APPENDIX 
653 
thing is true among the 70 official Agents de Change in Paris. In 
the stock exchanges of London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, and other 
European centers where membership is not limited in this way, no 
such transferable value attaches to a membership. The price of a 
New York Stock Exchange “seat” varies according to supply and 
demand, and represents roughly a capitalization of its current and 
prospective earning power; through this latter fact it is a fair indi- 
cation of the contemporary activity of the stock market. Despite 
the valuable real estate holdings, etc., of the New York Stock Ex- 
change, the “asset value” of a seat is usually only a small proportion 
of its price. 
The prices of New York Stock Exchange seats have risen tre- 
mendously during the last sixty years. Members who joined the 
Exchange in the 60’s paid as little as $500 for them. In the boom year 
of 1882 the price rose to $32,500, but fell back to $20,000 in the panic 
of 1884. In 1885, however, they rose to a record high price of 
$34,000. In the panic of 1893 they collapsed to $15.250 and fell 
further to $14,000 in 1896. Thereafter, under active stock markets, 
the price rose to $80,000 in 1901; in 1902 it reacted to $60,000, in 1909 
reached $96,000, and in 1913 dropped to $37,000. 
After the war, the augmented activity on the Stock Exchange 
led to a huge rise in the price of its seats. From a low point of 
$77,000 in 1921 the price passed through $100,000 in 1924, touched 
$150,000 in 1925, $200,000 in 1927, and $600,000 in 1929. During 
1922-28, the average number of seats annually transferred was slightly 
in excess of 85 (see Annual Report of the President, 1928-29, p. 98). 
(XVIc) Concerning the legal bearing of an expulsion of a member 
from the Exchange, John G. Milburn, counsel for the New York 
Stock Exchange, testified before the Committee on Banking and 
Currency of the United States Senate as follows: 
“What then is the remedy of the member who has been tried 
and expelled? He may bring a suit in court, claiming that he has 
been illegally expelled. He can have all the proceedings before the 
board of governers produced in court. . . . 
“On the trial of his suit there is produced in court all the pro- 
ceedings before the board of governors, including the testimony taken 
and any documentary evidence, and the settled law is that to sustain 
the action of the governors it must appear, first, that the written 
charges alleged a specific violation of a rule; second, that the member 
had a hearing; third, that there was evidence to sustain the determina- 
tion of the board of governors; and fourth, that the board of gov- 
ernors acted in good faith. These are the requirements formulated in