OTHER AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGES 1. Consolidated Stock Exchange of New York.— One must be careful not to confuse the Consolidated Stock Exchange of New York with the New York Stock Exchange, altho both deal, for the most part, in the same securities. The Consolidated Exchange carries on small operations in a few mining shares and in some others not listed on the Stock Exchange, but it is essentially a secondary market for some of the more active and popular securities on the big Board. It is said that the Consolidated is the third largest market for securities in the country, ranking next to the New York Curb. The assertion is even made that, at times, its total sales equal the combined total of all the stock exchanges outside of New York City. At other times, however, its dealings do not much exceed those on the Boston Stock Exchange. It is rarely that the dealings on the Consolidated ex ceed one-fifth of those on the New York Stock Ex change.
The unit of trading on the Consolidated is ten shares, as on the London Stock Exchange, and it is a fractional or odd-lot market of no small proportions and importance. Of course, large transactions are often effected, but the exchange is essentially a market for small operations. In times of panic or of unusual stress it often assumes increased impor tance, but for the most part this exchange does not initiate movements in stocks, and the prices on its floor tend to follow rather than to lead those on the New York Stock Exchange for the same securities.
While there are a number of very active commis sion brokers in the Consolidated, this exchange is noted for the fact that with a comparatively limited outlay, a man may become a member and trade on his own account. The Consolidated maintains a ticker service of its own. A form of listing requirements is prescribed, but original listings are rare; this exchange merely trades, for the most part, in stocks already ad mitted to the Stock Exchange.
2. History and present exchange is an outgrowth of what was known, about four dec ades ago, as.the New York Mining Stock Exchange, which was organized because of the necessity that arose of having separate quarters for the growing business done in mining shares. Two years later
it absorbed its fifteen-months-old rival, the American Mining and Stock Exchange and, in 1886, it added three more exchanges, the National Petroleum, the Miscellaneous Security Board and the New York Petroleum Exchange and Stock Board. At first the Consolidated conducted no business except that in mining stocks and petroleum pipe-line certificates, but it has long since ceased to deal in the latter and deals now only slightly in the former. The Consolidated has moved several times, and now has a large build ing of its own at Broad and Beaver Streets. It has a slightly larger membership than the York Stock Exchange. The present cost of membership is about $500.
The Consolidated broker charges of one per cent for buying, and the same for selling, from 10 to 50 shares, and MG of one per cent for more than 50 shares. If the trading is done thru fellow mem bers, the commission is %2 of one per cent. The Consolidated has a clearing house, where the monetary balances come up for settlement each day, but clear ances in stock balances are made semi-weekly only, instead of daily, as on the New York Stock Ex change.
3. Stock exchanges outside New of New York City there are a number of stock ex changes, but for the most part they are of relatively small importance. Among the first twenty cities of the country there are six, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Newark, Minneapolis, Jersey City and Kansas City which have no stock exchange. In the case of two of the cities the absence of a stock exchange is readily explained by the proximity to New York City; in the other cities the interest in grain and other produce overshadows that in securities.
Stock sales on the exchanges of the other cities for 1915, the cities being named in the order of their population were as follows: 1 In forming any judgment as to the significance of these figures regard must be had for the stocks rep resented. In San Francisco and Los Angeles the stocks traded in, for the most part mining stocks, have a very low value. The total sales in San Francisco for instance represented a value of $17,036,794.