COMPARISON AND SECURITY CLEARANCE 321 
a deliver exchange ticket; and (4) a receive exchange ticket; 
the first and third tickets are printed in red, and the second 
and fourth in black (Figure 27). 
The deliverer makes out this fourfold form and sends it to 
the receiver, who removes and retains the “deliver bond con- 
tract” (if correct) and returns the remaining three forms to 
the deliverer; this is done through the Distributing Department 
of the Night Branch, and serves as a preliminary comparison. 
When the actual delivery is to be made, on the day preceding 
the deliverer retains the “receive bond contract” and sends the 
remaining two deliver and receive exchange tickets to the 
receiver, who signs the receive exchange ticket, and sends 
both tickets back to the deliverer again; this is done through 
the Distributing Department of the Night Branch. In this 
way, a second comparison is effected, and, as will be noted 
later,’ the tickets are subsequently used to establish the firm’s 
contingent credits and debits in the Day Branch money clear- 
ance and settlement. 
The Distributing Department of the Night Branch.— 
Originally, all exchange and comparison tickets had to be sent 
by the seller directly to the offices of the different buyers. In 
1916 the old Clearing House established a central Distributing 
Department to effect economies and greater regularity in the 
process. This Distributing Department is housed in the quar- 
ters of the Night Branch at 55 New Street. 
In the Distributing Department a locked box with a letter 
slot is provided for every clearing member. Every day after 
10 A.M. messengers of Exchange houses come to this office and 
place in their respective boxes the exchange and comparison 
tickets, both to deliver and to receive, which their ‘particular 
firm is sending to all other Stock Exchange firms. This done, 
each messenger then goes to the box of his own firm, unlocks 
it, withdraws all the deliver and receive exchange and com- 
13 See Chapter XIV, p. 385.