usion,
they must vindicate their usefulness, they must prove their title, they
must claim and defend their rights and stand up for their convictions.
Nor will business or the dignity of business men be harmed in the
process.

No healthy organism is hurt by exposure to the open air. No dignity is
worth having or merited or capable of being long preserved which cannot
hold its own in the market place.

Democracy wants "to be shown." It is no longer sufficient for the
successful man to claim that he has won his place by hard work, energy,
foresight and integrity.

[Sidenote: _The use of the power that goes with success_]

Democracy insists rightly that a part of every man's ability belongs to
the community. Democracy watches more and more carefully from year to
year what use is being made of the rewards which are bestowed upon
material success, and particularly whether the power which goes with
success is used wisely and well, with due sense of responsibility and
self-restraint, with due regard for the interests of the community.

And if the consensus of enlightened public opinion should come to
conclude that on the whole it is not so used, the people will find
means to limit those rewards and to curtail that power.

And what is true of the public attitude towards individuals holds good
equally of its attitude towards organizations such as the Stock
Exchange.

There can be little doubt that a great deal of misconception prevails
as to its methods, spirit and practices, as to its functions, purposes
and its place in the country's economic structure.

It is of great and urgent importance that the Stock Exchange should
leave nothing undone to get itself better and more correctly
understood. It should not only not avoid the fullest publicity and
scrutiny, but it should welcome and seek them.

[Sidenote: _The Stock Exchange a National Institution_]

It has nothing to hide and it should be glad to show that it has
nothing to hide. It should miss no opportunity to explain patiently and
in good temper what it is and stands for, to correct misunderstandings
and erroneous conception.

If it is attacked from any quarter deserving of attention, it should go
to the trouble of defending itself. If it is made the object of
calumny, it should contradict and confound the slanderer.

Its members should ever remember that while in theory the Stock
Exchange is merely a market for the buying and selling of securities,
actually