[Illustration: FIG. 84. STOCK CERTIFICATE]
~Outfit Needed by a Corporation.--~To begin business with after you have received your certificate of incorporation you must have:
(1) A _minute book_ in which to record the proceedings of the directors’ and stockholders’ meetings. A minute book with _printed forms_ can be obtained which makes it easy to record the minutes accurately.
(2) A _stock certificate book_; suppose your certificates, or shares, have a _par value_ of $100 then you will need a book of 100 certificates to equal $10,000. A stock certificate is reproduced in Fig. 84.
(3) A _book of account_ is required by the New York State _transfer tax_ law where companies are doing business in the State, and _transfer agents_ must also have one to show every transfer of stock. Neglect to keep this book imposes a heavy penalty.
(4) The New York _transfer law_ also requires New York companies to keep a _stock transfer book_ which shows when shares, or certificates, are sold, or transferred, by one person to another.
(5) A stock ledger is also needed by every corporation to enter the stock transactions of each day in. A combination book with all of the three last named can be bought ready for use.
(6) A _corporate seal_, which is an embossed impression of the name of the company, see Fig. 84, is made by a _seal press_ as shown in Fig. 85, and this is also required by law. The whole outfit above described for incorporating and maintaining a company can be bought for the small sum of $10 or less of the Brown-Green Company, 48 John Street, New York City.
~How a Stock Company is Operated.--~When you receive your certificate of incorporation you can then call a meeting of the _directors_ (named in the certificate of incorporation) or _board of directors_ as they are called. At this first meeting the directors elect the _officers_, that is a president, a secretary and a treasurer.
The president then takes the chair and the secretary writes down all the minutes of the business transacted at this and subsequent meetings. The first business that will come before the directors after the election of the officers is to make the stock of the company _full paid_. To do this you must turn your invention and patent over to the company in exchange for the full amount of the stock the company is capitalized for, say $10,000. In other words you sell your right, title and interest in the invention and patent for $10,000 worth of stock, which is all of it.