The. curb now possesses a staff of officers, corre sponding to those in control of any institution or cor poration,—chairman, secretary and treasurer and in addition a governing committee, and committees on arbitration, listing, complaints, commissions, member ships, etc. The rules and regulations adopted since its reorganization are rigidly enforced, resembling as they do in essence those of the other exchanges.
The membership of the curb registered a total of 334 in January, 1916, which is the largest in its his tory. There seems to be a tendency toward expan sion which bids fair to make the market second only to the New York Stock Exchange.
4. Present present war has greatly stimulated trade on the curb and some brokers maintain that now it is the second largest center of stock market activity in the whole world. At times during 1915 and 1916, dealings on the curb were larger than the any stock exchange in the world excepting only the New York Stock Exchange. The value of membership is $250. The committee is seriously con sidering raising this fee because of inability to ac commodate all applicants and because limitation of membership is a policy contemplated for the near future.
Owing partly to its increased prosperity and also to the desire of the better element to rid itself of the evils inherent in any free-for-all stock market, the curb was anxious, in 1916, to "go indoors." But such action is most unlikely. At various times two smaller exchanges in New York, the Produce and Con solidated, have both tried to appropriate curb stocks. "Calls" were held on the floor of the regular ex changes, but the real market stayed right out on the street where it had always been. One influential reformer connected with tlie Stock Exchange sug gested a combination of the better element of the curb brokers with the Consolidated Exchange brokers allowing them to become a junior department of the Stock Exchange and to meet in its New Street lobby. His idea was to bring into the august "board," but only as far as its lobby, the sheep on the curb and leave the goats outside. But the difficulty with this and all other separatist schemes is that the goats left outside would, in time, form a new market. of their own which
might become as powerful as the old curb.
5. Relation of the Stock Exchange to the curb.— Altho the Stock Exchange has no direct or official authority over the curb, more than three-fourths of all the business on the curb is transacted by clerks or members of stock exchange firms, or originates with them in behalf of themselves or their customers. But in every city, members of the organized stock ex changes are forbidden to belong to any other ex change in that city and if the curb should leave the open and go into a building, another exchange would be created. The New York Stock Exchange, for example, prohibits its members from trading on, or in any way affiliating with, other stock exchanges in the City of New York. Article XX, Section 4 reads thus : Dealing upon any other exchange in the City of New York or publicly outside of the Exchange, directly or indirectly, in securities listed or quoted on the Exchange, is forbidden ; any violation of this rule shall be deemed to be an act detri mental to the interest and welfare of the Exchange.
Thus Stock Exchange members are opposed to the curb going indoors and there are excellent reasons for their opposition.
6. Functions of the curb.—Indeed it is distinctly in the public interest that a great semi-organized street market should be kept up. It affords the public a place to obtain markets and quotations for thousands of cheap shares, which are not listed on the stock ex changes or on the curb for that matter, and which would otherwise have no market except that made by brokers over the telephone, at such prices as the brok ers chose to make. There are said to be as many as 5,000 different securities which find quotation on the curb, altho hardly more than 250 are noted in the regular quotation sheets and only about 300 are "listed." The functions of the curb market may be con sidered from several angles. First, it is a well known fact that the curb serves a ready and embracing market for security issues of a great many industrial, mining and miscellaneous enterprises, which con stantly make their appearance as capital expands into newer channels.