ORGANIZED SECURITY MARKETS 49
suit themselves. These articles have only an unorganized,
intermittent and sluggishly competitive market, which does not
permit of adequate short selling. To counteract an artificial
advance in prices there is only the very slow resistance of public
refusal to buy. But the would-be manipulator of Stock Ex-
change securities encounters a very different situation. He is
forced by the rules of the Exchange to buy and sell in the open;
every price effected by his purchases or sales is instantly re-
ported all over the nation, and if such price becomes at vari-
ance with the inherent value of the security, a chance for profit
is at once afforded to speculators from coast to coast. The
tremendous counterpressure which this national and readjust-
ing speculation exerts, no manipulator or group of manipulators
can withstand.
By an “open” market is meant one which is maintained, not
for any limited or chosen few, but for every honest investor
and speculator in the country—a market, too, where all trades
are made in the open and out loud, and not by secret negotia-
tions and whispered agreements. A stock exchange is the most
democratic type of market. All buyers and sellers there are
put on an absolutely equal footing. Through the ticker system
everyone gets the latest news of Exchange transactions as
nearly at the same time as the vast area of the United States
will permit. As a rule, brokers on the floor do not know at the
time whose orders they are executing—whether those of some
great capitalist or of some very ordinary citizen; to each they
give their best efforts, and only at the close of the day do they
perhaps learn from whom the orders came. No member of the
Exchange refuses to deal with any other member on the floor.
There are no rebates made to wealthy or powerful men, nor
any discrimination against the man in moderate circumstances.
As we shall see,” the Stock Exchange rules establish a mini-
mum rate of commission which all its members’ customers—
great or small, rich or poor—alike shall pay for the execution
1 See Chapter XVI, p. 456.
