TABLE 17.-Branch and correspondents' offices on private-wire circuits of Chicago Board of Trade members having offices of their own in Chicago, as of March, 1918-Continued.

TABLE 17.—Branch and correspondents' offices on private-wire circuits of Chicago Board of Trade members having offices of their own in Chicago, as of March, 1918-Continued.

TABLE 17.-Branch and correspondents' offices on private-wire circuits of Chicago Board of Trade members having offices of their own in Chicago, as of March, 1918-Continued.

The number of offices in the various cities, that is, in the large ones, listed as having private-wire connection with Chicago is not always fully indicated. On the other hand, an office may be on the circuits of two Chicago houses, or on both an American Telephone & Telegraph and a Western Union circuit, in which case it appears twice in the table. Probably such duplications are overbalanced by omissions of multiple offices with direct connections in New York and other very large cities. The question of direct telegraph private wire connection in the large cities is technical rather than fundamental. For the transmission of orders and other incidents of the transaction of grain futures business within the city, the telephone is more convenient. Quotations (but not the continuous quotations 1) as well as orders and confirmations-if the quotations are not available by ticker-may be locally transmitted by telephone as well as by means of the telegraph, so that the extent of the private-wire system is to be measured by the number of cities and towns it reaches, rather than by the number of offices connected with Chicago by private wire in a particular city.

SUMMARY BY STATES AND NUMBER OF CITIES AND TOWNS SERVED.— Following is a summary by States of the number of private-wire offices in the United States and Canada. It has been compiled directly from the detailed list above discussed. There are more than 500 such offices outside Chicago.

Rule V of Regulations for the Control of Market Reports (Chicago).

TABLE 18.-Number of private-wire offices outside Chicago, and of cities and towns having such offices, by States and grand divisions, March 1, 1918.

It should be noted that the number of offices listed and summarized is not comprehensive of offices with so-called "direct wire" connection with Chicago Board of Trade houses. Predominantly grain and predominantly stock systems often exchange business and are ready to offer to customers equal facilities on either of the great exchanges as well as in cotton, coffee, etc. According to the indications of the 1914 data, in evidence in the Interstate Commerce Commission case, the number of private-wire offices not on lines leased by Board of Trade members with offices in Chicago should be about equal to the number on such lines. But the very rapid growth in the mileage of grain lines after 1914 suggests the possibility that this ratio has changed. Included with the Chicago offices as tabulated are, of course, many that do more business in stocks than in grain and some that have practically no grain businesss.

The total number of cities and towns served is 206, including Canada, 199 of which are in the United States. This figure is not of a nature to be affected by duplications and omissions, while the number of offices is both incomplete because of pony and other connections within the large cities and more than complete for some purposes because of the presumption that an office that is on two circuits from Chicago is counted twice. But the number 500 is doubtless fairly representative of the total number of private-wire offices in question.

EXCLUDED GROUPS.-There are two groups of brokers whose privatewire offices are not included in the above statistics, those who are members of the Chicago Board of Trade but have no offices in Chicago, and those who are not members. The latter class has no great volume of futures business, else one would expect Board memberships to be acquired in order to obtain a share of the commission on the transactions. Such reasoning is not entirely valid, however, because the profit may be obtained by exchange of business with Chicago Board members who have no stock-exchange membership and therefore obtain no commission on such incidental stock business as may come to them. Since a corporation can not hold a membership in the New York Stock Exchange, this group of grain concerns is considerable in number and includes some of the most important Chicago Board members. For the private-wire offices of the class of brokers without membership in the board no data are available. For broker and banker firms with such membership, but without their own offices in Chicago, the number of cities and towns served additional to those previously listed has been compiled and is as follows: New England States, 11; Middle Atlantic, 19; East North Central, 4; South Atlantic, 14; East South Central, 8; West South Central, 3; Canada, 3; total, 62, including the 3 in Canada. These additions, it is worthy of note, are mainly in the East and South. The number of towns served directly by the wire systems previously tabulated is 206.