The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-02

copies of the Wilson message say tnat
Its claws are neatly trimmed and its teeth
those of domesticated pasture-feed an
imal, and not those of the ferocious, blood
hungry monster of the jungle. In AL
bany they grow fangs and their claws
are sharp and crooked. The Washington
influence is nationwide. In Albany they
insist that the issues are localized to
Wall street and the stock exchange.
Sulzer Has Them Worried
Stock exchange members are in state
OF semi-panic over the crusade that is
being waged against them under the per-
sonal direction of Governor sSulzer. They
have about made up their minds that
something is going to happen and that
they will have to submit to severe dis
cipline at the hands of the law makers.
What seems to hurt them worse is the
move to increase the transfer tax on stock
certificates from 81 to 81 per 100 shares,
making difference ST possibly $3.0O0.00C
a year in the tax on brokerage. IL this
step is taken by the state legislature, a
determined effort will be made by the
fighting element in the organization to
move over to Jersey City and do the ac-
tual buying and selling in an exchange
improvised to beat the New York state
tax altogether.
The plan has many supporters. Strange
to say, the political uplifters at both
Washington and Albany have been singu-
larly blind to the crowning abuse in the
practices of the stock exchange, that OF
listing rotten and untried stocks for the
Illicit commissions. and interest graft, re-
gardess Of the fate of the deluded pub
lie. lured to the sacrifice by the apparent
Endorsement of the exchange.
Surely a mighty Club whose inces-
SAINT boast Is the lofty honor of the or
ganization and it's 1000 members, would
not set traps for gullibe investors and
spectators. oh, no. Some of the deals
put across under the auspices of and
with the active cooperation and indorse-
ment of the exchange have been fright
fully disastrous. The most notorious cam
paign was the shameless exploitation of
the public on the occasion of the Steel
Corporation promotion Ca deal over which
the veil of silence is drawn as much as
possible.) Insiders, who openly admitted
that the $1,000, 900. 900 share capital was
nearly all wind and water, hastened to
sell their allotments. They banked $780,
100000 to s750.00000O and left the public to
carry the load 1t proved too heavy and in
less than year the dry panic" of 1923
set in. causing a shrinkage in prices
amounting literally to billions of dollars.
tude of innocents. The wild extrava :
gances traceable directly to the Steel and
kindred ventures caused the panic of 1907.
With delicate sensitiveness the various
investigating committees have steered
away from that greatest of all Wall street
crimes. The big rich Mexicanized the
stock market on that occasion, and the
stock exchange boisterously and boast,
fully participated in a division of the
loot. 1t was the most spectacular finan-
cial massacre in history. 1t is in the pow
er of both Congress and the New York
legislature to put a stop to the possibility
of future repetitions.
Cities Hope ii. Will Carry
From the tenor of advices several cities
are hoping that the Sulzer proposition to
double the transfer tax ON stocks will
carry. In such an event they will enact
to draw away from New York a con-
siderable portion OF tRH business it now
gets from the public 70, of course, buy
ers, sellers and spectators would be called
on to bear the burden. 1t is rather anus
ing to see how the arrogant stock ex-
change has awakened to the need of do
ing something to appease public clamor
for q square deal. 1t has been law
unto itself for a great many years and
does not like the feel of the lash. 1t has
been running blindly to fall; it is now il!
process of getting what 1t was not look
ing for. but what is properly coming to it.
The chances are that in the future the
exchange will be more tolerant of the
decency of business.
New Industries Suffer
The long list Of so-called ''new indus
trials have had quite hard time of it
the last fortnight. Banks have been OPEN
ly discriminating against them, and their
stocks and bonds have been thrown out
OF the envelope" without much regard
as to who might be behind them. The
breaks in not few of these strange is
sues have been serious, but happily the
public has not been as bad sufferer as
might have been the case If the distribu-
ton had gone further. Fortunately for
the public, the promoters of most of these
schemes put the price of the goods SO
high at the beginning that buyers We're
not attracted and kept away. 1t thus
transpired that when the general market
break set in. insiders still had the load.
1t was not until the big decline had pro-
ceeded for good while that the outside
holders realized that there had been moth
ms doing on the down turn In their spe-
cialties. The next impulse was to take
advantage Of the seeming strength and
get out. The bulk Of Publicly held stocks
In these new things was not large, but it
looked like an avalanche to the insiders
who had to take back the certificates in
order to keep their interests protected
and save themselves from looking ridicu-
lous. Recent breaks in the prices of these
fantastic new issues have been quite se-
we're. however. and It is likely to be some
time before any part OF the lost ground
Is recovered. Their prestige is gone. 1t
doesn't look nice for stocks to break
to 10 points Between sales.
Tho underwriting syndies stes have not
Jared very well In some of<their recent
ventures, and this division of Wall street
industry is worse than stagnant. Very
few new notatiops are announced. and
they are dnimportant for the most part.
The uncertainties and general feeling of
uneasiness In the stock market extended
to bonds and corporation notes. The COM
panies that were first in the field with
their Issues got the best Of 1t, and are
correspondingly happy.
New Workers. In and out Of Wall street
are puzzled over the move by George
Gould to blockade the construction Of the
sIbways for which arrangements had
been all but completed. Just what he is
trying to get at has not yet been made
clear The statement that 1t is move by
Gould to get even with Mr.. Morgan for
some fancied affront does. not satisfy
curiosity. 1t doesn't go far enough. It
may be assumed that Mr.. Gould is not
actrated entirely by revenge. 1t is the
dollar which usually inspires him to legal
action Of such importance as this last
move Of his seems to be. To deliberately
step IN and Inconvenience a community
Of 5.000,000 people IL play which does
not add to the popularity OF Jay Could's
eldest son.
At the low level Of prices reached early
p the( (week an average decline OF about