Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/125

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STOCKBRIDGE 91 STOCK EXCHANGE 1885 he was associate professor of chem- istry at the Massachusetts A^icultural (College; from 1885 to 1889 professor of chemistry and geology at the Imperial College of Agriculture and Engineering, Japan; from 1887 to 1889 chief chemist of the Japanese Government; from 1890 to 1894 president of the N. D. Agricul- tural College and director of the N. D. Experiment Station; from 1897 to 1906 professor of agriculture at the Florida Agricultural College and director of State agricultural institutions; and from 1906 on, editor of the "Southern Rur- alist," Atlanta, Ga. He was a member of many domestic and foreign chemical, agricultural, educational and scientific societies, and from 1916 to 1917 presi- dent of the Farmers' National Congress. Besides writing reports and magazine articles on agricultural and scientific topics, he published "Rocks and Soils" (1888) ; and "Land Teaching" (1910). STOCK DOVE (Columba xnas) , the common wild pigeon, 14 inches in length, and with a general bluish gray plumage^ the breast being purplish. It raises two or three broods in a season and builds its nest in a tree stump or in a rabbit burrow. STOCK EXCHANGE, a place and in- stitution where securities are sold and purchased. In its origin it was, as the name implies, merely a place to buy and sell, and as such has had its place in the history of every town and city since men began to barter with each other. In its early history it merely represented an agreed on locality where people could conveniently meet, but the desirability of an enclosed space soon became ap- parent and in some places, Paris among them, buildings for the convenience of those who desired to use them were erected at the public expense. In course of time the management became organ- ized and rules were made for the en- forcing of agreements. The more well- to-do negotiators formed organizations which admitted new members only on the fulfilling of certain conditions. The opportunities afforded of making money made admittance to the organization highly profitable. Modern trading, national and inter- national, has elevated the Stock Ex- change as an institution to an im- portance such as it never held before, and in the capitals of the larger countries transactions of enormous value are now put through each day. The Paris Bourse long held the position of importance in Europe, but later the Stock Exchange in London, lo- cated in the capital city of a great em- pire, which the facility of intercourse made possible by modern invention has made communicable despite the barrier of great distances, began to occupy the paramount position. Dealing almost en- tirely in home securities at first the Lon- don Stock Exchange began a little more than a century ago to operate in the shares and certificates of other coun- tries. These dealings increased as it be- came a practice to seek loans in London, and in course of time private securities, such as those belonging to railways, be- gan to be handled along with government stock. Towards the end of the nine- teenth century industrial stocks made their appearance in the trading and methods for transferring the stock of mining and similar companies from the promoters to the public began to be de- veloped along lines that did not always prove legitimate. In the New York Stock Exchange the principal part of the trading was from the beginning in rail- way stock, for the institution rose to importance in an era of great expansion in the railway systems of the country. In recent years following the practice in European countries industrial stocks have figured largely in the New York Stock Exchange, and their introduction signalized a tremendous development in the amount of business conducted. For- eign securities did not assume propor- tions of importance in the New York Stock Exchange till the opening of the recent great war. American industrial expansion was so great as to be quite enough to attract the attention of brok- ers, but the early years of the European War and the requirements of European countries could not but have its influence in the United States, and the dealings on the New York Stock Exchange re- flected the importance of the transactions that were being made in the United States and other countries at the in- stance of the belligerent powers. On the other hand government bonds have never figured conspicuously in the dealings of the New York Stock Exchange, agree- ments relating to them being managed in the main outside of the exchange. This applies also to the foreign govern- ment loans that have been negotiated from time to time in the country before the war and during it. The exchanges of the various large cities in the United States have built up traditions of their own which have arisen from the dis- tinctive requirements of their local busi- ness interests. Boston has had an im- portant hand in the control of copper- mining companies. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange has all along held im- portance as the trading center for street-