usually paid by new members in Stock Exchanges in Europe,
yet when a seat becomes vacant there is no lack of purchasers.
It is clear that a seat in the "House" is very valuable to the holder.
In the building each member has a stall allotted to him
where he has a telephone for his exclusive use; this enables him
to communicate every transaction done in the Exchange to his business house,
and to keep up connections with his constituents in other cities.
When one of his constituents, say in Washington, D.C.,
desires to buy a certain security the order is conveyed to him direct,
and executed without delay. I have seen a transaction of this kind
executed in ten minutes, though there was a distance of several hundred miles
between client and broker. The amount of business transacted
in the "House" every day is enormous, aggregating many millions of dollars.
New York also has other Exchanges, where different articles of merchandise
are purchased and sold, such as corn, coffee, cotton, etc.,
and the volume of business transacted daily in that "Empire City"
must be immense, and almost beyond calculation.

Of course there are Exchanges in Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati,
St. Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and other cities,
all conducted on similar lines, but the prices are always governed
by the quotations from New York. This skilful and systematic
way of doing business is remarkable, and I am inclined to believe
that New York is ahead of many cities in South America and in Europe.
No wonder that the services of Americans are required by other countries
in industrial and technical concerns. Some years ago,
when I was in Madrid, I noticed that the street tram-car
was running according to the American system, and upon inquiry
I was told it was controlled by an American syndicate.