The work of the Stock Exchange

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1831284952

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-225876

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Meeker, James Edward http://d-nb.info/gnd/126597340

Title:: The work of the Stock Exchange

Edition:: Revised edition

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: The Ronald Press Company

Year of publication:: [1930]

Scope:: XVI, 720 Seiten; Illustrationen, Diagramme

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter III. The rise of the New York stock exchange

Collection:: Economics Books

RISE OF THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE 63 in the ordinary produce and merchandise auctions at the foot of Wall Street—then the chief wholesale markets of the city. But auctions by their very nature are one-sided markets, with competition between buyers, but none between sellers. For this reason, auctioning did not prove an adequate method for marketing securities, despite the fact that security auctions are still held in New York. Also, due to public unfamiliarity with securities, about ten auctioneers and merchants were attracted into the new occupation of acting as agents and brokers for security buyers and sellers. These earliest New York stock- brokers, according to tradition, formed the custom of meeting under an old buttonwood tree which then stood before what is now 68 Wall Street, except when inclement weather drove this tiny curb-market to shelter in the nearby coffee houses. Thus they became accustomed to transact their business with each other and for the public, and to provide as well as they could the ready security market for which the times called with increasing insistence. And thus, for all its present splendid facilities, the New York securities market began very humbly indeed in the rain and dust of a village street. First Brokers’ Agreement.—The first sign of an organi- zation in this original open-air market was manifested on May 17, 1792, when the following agreement, still preserved in the archives of the Stock Exchange, was signed by these early brokers : We, the Subscribers, Brokers for the Purchase and Sale of Public Stock, do hereby solemnly promise and pledge ourselves to each other that we will not buy or sell, from this day, for any person whatsoever, any kind of public stock at a less rate than one-quarter per cent com- mission on the special value, and that we will give preference to each other in our negotiations. There are 24 signatures to this interesting document, which is the first stock exchange agreement of any kind in this country.

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