Owing to the continued demand for the book, and to the changes which have occurred during the decade which has elapsed since it was written, it is now reprinted in revised form.
PARK LODGE, NEW BARNET, HERTS, _July, 1913_.
The Stock Exchange has been described as the mart of the world; as the nerve-centre of the politics and finances of nations; as the barometer of their prosperity and adversity; and so on. It has also been described as the bottomless pit of London, and as worse than all the hells. Perhaps, however, the Stock Exchange can best be defined and described as a market. Just as Smithfield is the market for meat and Covent Garden the market for flowers, fruit, and vegetables, so is the Stock Exchange the market for stocks and shares.
These stocks and shares, as everyone knows, are, roughly speaking, sleeping partnerships. The holder of railway stock is a part-proprietor of the railway, and is entitled to his proportion of its profits; the holder of shares in a mining company is similarly part-proprietor of the mine. Even although the holders of the stocks of a nation, such as Consols, or of the debenture stocks of a company, are creditors and not proprietors, they depend, for the income which those stocks yield them, upon revenue and profits, just as does a partner in a business.
It will at once be seen that although the Stock Exchange may be defined as a mere market, the wares that are displayed and dealt in are of such importance as to entitle it to the more ambitious definitions with which it has been exalted. It is worthy of being defined as the mart of the world, because these wares represent property in every part of the world, and because the orders which are executed in this mere market emanate from all over the world. The business of the Stock Exchange is more varied and cosmopolitan than that of any other mart, except, perhaps, the Money Market. The business of the Stock Exchange may be described as the business of businesses. The institution may be defined as the nerve-centre of the politics and finances of nations, because in this mere market all that makes history is focussed and finds instantaneous expression. It is worthy of being defined as the barometer of their prosperity and adversity, for a glance at the tone of this mere market, whose wares are more mercurial than these of any other mart, suffices to indicate their condition. It may almost be said that the price of Consols is the welfare of the world expressed in one figure.