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Show ilu Economic v I Highlights o,f - Industrial News Review '' ll;ipp'"'"H-s 'that A f fort the Dinner in ils, Dividend Checks and Tax ff'-t Pills f Ewry Individual. Nation-al Nation-al :iul International Problems hi-'n hi-'n l Sep:ir:ilJo from Local Welfare. Attics ' oOo Being more dramatic, the air mail ' embroglio, which has degenerated "' into a name-calling contest between t' the principals on both sides, has ob-(', ob-(', ' scured the stock exchange investiga-. investiga-. tion and the proposed National Se-curitics Se-curitics Exchange act. That act, how-i how-i ever, is considerably the more impor- taut of the two events so far as busi- ness, large and small, is concerned. It came out of the senate's banking and currency committee, and is about as stiff a piece of legislation as the jiew Doal has produced. If it passes, 1 ,fri expert opinion predicts the stock ex-' ex-' changes of the country are going to I11''13 gather moss, and the brokers, banks , and, investment houses, as well as in-e in-e dividual speculators, will have to find an ': new outlets for their energies. Among "''f the things the bill prohibits are: Wash selling, through which sprculat- ors create an illusion of market ac-metc! ac-metc! tivity Ly placing buying and selling -W; or(jers at the same time; pool opera-PBf opera-PBf tions, dpsigned to force stocks up and ?Ei; down by manipulation; starting of e arf rumors and the retailing of market "Ve tips; the use of firm capital for private pri-vate trading by brokers; short selling, sell-ing, pegging and stop-loss orders. Wi'!; The minimum margin requirement is in fe 60 per cent and this provision caus-iin. caus-iin. ft ed the most bitterness of all among a se financiers, inasmuch as it would force igry. the liquidation cf thousands of exist- ing accounts, including- million's in ' bank loans. All corrorat'ons with list- ed. stocks must furnish to the exchange ex-change and the fed ral trade commission commis-sion voluminous data concerning salaries, sal-aries, bonuses, options, income, etc. To enforce the bill drastic penalties are provided in the case of violations viola-tions on the part of exchanges a $500,000 fine may be levied. Indi- viduals can be hooked to the tune of P $25,000, plus ten years in jail. Mainstay Main-stay of opposition to the bill is urban, t cool-headed, aristocratic Richard Whitney, great power of the New York stock exchange. He summoned the heads of all the big brokerage houses and wires went . out to all EEE their branch managers, instructing " them to point out the dangers of the SAVE I bill to friends and clients. Next Whit-R Whit-R ney step was a letter to the head of each of the 800 corporations whose issues are listed on the New York ex-gjl ex-gjl change. Those corporations include the bulk of the great businesses of the country, which furnish most of the jobs and investment opportunities. When Mr. Whitney went to them, he )RE was aiming not only at Big Business, jait hut at the small stock owner and the worker. Biggest Whitney gun, how- - ever, is' of a different character than : '- most would anticipate. It lies in ap-pealing ap-pealing to the small corporation man, jittfo owner of firms with small stock issues soj which never appear-on a major exchange. ex-change. According to Mr. Whitney the bill would make this stock ineligible for y collateral for loans either at banks or ftk' exchanges, would thus pinch the little ; your fellow as hr.rd as it would pinch his tte k'g brother, and super-capitalist. Sup-porters Sup-porters of the bill, so far, seem limited Pan to the senate and minor, left-wing e ma New Dealers. Mr. Roosevelt, who will evea' have the final word in this as in so st qU ' many matters, has said little, and the roag8' belief is that the act is not a White House measure, that much of the sting will be taken out of it. He wants d) V to put a bit on speculation but he doesn't want to hobble it entirely, 'y ( And Lawyer Samuel Unt- nneyer, cru-tf, cru-tf, fiader extraordinary for many years - for financial legislation of this nature, on reading the bill, murmured sadly that it went to the opposite extreme j from uncontrolled speculation, was J impractical and impossible. , oOo j 3 Notes on business, taken principally principal-ly from government reports, follow: tj,er Commodity Prices Following the December De-cember recessions, an advance started which has been maintained without deviation. tu61 Retail Trade January figures show 'ess than seasonal decline. Substan-tial Substan-tial gains in dollar volume are re-' re-' I Ported from all parts of the coun-j coun-j try, as compared with 1933. j Employment Is registering more j than seasonal decline. The d:ssolu-o d:ssolu-o j t'on of the CWA will release 4,000,-ock 4,000,-ock 000 more people on the already 1S 8t ; Slutted labor market, forget- j lri"ispoi.tatlon Constant improve- jevel-! nt 18 shown in car loadings. Com-j Com-j Pkte financial returns of railroads :rvi: ' j for 1933 show substantial improve-I improve-I nCover 1932. Railroad expend;, oFO i tues however, -remain 'low, and the t ll ai,way suPP'-y business is dormant. Gt j Autmobiles The only adequate word f fJT this industry is "booming." 4 f-ttiployment and wage levels are t ; Very hish. Unfilled orders are the Weatest in several years. Allied ln-. ln-. j Untr-es are prosperng accordingly, 'culture Better than might have been expected, in view of the dis turbances of a f. w months ago. Markets are fa'r and prices stable. Buying newer, of-tl e maj r ngricul- tural districts is b -tter than that of urban areas. T lire bev In January production was j ' a third higher than in the same ! month last year. 1 qteelRallroad and public utilty or- ders have been low and the hulus-1 hulus-1 try has lagged on that account Rising autombile orders have done much to offset this. |