The most curious sight I have ever seen was the Stock Exchange in New York.
It is used as a market for the purchase and sale of various articles,
but there were no goods exposed for sale. I saw a good many people
running about talking, yelling and howling, and had I not been
informed beforehand what to expect I should have thought that the men
were getting ready, in their excitement, for a general all round fight.
However, I did not see any exchange of blows, and I did not hear
that any blood was shed.

Another remarkable feature of the scene was that I did not see
a single woman there; she was conspicuous by her absence.
Whether or not the rules of the Exchange allow her to become a member
I do not know; that is a question for the woman suffragists to investigate,
but I learned that it is a wealthy association consisting of 1,100 members,
and that to become a member one must be a citizen of the United States
of 21 years of age or more. The number of members is limited.
Persons obtain membership by election, or by the transfer
of the membership of a member who has resigned or died.
A new member who is admitted by transfer pays an initiation fee
of 2,000 gold dollars, in addition to a large fee to the transferrer,
for his "seat in the House". A member may transfer his seat to his son,
if the Committee of the Exchange approve, without charging for it;
but in all cases the transferree pays the above-mentioned initiation fee
of 2,000 gold dollars.

The prices for these seats vary, the fluctuations being due
to the upward or downward trend of the stock market. Within recent years
the price has risen considerably, and as much as 95,000 gold dollars
has been paid to the transferrer. This is much higher than the price