Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-10
CHANCE
NECESSITY IN
BUSINESS
Public Misjudges Wall Street
Because 1t Does Not Explain
Its Transactions.
BY 3. c. FORBES.

NV Seh OF WISkecneSs, Its men,
bers are not a pack of financial
wolves. The machinery of the Stock
Exchange is absolutely necessary for
the nations welfare. No commercial
country could be without a market
place for securities, the tokens of
wealth.
The public has mIsjudged the
= Stock Exchange largely because the
Stock Exchange laid itself open to
mIsjudgment. It did not try to put
itself in the right light. It allowed
itself, without protest, to be mis-
understood.
But it is now anxious to receive
fair play. to have its functions known,
to let the public see inside it, so to
speak.
/ hear that the SUGGESTION made in
this column that a commission of
brokers. office managers, bankers and
others in close touch 10Th the public
and tcith Investors be appointed is
Nlcely to be fdUordbJy acted upon
Oithout delay The governors Of the
Stock Exchange by so doing toould
prove that they are IN earnest in
seeking to increase the usefulness of
the Institution and bring 1t thorough
III into harmony tCith public senti.
meNt.
Several Governors have a dread
that If corporations be subjected to
additional regulations in regard to
listing their securities many Of them
will object and refuse to seek the
privileges Of the institution.
The main reason why an Increasing
number of companies have kept away
from The Stock Exchange Is that the
public has ceased to regard a Stock
Exchange security as superior to an
unlisted one. The listing of stock
has ceased to be viewed as a guaran-
tee of it's legitimacy. So disgraoefuI
has been the handling of certain
listed stocks that investors have lost
faith In the ability of the Exchange
authorities to enforce deeeney.
MAKE THE PRIVILEGE OF LIST
ING WORTH WHILE, MAKE 1T A
GUARANTEE OF FULL PUBLlCl-
TY, MAKE 1T COVETED, MAKE 1T
STAND FOR SOMETHING, AND
THEN INVESTORS WILL DRAW
A SHARP DISTINCTION Be
TWEEN LISTED AND UNLISTED
SECURITIES. THEY WILL LOOK
INSTEAD OF DOWN UPON 1T.
How to bring about this transfer
nation will be the problem of the
proposed commission and the Gov
ernors. The Hughes Commission
made several valuable recommended
tons, which have been adopted. a
commission such as now outlined
could 90 more deeply into the sub
iect. Il could make practical sug-
gestions. 1t could look at the CUES
ton both from the outside and the
inside.
The small investor Is the person
to be attracted, to be cultivated, to
be encouraged to patronize sound
stocks and bonds. He is destined to
become the backbone Of American
finance. His is the custom to be most
coveted. On his treatment at the
hands of corporations and brokers
hang momentous issues.
Give him a square deal, safeguard
him from needless losses, shield him
from fraud, give him good return
on his capital, whet his interest IN
the welfare of business and the tu-
ture of American finance-the future,
even. of the whole Republic-wll be
imneasurabIy frightened. The small
investor will then become j buIwark
AGAINST destructive legislation, against
ali forms of confiscation. He will
stand for and fight for justice. He
will repeI ruinous demagoguery'
Georqe W. Perkins, in a letter to
The odd Lot Review, expresses force
fuI-vlews on this subject. He writes
In part;
Practical public ownership, that's
what would term It, A steady i'm
provement in the average distribution
Of the nations wealth-that is my
view Of the significance Of the actlY-
aty of the small investor. 1t is de-
cidedly encoura ging to see that the
corporation activity OF the country Is
being shared by an always increasing
group Of the population. To me IL
appears that the movement has only
begun.
The time is coming when every
man with even a few hundred dollars
saved will put his surplus over the
amount needed for an emergency into
standard securities.
THE progress of this movement
means a great deal more than mere
increase in the number of share
holders per corporation. 1t is an ex-
ceedingIy important economic lndi-
cation. If the problems are allowed
to work themselves out in natural
wav there will be no need for Gov
ernmental interference. To my mind,
the steady increase in the NUMBER
of stockholders in the corporations
foreshado genuine public owner
ahip-not Of the type in which the
entire business and industrial system
of the country is to be thrown into the
political arena to the tender mercleS
of the spokesman, but a practlcd!
method of distributing the natural
prosperity. -,
The solution of the problem Is 10
have the whole nation interested III
the success of the great sounu IN