go THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
allotment to such firms wholly or in part, at a slight profit to
himself. The business of underwriting and selling securities
is thus highly organized, and includes wholesalers, jobbers, and
retailers.
The Public Offering.—The next step, after these prelimi-
naries have been arranged, consists of the “public offering.”
Under direction of the syndicate manager the new security
issue is advertised for sale in the newspapers and magazines on
a set date, and simultaneously syndicate and subsyndicate mem-
bers release to their prospective customers circulars in which
the essential facts relating to the new security are set forth.
The price at which it is offered for public subscription is, of
course, above the purchase price paid by the subsyndicates and
still further above that paid by the syndicate to the issuing
corporation. If, for example, the “subscription price” of a
bond issue is 100, the price to the subsyndicate might be—
say—97, and the price paid to the corporation 96. Such
arrangements vary, of course, according to the size and attrac-
tiveness of the issue, the condition of the investment market at
that time, and other factors.
It may be noted in passing that the public advertisements
sometimes contain a statement that “Application will be made
to list the above issue on the New York Stock Exchange.”
This is especially true of the larger issues, which will presum-
ably need a broad market later. Since the underwriting syn-
dicate houses, if they are firms of standing, are thoroughly
acquainted with the listing requirements of the Exchange, the
supposition is that such an issue will probably fulfil these re-
quirements and ultimately find an active market there. Cer-
tainly no good house would care to make such an announce-
ment, were there much danger of being discredited in the eyes
of the public by having the issue later refused the privilege of
listing by the Exchange. Sometimes, too, the advertisement
of a new issue contains at the bottom the statement that “All
the above issue having been sold, this advertisement appears as
