RISE OF THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE 85

commercial practice, governmental finance, and many other
varying economic forces which converge upon them.
One corollary of this process of constant evolution in Stock
Exchange methods has naturally been a steady improvement in
business practices upon it, not only from an economic but also
an ethical viewpoint. The fact that progress has occurred, naturally
 indicates that methods on the Stock Exchange which were
formerly looked upon as the custom of the trade, would not be
tolerated at all today. It is not unlikely, too, that present
methods may gradually undergo similar improvement in the
future.
The Stock Exchange makes no idle claims to perfection.
[t realizes thoroughly that its evolution has not yet ended. It
is still deeply concerned, not merely with expanding its facilities,
 but also with improving its methods and further eradicating
 the frequently stubborn vestiges of ancient abuses. Yet
in its integrity of purpose, its efficiency of operation and its
broad economic usefulness, it can without boastfulness invite
comparison with any other American business institution. Indeed,
 it has always compared favorably in this way with contemporary
 American business, from the slave-holding days of
the old brokers under the buttonwood tree down to the present
time. Stock exchanges are a very necessary part of the financial
 machinery everywhere demanded by modern civilization,
and it is through no accident that the most cultured and prosperous
 nations today are those which possess the most and the
largest organized securities markets.