All stocks and bonds offered for sale in the Exchange are closely examined by a committee, and none can be dealt in until it is found to be a bona fide security. Two sessions of the Board are held daily, the morning session at half-past ten, and the afternoon session at one o'clock. The order of proceedings is the same on both occasions. Two lists of stocks, the Regular and the Free List, being called each time. The Regular List is made up in advance of the session, and must always be called, and called first. It is divided into five parts: 1. Miscellaneous Stocks; 2. Railroad Stocks; 3. State Bonds; 4. City Stocks; 5. Railroad Bonds.

The session is called to order by the Vice-president, after which the Secretary reads the minutes of the previous meeting. The Regular List is then called, and the work of the day begins. Very little interest is manifested in the call, of miscellaneous stocks. Bids are quickly made and accepted, and there is an evident desire to get through with this part of the routine as quickly as possible. The offers and sales are repeated by the Vice-president to the Secretary as fast as they are made, and the transactions are recorded by him in the minutes, while a clerk registers them on the blackboard on the platform. Should a dispute arise as to the purchase or sale of a security, an appeal is made to the Vice-president, whose decision is final.

Railroad stocks are next called, and in an instant the Board is in an uproar. Offers to sell and to purchase come in rapid succession, sometimes a score or more at a time, and are all yelled out at the top of the brokers' lungs. The noise is terrific, and it seems as if the operators had suddenly gone mad. A stranger can make nothing out of this confusion, but the keen eye of the Vice-president is everywhere on the throng, and his quick ear catches the offers and bids, and notes the sales, which are promptly communicated by him to the Secretary, who writes them down.

At the same time the clerk records them on the official blackboard, and the telegraph operator flashes them to all parts of New York, where they are noted on the long ribbons of the thousands of "Tickers" in the offices, hotels, saloons, restaurants, and bar-rooms of the city. Thanks to these "tickers," or recording instruments, men can watch the market, and buy and sell, miles away from the Stock Exchange, for the "ticker" keeps them informed, minute by minute, of the transaction there, and the telegraph puts them in instantaneous communication with their brokers.

The railroad list completed, the excitement subsides somewhat, and the other portions of the regular list are called, arousing more or less interest, according to the popularity of the stock or the condition of the market. Then the Free List is in order, and the members can request the Vice-president to call such securities as they wish to deal in. At the close of the Free List members may ask for the call of some stock that has been hurriedly passed over in the call of the Regular List. This completes the work of the Board, and the session comes to an end. The afternoon session is but a repetition of the morning's proceedings.