U.S. Business: Proper, but Innocuous

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange had closed down for the day of July 9, and in San Francisco, three time zones behind, the Pacific Coast Exchange had responded as usual by sinking into afternoon doldrums. Many brokers had left the floor and were just settling down to leisurely lunches in the dining room of the Merchants' Exchange Club when page boys began moving quickly from table to table whispering an urgent message: "The Federal Reserve Board has just cut the margin from 70% to 50%."

Throwing their napkins into the Crab Louis, or whatever else was before them, the San...

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