ation the increase of the stock is necessary in order to
fairly represent the existing capital. It is said that some railway
stock has been "watered" in this way to an alarming extent, so that a
great deal of it is fictitious, yet though it exists only on paper it
ranks as the equal of the genuine stock when the dividends are paid.
Whether or not such an action really is justifiable, or even moral, I
leave to the Christian clergy and their followers to decide. The
promoters and directors of such concerns have at least hit upon a very
clever method for becoming rich, and if the securities of the original
shareholders are not injured, and the holders of the genuine and the
watered stock can share equally without endangering the interests of
all, perhaps such an action may be less blamable, but it is a new kind
of proceeding to Orientals.

I must not omit to mention, however, the confidence which is placed in
the honesty of the people in general; for example, you enter an
omnibus, you will find the driver, but no conductor to collect the
fare. "It is up to you" to put the fare into a box, and if you do not
pay no one will ask for it. Yet every fare is paid. I have never seen
a dishonest man who omitted to pay. This is a remarkable fact which I
have noticed nowhere but in America. I suppose it is because the
people are not poor, and as they are always able to pay the fare they
do so. They are too honest to cheat. It is certainly a good way to
encourage people to be honest, to put them on their honor and then rely
on their own sense of uprightness.

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 memb