THE COMMISSION HOUSE
inaugurated in 1881, and with San Francisco in 1901. Since
that date the wire systems of several large Stock Exchange
commission houses have crossed the border to various Canadian
 cities. One Wall Street firm has even installed a private
wire by cable to Havana, Cuba. Stock Exchange firms also
have established branch offices or affiliated companies in the
leading centers of Europe. And when the steady growth of
the Stock Exchange as an international market and credit
center is realized, it seems patent that the future may witness
the extra-national extension of the wire systems of many Stock
Exchange houses.
At first considerable prejudice was shown against the new
“wire house.” It was thought that no firm could properly
control its business over such distances. There was even a
tendency to discriminate against the loans made by such houses,
because of the supposed unreliability of the business. If anything,
 just the opposite attitude is taken today, for, other
factors apart, the wire house represents a diversification of
business risk over many parts of the country.

435

The Wire Systems of Today.—Speaking of the extensive
modern use of private wire systems by financial and commercial
 firms, a leading New York financial publication® has
stated *

Now there are about a thousand private wires in operation, tapping
every city or locality of any importance in the United States and
Canada. It is estimated that they are more than 500,000 miles in
length, and represent a yearly expenditure of more than $1 5,000,000,
to which must of course be added the wages of the operators who
man them and the other expenses for which their lessees are liable.
It is therefore probable that the private wire system of America
costs more than twenty million dollars a year, and perhaps the total
is a great deal higher . . .
Between New York and Chicago it is estimated that there are 100
leased wires; eight between Chicago and the Pacific coast; 100 between
New York and Boston: 75 between New York and Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Washington: 10 between New York and points south
30 The Nerves of Wall Street,” in Commerce and Finance, June 22, 1921, p. 879.