The Washington times., 1914-02-08
STOCK MARKETCONTROL
BY CONGRESS.

When Mr.. Van Antwerp. a gov
ernor Of the New York Stock EX-
change, tells Congress that the pro-
visions of the Owen bill for Gov
ernment regulation and enforced in
corporation of stock exchanges would
destroy Americas primary market
place-New York-surely his fears
! are exaggerated.
AS long as New York city is the
industrial, commercial, financial, and
shipping center of America, it will
remain as well the primary market
place for securities. 1t is not think
able that stocks and bonds can cease
to be sold and bought, as one form
of wealth is shifted into another
form, by the people of the United
States, so long as they continue to
create wealth and save out Of it a
surplus to be put to work in the
manner so many billions of our sur
plus wealth have been put to work
in the securities of all manner of cor
porations performing gigantic works
in vast fields. And in the future, as
in the past, the country's market
place for those securities will be
there at the financial and commercial
center of the nation.
New York is not going to cease to
be the financial and commercial CEN
ter any more than water is going to
cease to run down hill. Government
regulation or no regulation, the
prime market for securities is going
to stick to the financial and COM
mercial center. There can't be any
more doubt about that than there
i can be doubt that the natural laws
are in force and will remain in force.
Whether provisions of the Owen
bill for the regulation Of stock ex-
changes are the best for either those
who in the past have invested their
surplus in securities or those who in
| the future will wish to invest their
surplus in securities is another mat
ter. But for the matter Of that,
there were exactly such things in the
! currency measure when it was first
introduced, yet it was made into very
efficient, if rot scientific mechanism.
No doubt the Stock Exchange bill
would receive similar planning and
polishing. Even if it didn't some Of
tho provisions wouldn't bring the
consequences predicted for them.
Take, for example, a technical clause
that might bar from the mails news
papers containing certain reports Of
Stock Exchange transactions. Now
this doesn't mean that newspapers
that carry stock market reports as
a very considerable part of their
/ printing service for the public
wouldn't continue to publish their
stock market reports. 1t would be
4 great deal more important to them
to continue to serve their public than
it would be to have the privilege Of
the United States mails.
There isn't any great metropoli-
tan newspaper that is dependent
upon the United States mails for the
distribution of its circulation. III
fact, there isn't any important met
rcpolitan newspaper that now uscs
tho JInited States rnaiIs for more
than very small fraction of its dis
tribution of papers. Any paper to
whose readers the stock market re-
ports were important would cut
down that postoffice percentage still
further, or to zero, without hesita-
ton rather than fail 10 serve its
reading public.
Newspaper publishers who under
stand the facts aren't going to get
nearly SO much excited about sug-
gestion like that as some people who
don't understand the facts. And so
. probably it will be found that other
provisions of that measure aren't go
ing to change the course of the sur,
tip the world upside down, or very
much disturb the natural trend OF
, security marketings.