384 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
members’ records in the manner presently to be described.
Along the outer walls of the floor are cages for the banks, and
also the managerial offices of the Day Branch. Adjoining the
Day Branch offices are the offices of the President and Board
of Directors of the Stock Clearing Corporation. On a lower
floor the Transfer Department is located. :
Since a considerable amount of securities flows through the
Day Branch offices, and since any sudden interruption of its
daily activities would seriously interfere with the smooth
accomplishment of the whole settlement, the Stock Clearing
Corporation headquarters are closely guarded, and are equipped
with the most modern and complete lighting, ventilating, and
protective devices.
Keeping of Member Accounts.—The primary function of
the Day Branch is to facilitate the clearance and settlement of
money accounts between the clearing members. Each clearing
member is, as we have seen,’ assigned a “clearing number,”
and his account is known by this number rather than by name
throughout the whole process of settlement. Each of the eleven
Day Branch cages has a theoretical capacity of 60 different
accounts, and thus they are numbered 1-60, 61-120, etc.
Thus any given clearing member’s account is kept in the cage
whose numbers include his clearing number.
For each member accoynt a “record sheet’ is kept, upon
which are entered all the credit or debit items incurred by him
during the day, either from delivery or receipt of security
deliveries, or from loans shifted, or from other causes. Thus
all these transactions, which would otherwise cause the issuance
and delivery of money checks between Stock Exchange firms,
are handled by book entries on the record sheets of their
accounts at the Stock Clearing Corporation. At the end of
the day, each member’s account is balanced; if he has a debit
balance he sends a single check to the Stock Clearing Corpora-
tion to settle his whole account with it, while if he has a credit
TT {See Chapter XIL p. 329.
