This is the age of publicity This is the age of publicity, whether we like it or not. Democracy is inquisitive and won't take things for granted. It will not be satisfied with dignified silence, still less with resentful silence.
Business and business men must come out of their old time seclusion, they must vindicate their usefulness, they must prove their title, they must claim and defend their rights and stand up for their convictions. Nor will business or the dignity of business men be harmed in the process.
No healthy organism is hurt by exposure to the open air. No dignity is worth having or merited or capable of being long preserved which cannot hold its own in the market place.
Democracy wants "to be shown." It is no longer sufficient for the successful man to claim that he has won his place by hard work, energy, foresight and integrity.
Democracy insists rightly that a part of every man's ability belongs to the community. Democracy watches more and more carefully from year to The use of the power that goes with successyear what use is being made of the rewards which are bestowed upon material success, and particularly whether the power which goes with success is used wisely and well, with due sense of responsibility and self-restraint, with due regard for the interests of the community.
And if the consensus of enlightened public opinion should come to conclude that on the whole it is not so used, the people will find means to limit those rewards and to curtail that power.
And what is true of the public attitude towards individuals holds good equally of its attitude towards organizations such as the Stock Exchange.
There can be little doubt that a great deal of misconception prevails as to its methods, spirit and practices, as to its functions, purposes and its place in the country's economic structure.
It is of great and urgent importance that the Stock Exchange should leave nothing undone to get itself better and more correctly understood. It should not only not avoid the fullest publicity and scrutiny, but it should welcome and seek them.
It has nothing to hide and it should be glad to show that it hasThe Stock Exchange a National Institution nothing to hide. It should miss no opportunity to explain patiently and in good temper what it is and stands for, to correct misunderstandings and erroneous conception.