422 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE

which under such circumstances is said to sell “ex-dividend.”
Sometimes, however, in strong bull markets, when stock prices
are rising swiftly, the price of the given stock may rise sufficiently
 to offset the amount of the dividend. In such a case
the subtraction of the dividend would not be revealed in the
~urrent price of the stock.

Functions of the Cashier.—The cashier of a brokerage
firm is in many respects the practical executive of the office and
supervises its entire routine. It is he who borrows money on
the firm’s stock, either at the banks or on the Exchange, who
deposits money at the banks and checks it out again, and who
oversees the receipt and delivery of the firm's daily stock
balances. It is natural that many cashiers ultimately become
partners in their firms, and that many governors of the Stock
Exchange have in their younger days served their apprenticeship
 in the cashier’s cage.

The Bookkeeping Side of Stock Brokerage.—But we are
getting far afield from the office of Jenkins & Co. at 500 Wall
Street. While Blank and other customers of the firm have
been ordering the purchase and sale of securities, the bookkeeping
 or accounting department of the firm has not been idle.
We have already seen that a copy of every order received by
the order clerk is dispatchéd at once to this department, where
a prompt record of every customer’s account is kept. Thus
Blank can obtain an accurate and detailed statement of his
account with the firm any time he asks for it. Few visitors
to Wall Street have any conception of the importance or the
amount of bookkeeping which Stock Exchange work necessitates.
 But for the army of bookkeepers which invades the
financial district early each morning, and does not leave until
the accounts of the various houses are completed for the day,
the whole system would at once break down. Even a moderatesized
 brokerage house must employ a large bookkeeping force