286 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
the supply of and demand for call funds each day. From the 
banking standpoint, funds in the call loan market are excess or 
surplus funds, which may be withdrawn at any time for in- 
creased commercial needs, or added to because of inadequate 
commercial demand. Moreover the stock market, whose dis- 
tributory processes call loans facilitate, is itself a surplus 
market, highly sensitive to the relative amounts of capital avail- 
able for security investment. Specifically, call loan interest 
rates may be considerably affected by temporary shifts in the 
money market arising from lowered bank ratios, Federal Re- 
serve rediscounts and open market operations, withdrawal of 
government funds, Treasury financing, maturity or interest 
dates of outstanding security issues, etc. New York State 
usury laws legalize any rate of interest on call loans of $5,000 
or over, secured by collateral’ American geography also 
plays its part in rendering the supply of and demand for call 
funds changeable. Since in point of time Chicago and New 
Orleans are one hour, Denver and Omaha two hours, and San 
Francisco three hours behind New York, it sometimes happens 
that late in the day funds may suddenly pour into the New 
York call loan market or be suddenly withdrawn from it, from 
causes arising in distant parts of the country. As a result, call 
loan interest rates are subject to swift changes, which are as a 
rule self-corrective. The jncreased stability imparted to the 
whole New York money market by the Federal Reserve system 
has had the general effect of rendering security loan rates 
much more stable than they were prior to its establishment. 
The “Money Desk.”—The “money desk,” where the open 
supply of and demand for call funds meet, is located on the 
Stock Exchange floor, between the old Board room and the 
Wall Street extension (Plate 9). Nearby are posted the cur- 
rent and renewal money rates for the day. A clerk records the 
demand for and offers of call funds as they come to the desk, 
and puts prospective borrowers and lenders together on the 
basis of “first come, first served.” In this way, there is main- 
© See Appendix XIg.