Financial History Issue 118 (Summer 2016) | Page 39
HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW
ABOUT FINANCIAL HISTORY?
The First SEC?
continued from page 19
TRIVIAQUIZ
By Bob Shabazian
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
1. What city in the western United
States once served as a US Mint and
later became a state capital?
Carter Glass
abuses and widespread fraud associated
with the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and
the Great Depression. Ironically, both
William McAdoo (D. Cal.) and Carter
Glass (D. Va.) were serving in the Senate
when that legislation was passed in 1933
and 1934.
McAdoo’s political and social life were
otherwise notable. He had twice been a
viable presidential candidate before joining the Senate. He divorced Eleanor Wilson in 1934 and, at age 71, married a
26-year-old nurse. McAdoo fathered nine
children from three marriages. He died at
the age of 77 unrecognized for his role in
laying the foundation for the laws that still
govern America’s securities markets.
Jerry W. Markham is a Professor of Law
at the Florida International University
College of Law in Miami.
3. What is the sum of all the numbers
on a roulette wheel?
4. On average, how long does a $20
bill remain in circulation?
5. In the mid-1800s, brokers on the
New York Stock Exchange were fined
for standing on chairs or tables on
the trading floor. How much was the
fine?
6. Electronic transactions accounting
for trillions of dollars’ worth of
securities orders are processed
each day through a data center
in northern New Jersey. What is it
called and where is it located?
7. In what state did the first US gold
rush take place?
8. Approximately how much currency
does the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing produce each day?
9. In what years did the two largest
20th century stock market crashes
occur?
10. Who invented the first stock ticker?
Sources
Curtis, Frederic H. The CIC of the Federal
Reserve Board. Address Before the City
Treasures and Collectors Association of
Massachusetts at Boston. March 23, 1918.
Markham, Jerry W. A Financial History of the
United States: From J.P. Morgan to the Institutional Investors (1900–1970). New York:
M.E. Sharpe. 2002.
1. Carson City, Nevada 2. Since 1928 3.
666 4. Four years 5. $1 6. Equinix, in
Secaucus, NJ 7. North Carolina 8. $300
million 9. 1929 and 1987 10. Edward A.
Calahan, in 1867
concluded, sought the retention of the
CIC. Those bankers advocated continuance of the CIC in order to allow federal
monitoring of capital raising efforts. That
review would have had two goals. First,
it would have assured that new securities
issues were compatible with returning the
country to a peacetime footing. Second,
the bankers thought that review by the
CIC was needed to suppress fraudulent
offerings of securities to the public.
Carter Glass, a founder of the Federal
Reserve Board, became Treasury Secretary
in December 1918. He also sought federal
anti-fraud legislation to suppress the sales
of worthless securities, but the legislation
sought by Glass and the CIC was not
enacted.
After a sharp increase in speculation in
1919, President Woodrow Wilson again
asked Congress to pass a federal securities
law. He thought legislation was necessary
to stop excessive speculation and to curtail fraudulent securities promotions that
continued to fleece investors of millions
of dollars. Several bills were thereafter
introduced in Congress to regulate the
sale of securities at the federal level, but
the effort failed.
The enactment of federal legislation
imposing federal regulation over the securities markets would have to await the
President Woodrow Wilson
2. Harriet Tubman’s portrait is about
to re