Those who bought canal stocks at the Pittsburgh Exchange Center were basically the wealthy elite from Philadelphia and its surrounding areas.
Before leaving the East, they were largely pessimistic about America's prospects for independence, and many worried their homes would be destroyed by war, so they mostly sold their property before coming here. Undoubtedly, these people had large sums of money in their pockets. Many even kept their money at home rather than depositing it in banks that charged safekeeping fees. After arriving in Pittsburgh, although they invested in some projects, Pittsburgh was, after all, a city of only tens of thousands of people, without as many business opportunities to seize, so most of their money remained in their hands.
After the victory of the Battle of Philadelphia, many returned to the East for development and livelihood. But those who remained were people with a deeper understanding of the future; they knew America's strength was not comparable to Britain's, and even if it won, it would certainly not happen in just a year or two. The British army might arrive at any time, forcing them to flee back to Pittsburgh. Rather than constantly moving between two places, it was better to stay here now. Even without income, living off savings for the sake of life and limb was better than going to the dangerous East.
Being people with keen business acumen, they immediately thought of the high returns of Charles' canal stocks upon hearing about them. They swarmed over, ready to seize the opportunity to make a fortune.
Although they were unfamiliar with stock trading, they hadn't not heard of it. After a brief explanation, they generally understood what was happening. Many bold and intelligent individuals, grasping the trading rules, immediately seized the opportunity and began trading directly. Many who still didn't understand also clamored around, joining in the excitement.
"Sir, something is wrong. The two canal stocks have each risen by several shillings per share, but our railway company's stock has fallen by several pence." Greenspan had just finished arranging the stock trading matters when he came to report bad news to Charles.
"Fallen?" Charles was surprised.
Such a promising stock had actually fallen! These short-sighted fellows! Should he buy it back? Although this meant earning a few pence per share, it was a significant loss for the company's overall market value. Moreover, the issuer's intervention would definitely be a major blow to the stock market and this stock.
Forget it, let it fall. He wouldn't bother with it. The stock market has risks, and he should be prepared for some losses.
"Yes! Many who bought the railway company's stock said they treated it like the canal company's stock. Later, when they heard it was something that hadn't appeared yet, they preferred to sell it at a reduced price. So now, all the shares listed for sale are from the railway company, each several pence lower than our issue price. And those listed for purchase are all for the canal company's stock, each several shillings higher than the issue price." Greenspan sighed helplessly.
"Haha! That's how stocks are. They rise and fall. This railway company stock is definitely a potential stock. Greenspan, tell them to write a sentence at the entrance of the exchange: 'The stock market has risks, it's better to make tofu...' Uh, wrong, it's 'The stock market has risks, enter with caution.'" Charles spoke smoothly, almost using that famous saying from later generations, but fortunately, he realized and quickly corrected himself.
"Oh! Okay." Greenspan nodded, not understanding the meaning of 'it's better to make tofu' just now, and went downstairs in a daze to rearrange and get busy.
Charles was somewhat mentally prepared for the possible fluctuations, profits, losses, and even potential ruin that the stock market could bring. But now, suddenly hearing that his own stock had fallen, he truly realized that the stock market was indeed a place full of risks.
Just as Charles, who had clearly made a lot of money, was still pretending to be profound upstairs alone, Greenspan came upstairs again with a few people.
"Sir, these gentlemen are big landowners from Ohio. Hearing that our stock exchange center welcomes other companies to list, they want to talk to you. They want to issue stocks to raise some funds." Greenspan introduced the people behind him.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen! Greenspan, have someone bring some Wuyi tea to entertain our esteemed guests." Charles smiled, inviting these well-dressed, clearly wealthy individuals to be seated.
Since these people could see the role of the stock market for a company, they were definitely people with great business insight, and he should train good relations with them.
"Councilor Charles, I am Tata Benben, and these are some of my fellow villagers. We all heard that you allow other companies to list here to raise funds, and we'd like to ask how exactly this fundraising works. Is it like the continental stock exchanges in London? Can we get cash immediately, and what conditions will we be bound by after receiving it?" One of them, who seemed to be the leader, immediately asked eagerly.
"Please forgive us, Councilor Charles. My partner urgently needs a sum of money, and your bank is unwilling to lend to us. Hearing that your stock exchange allows us to freely raise funds, we eagerly came to ask." Another person apologized for Tata Benben, who had rushed to ask at the beginning.
"Haha! It's nothing, I can understand the feeling when you urgently need funds." Charles smiled, indicating he didn't mind.
Through conversation, Charles quickly learned that these big landowners from Ohio had discovered a large copper mine on their land. They wanted to mine it but lacked sufficient funds, so they thought of getting a loan from Pittsburgh Bank. Unexpectedly, Greenspan, fearing a run on the bank when the Philadelphia magnates left Pittsburgh, strictly limited the loan amounts. Their requested loan amount was too large, so it was not approved.
Charles approved of their approach of issuing stocks to raise funds. However, he also secretly worried that if every time a mineral was discovered, they came to the stock exchange to issue stocks, who would know how much their mineral reserves were? If he agreed just like that, it would likely attract some fraudsters in the future. Without Matching measures, if anyone claimed to have discovered minerals on a piece of land, it could lead to a rush of stock purchases by investors. Then, the issuers would abscond with the money, and investors' money would be lost. Although he would not be responsible for this, it would inevitably affect the stock market's reputation.
In fact, many famous early stock markets had been hollowed out by such shell companies. At that time, when many companies listed, as long as there was a person or a company to guarantee it, a large number of shareholders invested money in these companies that had guarantees but no long-term credit, only claiming to own an industry somewhere. By the time those companies
received the money, they would turn around and leave. The shareholders would then discover that the guarantor company had also been hollowed out, and ultimately, the investments were lost. Shareholders had no choice but to jump from buildings or into rivers.
It wasn't until modern times that stock trading became standardized, stipulating that only companies operating for several years with good performance were allowed to list, thus avoiding this type of trouble. This way, at least after shareholders bought shares of those companies, they didn't have to worry about the company absconding with the money. No matter how much the stock fell, as long as it wasn't delisted, it would eventually rise again; the meat would still be in their own pot.
What made Charles difficult was that he couldn't spend so much time training a company's reputation and performance now. Moreover, his own company was launched without any guarantee, relying entirely on his own credit. Naturally, he couldn't demand that others meet such conditions, as this would restrict the development of a free stock market.
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In the later Chinese stock market, stamp duty revenue in a single bull market year reached tens of billions of yuan. When the stock market thrives, that is a very large income. Charles would definitely not miss out on such a large sum of money just to train a stable and reputable stock market.
"Gentlemen, there is no doubt that you can obtain funds after issuing shares. However, to prevent anyone from falsely claiming to have mineral deposits and issuing shares, we must implement some necessary security measures. That is, you must mortgage your land in court and issue shares whose value does not exceed 20% more than the market value of your land, which means you can raise a maximum of 1.2 times your land assets in share capital. Additionally, there must be a guarantee from a reputable individual whose assets are not less than 20% of the funds you raise. What do you think?" Charles proposed the conditions.
He considered it repeatedly and felt that requiring long-term good operating performance for listed companies, as in later generations, was certainly impossible. He could only imitate bank loans and issue shares with collateral. This way, although it would somewhat limit the scale of listed stocks, it would at least regularize and secure things much more.
"Sir, we came to raise funds precisely because we couldn't get a bank loan. Now, being able to obtain 20% more funds than from a bank is already beyond our expectations. Of course, we agree." Tata Benben immediately nodded in agreement.
Charles smiled and nodded. It seemed that this Tata Benben should be the owner of the copper mine.
Copper ore is also a scarce resource. In fact, cannons, especially large-caliber fortress artillery, are generally cast from copper. During the Battle of Philadelphia, the British army could pull its fortress guns to the front lines to fire, while the American army's artillery could only fire from within fortifications. This was because the materials used for the cannons by both sides were different. The British army used mature copper-cast cannons, while the American army used special pig iron-cast cannons from the Coal and Steel Conglomerate. Their performance was similar, and the American army's even had a slightly longer range, but the weight difference between the two was significant. In terms of performance, the British army's copper-cast cannons were definitely superior.
For army artillery, besides caliber and range, the most crucial factor is mobility. Heavy iron cannons are generally only equipped in small calibers; large-caliber iron cannons are only equipped on naval warships that do not require frequent movement. Charles' Coal and Steel Conglomerate's iron-cast cannons were fine for small-caliber field artillery, but large-caliber artillery was definitely not welcomed by the Continental Congress. Using them now was only a last resort. Now with a copper mine, this was simply a godsend.
Charles looked at these landowners who held the copper mine, eyeing their copper ore supply.
"Councilor, we should not need any special conditions to raise funds here, right?" The one who had apologized earlier, noticing Charles' unusual gaze, asked again.
"Haha! Of course, issuing stocks and raising funds certainly doesn't require special conditions. But regarding your copper mine, as a member of the Continental Congress, we hope you prioritize supplying it to the arms dealers under the Continental Congress for casting large-caliber army artillery. This should be a good thing, you won't refuse, will you?" Charles spoke directly using the name of the Continental Congress.
"Supply copper ore?" These people were stunned.
This was about guaranteeing the sale of their mineral products, so of course, they wouldn't refuse. Tata Benben readily agreed.
However, when they signed a specialized supply contract, the recipient became Charles' Coal and Steel Conglomerate. Moreover, the supply became exclusive, and this copper mine was, in effect, also attached to the Conglomerate company.
The next day, through the Western Expeditionary Force soldiers who had once occupied Ohio, the news that the copper mine indeed existed was confirmed. Charles then agreed to personally guarantee this copper mine and approved their Ohio Copper Mine Company to issue shares and list to raise funds.
Using a Chinese-style gong as a symbol for the new stock listing, Charles personally struck it three times, "Clang, clang, clang," marking the official commercial operation of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange Center.
Following this model, the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange Center, within just ten days of officially beginning operations, increased from three stocks to over a dozen. Although its scale and regulations were far from those of similar exchanges on Europe, it was undoubtedly a stock exchange that pioneered a new era in America. Historically, it would have taken several more years for the first stock exchange to be established in Philadelphia.
And with the opening of stock trading, the greatest increase was in several colonial companies whose main business was developing the West. Just like the first stock-issuing company, the Dutch East India Company, colonization and pioneering trade were always the stocks most favored by investors.
With a large influx of capital into these colonial companies, America's westward expansion process further accelerated after Charles occupied Ohio. Some of these colonial companies headed west, entering Louisiana and further west into California; others headed north, entering Canada and even Alaska. These colonists, who called themselves Pittsburghers, greatly altered the historical process of American expansion.
And with the development of the stock market, a change in the banking system also had to be put on the agenda: deposits would no longer be charged, and instead, interest would be paid.
This was a very obvious interest rate factor. When people could make a lot of money in the stock market, many were unwilling to deposit their money in banks. The only hope now was that Pittsburgh still had few stocks, interest rates were not high, and not many people were buying. However, Charles still instructed Greenspan to gradually reduce deposit safekeeping fees until they paid interest in reverse to attract deposits.