OCR Text |
Show Economic Highlights Being more dramatic, the air mail embrcguc, which has degenerated into- a name-calling contest between the principals on botn sides, has obscured the stock exchange invtst-lgaticn invtst-lgaticn and the pioposed National securities Exchange Act. That Act, however, is considerably the nicrj impouant of the two events so far as business, large and small, is concerned. con-cerned. It came out of the Senate's Banking and Currency Committee, and is about as stiff a piece of legislation leg-islation as the New Deal has product pro-duct d. If it passes, expert opinion predicts the stock exchanges of the country aie going to gather moss, ana the brokers, banks ana investment invest-ment houses, as well as individual speculators, wiil have to find new cutlets for their energies. Among the things the bill prohibits are: Wash selling, through which speculators spec-ulators create an illusion of market activity by placing buying and selling sell-ing orders at te same time; pool operations, designed to force stocks up and down by manipulation; the starting of rumors and the retailing of market tips; the use of firm capital cap-ital for private trading by brokers; short selling, pegging and stop-losj orders. The minimum margin requirement re-quirement is 60 per cent and this provision caused the most bitterness of all among financiers, inasmuch as it would force the liquidation of thousands of existing accounts, including in-cluding millions in bank loans. All corporations with listed stocks must furnish to the exchange and the Federal Trade Commission voluminous volumi-nous data concerning salaries, bonuses, bon-uses, options, income, etc. To enforce en-force the bill drastic penalties are provided in the case of violations on the part of exchanges a $500,000 fine may be levied. Individuals can be hooked to the tune of $25,000 plus ten years in jail. Mainstay of opposition to the bill is urban, 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 their branchm anagers, instructing them to point out the dangers of the bill to friends and clilents. Next Whitney step was a letter to the head cf each of the 800 corporations whose issues are listed on the New York exchange. Those corporations include the bulk of the great businesses of the country, coun-try, which furnish most of the jobs and investment opportunities. When. Mr. Whitney went to them, he wa: aiming not only at Big Business, but at the small stock owner and the worker. Biggest Whitney gun, however, is of a different character than most would anticipate. It lies in appealing appeal-ing to the small corporation mm owner of firms with small stock issues is-sues which never appear on a major exchange. According to Mr. Whitney Whit-ney the bill would make this stock sneligible for collateral for loans either ei-ther at banks or exchanges, would thus pmch the little fellow as hard as it would pinch his big brother : i-he super-capitalist. c,-,.. .,. . ... I "ws ci tne bill, so far I seem limited to the Senate and mmor, left-wing New Dealers. Mr I Roosevelt, who will have the final I word m this as in ,-o many matters has said little, and the belief is that ,,r! VS nCt a White House measure, meas-ure, that much of the sting will b itaken cut of it. Hew ants to put a bit on speculation-hut he doesn 'want to hobble it entirely. And' SrdSamUeJ Untermyer, crusader! extiaordinary for many years for fl nancial legislation of this nature ion reading the bill, murmured sadly . rn WenV the 0PPlte extreme 'from uncontrolled speculation, ws impractical and impossible. Notes on business, taken princinai 17 from government reports, ioZt-COMMODITY ioZt-COMMODITY PRICES : Following the December recessions ' vance started which has bsen . mairtained without deviation. RETAIL TRADE: January figures show less than seasonal decline. Substantial gains in dollar volume vol-ume are reported from all pans of the country, as compared with 1933. EMPLOYMENT: -Is registering more than seasonal decline. Tha dissolution of the CWA will release re-lease 4.000,000 more people on the already glutted labor market. TRANSPORTATION: . Constant improvement is shown in car loadings. Complete financial returns cf railroads for 1933 show substantial improvement over 1932. Railroad expenditures, however, remain low, and thj railway supply business is dor mant. AUTOMOBILES: The only adequate ade-quate word for this ndustry is "booming." Employment and wage levels arev ery high. Unfilled Un-filled orders are the greatest in several years. Allied Industries are prospering accordingly. AGRICULTURE: Better than might have been expected, in view of the disturbance t cf a few months ago. Markets are fair and prices stable. Buying power of the major agricultural districts is better than that of urban areas. LUMBER: In January production wa- a third higher than in the same month last year. STEEL: Railroad and public utility orders have been low and the inaustry nas iaggea on mac ac- count. Rising automobile orders ord-ers have done much to offset : this. |