This one would respond to
nothing less than a commission on
flood control. LeveeS have been over
flowed and new channels have been
cut. Tributaries from the far water
sheds Of public money reserves flow in
endlessly
Not only in sales volume and prices
has this market smashed all past rec
ords. 1t has galvanized groups of stocks
which thror~'l all big and little flurries
Of the past 1--we been immune to the
speculative fever. 1t started with motor
stocks. Then 1t awakened the coppers
lLAC GllC olCcpII6 pIlIICSSS SuUuelly
aroused after hundred years by the
caresS of the prince. Then it moved
through host Of industrial Specialties,
including chain stores, chemical COM
panies, motion picture and amusement
enterprises, food products and mer-
chandising issues. 1t did net. however,
move steadily by groups. In a single
day there would be drives in a dozen
directions.
Progress Of Market.
Utilities next hit the upgrade, fol-
lowed by the oils and rails. In this
two precedents were broken.
In the past the copper stocks always
began to taper off, after the usual cam
paign for a rise. before the boom
reached oils. rails and utilities, leaving
| the outsiders-the so-called public
high and dry. This time the coppers
stayed up and the wave rolled right
on into oils and utilities.
The last sale of an exchange seat,
for $5S0,000, is interesting in view of
former prices and illustrates the incal-
culable accumulation of wealth of the
last few decadeS-real or visionary. In
1859 the highest price paid for a seat
was $7,500; in 1898. $4,000; in 1900,
SAT 500, and in 1918, $4,000. The boom
market of 1919 brought the price to
S110.0000. In 1926 the $l50,000 paid
for seat was regarded as sensational.
And now this has been nearly quad
rupled In two years.