OF THE GOVERNOR’S COMMITTEE ON SPECULATION IN SECURITIES AND COMMODITIES
_Hon. Charles E. Hughes, Governor, Albany, N. Y._:
_Dear Sir_: The committee appointed by you on December 14, 1908, to endeavor to ascertain
“what changes, if any, are advisable in the laws of the State bearing upon speculation in securities and commodities, or relating to the protection of investors, or with regard to the instrumentalities and organizations used in dealings in securities and commodities which are the subject of speculation,”
beg leave to submit the following report:
We have invited statements from those engaged in speculation and qualified to discuss its phases; we have taken testimony offered from various sources as to its objectionable features; we have considered the experience of American States and of foreign countries in their efforts to regulate speculative operations. In our inquiry we have been aided by the officials of the various exchanges, who have expressed their views both orally and in writing, and have afforded us access to their records.
Markets have sprung into being wherever buying and selling have been conducted on a large scale. Taken in charge by regular organizations and controlled by rules, such markets become exchanges. In New York City there are two exchanges dealing in securities and seven in commodities. In addition there is a security market, without fixed membership or regular officers, known as the “Curb.” The exchanges dealing in commodities are incorporated, while those dealing in securities are not.
Commodities are not held for permanent investment, but are bought and sold primarily for the purpose of commercial distribution; on the other hand, securities are primarily held for investment; but both are subject of speculation. Speculation consists in forecasting changes of value and buying or selling in order to take advantage of them; it may be wholly legitimate, pure gambling, or something partaking of the qualities of both. In some form it is a necessary incident of productive operations. When carried on in connection with either commodities or securities it tends to steady their prices. Where speculation is free, fluctuations in prices, otherwise violent and disastrous, ordinarily become gradual and comparatively harmless. Moreover, so far as commodities are concerned, in the absence of speculation, merchants and manufacturers would themselves be forced to carry the risks involved in changes of prices and to bear them in the intensified condition resulting from sudden and violent fluctuations in value. Risks of this kind which merchants and manufacturers still have to assume are reduced in amount, because of the speculation prevailing; and many of these milder risks they are enabled, by “hedging,” to transfer to others. For the merchant or manufacturer the speculator performs a service which has the effect of insurance.