New Exchange Head

Each May, the 1,100 members of the New York Stock Exchange elect a President. This year, upon the retirement of Seymour L. Cromwell, President since 1921, E.H.H. Simmons was chosen.

Mr. Simmons became a member of the Exchange in 1900 and a Governor in 1909; for the past three years, as Vice President, he has been connected with a great number of its special and standing committees. Forty-seven years of age, he is a member of the firm of Rutter & Gross. Mr. Simmons is known in Wall street for his judicial poise, executive ability, unlimited courage. His first three initials are those of the great railroad master Edward H. Harriman, for whom he was named and to whom he is related. The new Stock Exchange head is said to resemble his remarkable namesake; "he never starts fights, never avoids them."

The position of President of the New York Stock Exchange is one of the highest and most responsible posts in American finance. It carries no salary, compels the holder largely to give up his business as a broker on the Exchange floor. This hardship has recently been lessened by allowing a partner of the Pres.dent to take care of his buying and selling duties there; this is the only case where any one not the owner of a Stock Exchange "seat" can engage in dealings on its "floor." In recent years it has been customary to reelect a new Exchange President for several terms.

The New York Stock Exchange dates back to 1817, when it was organized under the name of the "New York Stock and Exchange Board." A century ago this new brokers' market had only 30-odd members and dealt in issues of securities worth only a few million dollars. Today the "Big Board" has 1,100 members and some 500 member-firms, which have over 500 branch offices and 2,500 correspondents' offices all over the country and even beyond its borders; its listed stocks and bonds at par are worth about $60,000,000,000. Excepting only the Stock Exchange in London, it is the largest stock exchange in the world, and its volume of trading is probably greater than London's.