s and dangers of the situation. This came in the form of
a letter from the Baltimore Stock Exchange which contained the
following passage:--

"A representative New York Stock Exchange house has been guilty
of going directly to one of the Trust Companies here, and made
offerings of bonds dealt in on both your Exchange and our own, at
a large concession."

The Committee directed the Secretary to make the following reply:--

"In the matter of your letter of August 1, 1914, I am instructed
by the Special Committee appointed by the Governing Committee on
July 31, 1914, to inform you that in the opinion of said
Committee the offering down of securities in places where money
is loaned on securities is most reprehensible, and that members
of this Exchange ought not to engage therein. If possible, I
would like the name of the member of the New York Stock Exchange
who made such offer."

It may be urged in extenuation of the act of the Stock Exchange house
that, August 1st being only one day after the closing, a thorough
appreciation of the gravity of the situation had not yet become
general.

* * * * *

By August 5th the work of the Committee had assumed the form that was
to continue unremittingly until the Exchange reopened four and one
half months later. A constant stream of communications either by
letter or by personal appearance filled the days sometimes from nine
o'clock in the morning until six in the afternoon. The communications
asked advice and made suggestions of every conceivable kind, but,
above all, they were loaded with problems and difficult situations
which had grown out of the breakdown of the financial machinery in
general.

The labors of the Committee in striving to straighten out this
formidable tangle of business affairs led to their issuing a series of
rulings, which were binding upon all members of the Exchange. These
rulings were sent over the "Ticker" whenever they were passed, but on
August 5th it was decided to supplement the "Ticker" by distributing
the rulings in circular form, and thus insure the possession by every
member of a full copy of the entire number. It is a gratifying fact,
both from the standpoint of the Committee and of the Stock Exchange,
that no one of the very numerous rulings was a failure or had to be
rescinded, and that they were all accepted without cavil or serious
criticism by th