dealer.
Such clubs are not social centers, except secondarily. They are really
market places; "bourses," he said. Four of the five clubs in Antwerp
are affiliated: the fifth is not recognized by the others because it
sometimes accepts members they don't approve of. Mr. Goldmuntz, who has
often been chairman of his club, the Diamond Club and the
oldest in town, explained the system by which peace was kept among
merchants: "We have our own court. If two people are disputing about
some business matter, they go to court in the club. The chairman
presides, and a number of other officials serve as a kind of jury. They
consider the problem and make their decision. In this way the people
involved don't have to pay litigation fees and all expense is avoided.
Naturally, a man who is dissatisfied with the decision can then go to
the civil courts if he likes, but if he does such a thing he is
immediately dropped from the club, and that, believe me, is not good
for his business. We arbitrate sometimes even in international affairs,
and we are in communication with all the bourses in the world—in
Israel, in New York, Milan, and Paris. Not Germany, though."
Arrived,
we made our way through a busy short passageway to the board room,
where stood the statue of Lodewyck van Bereken and his outsize gem. The
room was large, and filled with a magnificent table inlaid with
satinwood in a pattern of —of course—diamond-shaped lozenges. We sat at
one end of this table and had a glass of port and a few bites of cheese
to go with it, and then we went sight-seeing.
"Everything
is here that the members can need. Anything you can think of," said Mr.
Goldmuntz. "Our own post office. Cables. Telephones. Vaults. Here as
you see is a board with the news of the stock market, always up to the
minute. And
