464 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
the law’s constitutional limitations.?®* As an association, sub-
ject to the laws of the state, it possesses enough property to
satisfy any ordinary claims against it. As a market place it
is subject to the law of the State of New York, many of whose
statutes relate to the stock brokerage business. Recourse from
the decisions of its Governing Committee can always be had
to the courts of the land. The Stock Exchange is consequently
just as subject to the law as an association as it would be if
incorporated, and no benefits in this respect would therefore
be derived from incorporation.
Instant Action Necessary.—The Stock Exchange has con-
sistently opposed forcible incorporation not because of hostility
to proper governmental regulation but for entirely different
reasons, which inevitably arise from the nature of the business
conducted beneath its roof. To begin with, there is the very
important necessity for swift and expert decisions. The Stock
Exchange more than any business organization on earth de-
mands instant action. The administration of the stock market
cannot be paralyzed, not merely for six months but sometimes
even for a matter of minutes, without grave dangers. It is the
balance wheel of irresistible tides of emotional public feeling.
Cripple its power to steer and brake itself, and it might well
become a public menace instead of a public benefit.
As it is, instant action can be taken in the conduct of its
affairs by experts in a highly technical and complex business,
who are responsible and can be subjected to the processes of
the law later on, if need be. The present safe and efficient
methods are in striking contrast to what might happen were
the Exchange incorporated, and subject in a crisis to an in junc-
tion by an irresponsible party or a national enemy. It is gen-
erally appreciated that in the unprecedented summer of 1914,
the governors of the Stock Exchange literally averted what
might have been the most appalling panic in our history, by
TT ® See “Regulation of the Stock Exchange,” pp. 556-557.
