APPENDIX 
599 
shares were transferred to it. The proposal has also frequently been 
made to install a duplicate stock ticker system, and thus place—say— 
industrial shares on one stock ticker and rails and utilities on the 
other. The difficulty with this proposal is that it would apparently 
necessitate a duplication of stock ticker wires all over the United 
States—an enormous undertaking. The new ticker machine, however, 
has provided a basic solution to the whole problem. 
It was unfortunate that the new ticker machines were not com- 
pletely in operation during the 1929 panic. During the days when stock 
sales exceeded 10,000,000 shares, it was impossible for the ticker 
system to keep abreast of the market. On October 29, when reported 
sales reached 16,400,000 shares, the ticker did not stop until 5:32 p.M. 
—two hours and a half after the closing of the market. As President 
Richard Whitney stated in his address (Boston, June 10, 1930) “The 
Work of the New York Stock Exchange in the Panic of 1929”: 
“The Exchange authorities, to relieve this situation, published 
prices of leading issues at ten minute intervals on its less crowded 
bond ticker. But this palliative, although useful, was far from suffi 
cient to allay the public confusion. Many sellers of stock were unable 
to learn the prices at which they had sold, while potential buyers could 
not learn current prices of shares promptly enough to enable them to 
make purchases which they might otherwise have been willing to do. 
The mechanical limitations of the ticker system thus considerably 
aggravated the public hysteria.” 
Apart from actual price quotations, the ticker tape is used for 
several other purposes. Before the “opening” it is tested by the 
repetition of figures and letters in sequence but without meaning. 
Also, official notices are printed upon it, such as dates when certain 
stocks will sell “ex-dividend,” or announcements that certain securi- 
ties will or will not be “good deliveries” on Exchange contracts. New 
‘ssues just listed will be assigned a new ticker symbol. Notices of 
suspension of trading are printed there; at 9:55 A.M. on the historic 
morning of July 31, 1914, appeared the official announcement of the 
closing of the Exchange. During the 1929 panic, notices concerning 
emergency measures were similarly released on the bond and news 
tickers. In this way, the whole financial district can be placed on 
notice regarding details of the Exchange business, a great facility in 
standardizing security practices. 
The ticker also serves as an alarm clock to Wall Street. At 14 
minutes after 2 p.m. “DELivEry TIME” appears on the tape, after 
which quotations are suspended temporarily, and fifteen distinct beats 
follow on the ticker. The last beat marks 2:12 p.Mm.. which is the