Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-14
URGESPUGLICITY
To GUARD ALL
INVESTORS
Quarterly Reports Of Big COrpor-
atoms Would Protect Small
Stockholders, Forbes Argues.
BY B. c. FORBES.

BY B. c. FORBES.
John D. Rockefeller once said:
Next to knowing all about your
own business, the best thing is to
know all about the other fellows
Information means money. In Wall
Street it means millions for those
who can get it ahead of the other
fellows, the public.
The $50 gold piece which direc-
tor is handed on leaving each meet
ing is not worth one hundredth part
of what he can sometimes make
on the information gathered at the
board table.
Directors heretofore have regard
ed inside information as a perqui-
site, as an asset which can be turned
into gold for their own pockets.
More of Americas "SwoIIen fortunes"
have sprung from advance informa-
ton than from hard work.
~ "ttStbio pOppot ~ httOtt
directors and other insiders to 90 on
indefinitely poCketing money from IN
formation lohtch ought not to be
moHopou@ed, bat shared loith the real
oI0Hers of the company, the stock
holders? Is the ORe-sided, loaded
dice, taking -cdndytrOm-chiId game
to be sanctioned for eUer? Is the
public to sit citb idle hands and let
insiders 1cGg fat 10hiLe ordinary Sc
cUrity holders, kept in the dark, grOt0
poorer?
As first step, QUARTERLY RE-
PORTS should be insisted upon.
And the punishment for wiIfuIly
misleading statements should be inn
prisonment, not fines, which directors
would either take from the company's
treasury or collect a thousand times
over from speculative deals made
possible by their film flaming.
When efforts were first made to in
duee railroad companies to issue
monthly statements of earnings, OBJ
jeotions we're raised by many roads.
1t could not be done, they said. But
other roads demonstrated that every
obstacle could be overcome. with the
result that long before the Interstate
Commerce Commission demanded
monthly returns, nearly every road
voluntarily supplied statements.
If our great transportation sys-
TENS, covering thousands of miles
and handling millions of items, can
prepare excellent reports EVERY
MONTH, why can not industrial and
other corporations compile one re-
port EVERY QUARTER?
have hope that the New York
Exchange will assume leadership in
a movement for quarterly reports.
The commission which the Exchange
is expected to appoint to study and
suggest reforms is certain to give
favorable attention to this subject
One of the most vital problems of
the Exchange is how to re-estabish
itself in public confidence and es-
TEEN. Here is one opportunity not
to be ignored.
The AIIis-ChaImers Co., which had
an unfortunate history under the old
methods and whose security holders
lost heavily, announces that, under
its reorganized regime, it will issue
regular quarterly reports. The origin
and purpose of this concern were
open to suspicion; it was a sort of
"side-line" for big fellows who could
divert business to it but who had
not time to attend to it's management.
Now, however, it has been placed on
a different footing. Full publicity
would not have fitted in with the old
ways; to-day the company manifestIy
feels that it has nothing to fear from
coming into the open.
have in front of me the circular
and ballot which stockholders of the
Vulcan DEFINING Company forced
the directors to send out on the ques-
ton of whether quarterly reports be
instituted. 1t is a miserable product.
1t is dated July I, was received by
most stockholders around the hoIi-
days and allows only until yesterday
for having votes in the hands of the
company. The paIpabIe injustice
was modified after protest. But here
is another clause even more con-
nemnatory;
In case you wish the company
to issue statements only annually
it will not be necessary for you TO
vote.
Votes NOT CAST will be counted
in favor of the secrecy loving direc-
tors Could anything be more
brazen? And then these same gentle
men arrange that they themselves,
not some impartial party, shall do