74 
tic market for about a century, was suddenly called upon to 
serve as an international securities market. 
In 1923 the President of the Exchange inaugurated the 
practice of issuing an annual report on its affairs. Here com- 
paratively recent changes and developments in Exchange regu- 
lations and procedure can be followed in detail. To mention 
only some of these since 1921: the ticker system was mechanic- 
ally centralized, extended to California and other distant states, 
speeded up and provided with a superior ticker instrument ; the 
“questionnaire system” for examining the financial condition 
of Exchange member firms was inaugurated; the assignable 
transfer receipt was perfected; the new building in Wall Street 
was finished and occupied, additional floor space was subse- 
quently provided by another extension to Exchange Place, and 
finally all properties to the south of the Exchange were acquired 
by it; a campaign against security frauds was undertaken; the 
personnel, educational and publicity work of the Exchange was 
expanded; commission rates were readjusted ; the Constitution 
of the Exchange was completely revised; new listing require- 
ments for foreign and investment trust securities were adopted ; 
regular statistical work bearing on the economic aspects of the 
Exchange was undertaken; many mechanical accessories to 
facilitate dealings on the floor were installed; and the Stock 
Clearing Corporation was greatly developed and expanded. 
Recognizing the growing significance of the Exchange as an 
international securities market, its officers have several times 
gone abroad for purposes of research into the most advanced 
and successful methods of the leading bourses of Europe. Thus 
the years which followed the war witnessed the most rapid and 
extensive period of development in the long history of the 
Exchange. 
THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
The Panic of 1929.—The unparalleled increase of busi- 
ness prosperity in the United States during 1924-29 caused 
a vast expansion in the activity of all the security markets of 
the country, and an almost continual rise in price of many