who is defined as one in the employ
of a licensed broker and ... is not required to put up a bond." The
act is administered by a Real Estate Commissioner appointed by the
Governor. Upon petition to the Real Estate Commissioner appointed
by those aggrieved in their dealings with brokers or salesmen, a
hearing is provided before the commissioner, and upon proper
showing the petitioner may be granted the privilege of suing the
broker on his bond.... There is also a provision for the filing of
complaints against brokers and salesmen concerning their conduct
and, upon investigation, if found guilty, the commissioner is
empowered to revoke their licenses. The law provides a heavy
penalty for a broker--a fine of $2,000 or a prison sentence of two
years--and in the case of corporations, a maximum fine of $5,000.
The fees for licenses are, for brokers, $10 per annum, and for
salesmen, $2 per annum.

The operation of the law appears to have been extremely successful and
to have been heartily indorsed by the public generally and by all the
reliable real-estate dealers and salesmen in the state. The Real Estate
Commissioner gives the following picture of the results of the law
during the eight months it was in force:

1. It gave the realtors faith in each other, each being under bond
and licensed by the commissioner with power of revocation in case
of violation of the law.

2. It increased the confidence of the public generally in the
realty business, for the law afforded the public a ready and
inexpensive means of redress in case of wrongdoing.

3. During the eight months, some sixty complaints were filed with
the commissioner, and all were adjusted without even a formal
hearing up to the time the law was thrown out, March, 1918. Some
twenty-five hundred dollars was returned to defrauded purchasers
through appeals to the commissioner.

4. The deterrent effect of the law on wrongdoers will never be
known, but must have been far-reaching.

5. So satisfactory was the law that the public, the bankers, and
especially the realtors, are preparing again to present to the
legislature during the winter of 1918-19 a more carefully worded
law governing the realty business.

One of the services rendered by the Department of the Real Estate
Commissioner was the issue of a directory of