For nearly half a year after the European war started the stock and cotton exchanges were closed, but the stoppage of practically all business in securities and cotton was accompanied by a depression in nearly all business. The opening of the exchanges was a signal for general rejoicing and the resumption of industrial activity. The grain exchanges had remained open and the largest wheat crop ever produced was mar keted with extraordinary rapidity.
There are, of course, those who dishonestly abuse the facilities of the exchanges, but their number is not great. There are far more, unhappily, who ig norantly and foolishly abuse these facilities. These are people who approach the market in a gambling spirit, who know nothing of its purposes and are in capable of understanding the mighty influences which dominate it. They seek to become wealthy over night, without work, by merely playing with the fluc tuations in the quotations made on the exchanges.
It is not to be wondered at that in the free buying and selling of such a vast amount of flexible and easily transferable property as corporate shares, many ques tionable practices should arise. Yet the exchanges have thrown about the whole business of stock dealing so many safeguards and protections, they have so regulated the brokerage business and forced so much higher standards of business honor among brokers than would otherwise prevail, that it is probable all the evils are more than offset by the benefits. And
this without considering the fact that the economic functions of the exchanges must be performed some how, no matter what the evils may be.
12. Why New York is supreme.—The New York Stock Exchange is supreme in this country, as are the London and Paris exchanges in Europe, altho those of Berlin, Frankfort, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Vienna and Petrograd are fairly important in their own countries. The New York Stock Exchange overshadows all others in this country because New York is the financial center of the nation.
As the other cities are becoming important financial centers the prestige of the New York Stock Exchange not only remains but increases relatively faster than the city itself. While other cities become great cen ters for a particular locality, New York remains the national financial center, the national center for cor poration headquarters and banking on a large scale. What perhaps is even more important is that New York obviously has the closest and most extensive com mercial and financial relations with other countries. This fact alone would raise its stock exchange far above all others.