New-York tribune., 1919-05-24

T. Dooling and Edward P. Kilroe They
are the best investigators in the Office
"Is there any one connected with the
offise that has an expert knowledge Of
these things-that has a Wall Street
education ?"
"No; there is not" he replied. eve
cannot undertake to investigate stocks"
Mr.. Talley's attention was called to
the charge made by Brogan, which is
but the echo of charge made for
months past in Wall Street, that Ger
tain of the more prominent dealers in
oil stocks were enjoying immunity be-
cause of Tamany Hall connections.
"Whom Do You Mean?"
"Whom do you mean? he asked, add
ing, there is not an atom Of founda-
ton for any such statement"
Mr.. Talley insisted that most of the
complaints reaching the District At
torney's Office would not stand the
test of the courts in criminal pro-
ceeding.
Would blue sky law help?" he
was asked.
eyes, I think it would" said he,
chat is, if it had teeth. 1t has worked
satisfactorily elsewhere. 1t should
work here. Personally, I know very
little of its operations, and it may be
that there might be difficulty with it
here"
Just how many oil stocks have been
put on the market since the first of the
year, when news Of the big strikes in
the now Texas fields became public, no
one in Wall Street seems TO know. The
best estimates place the numbers in
the hundreds, with the total paper cap
italization we'll up toward the 81 ,0OO,-
100000 point Many of these have real
worth and have made wealth for those
who got in early. Others have pros
poets of being good properties. Hun
dreds of others are 100 per cent swim
dies operated by ex-green goods
men, wireless wire tappers, pooroom
touts and others Of the underworld
hungry for easy money.
Use Mails Mostly
Of the hundreds Of companies, com
paratvcly few are dealt in on the New
York Curb, the mails and personal so
licitation being the avenues most de-
pended upon by the swindlers Of the
others very few have been listed with
the New York Curb Market Association.
I'VE have" said Mr.. Sturges, "but
4l6 members Of these 100 are not ac-
tive. We have measure Of control
over these, but we cannot prevent their
trading with men who are not members
Of the association. All we can do is
warn them that in trading with out
siders, they cannot expect the associa-
tion to help them in any mess thew
may find themselves in.
I'VE do not and cannot control the
market, for the reason that it is in
public street. Nor can w% control the
published list of quotations. These
are IN the hands of private agencies" >"
IN the matter of listing stocks, the
association, Mr.. Sturges declared, in
sisted that a company show clean
hands, and that it is made up of reput-
able people. y
I'VE insist" said he, con balance
sheets, on full information as to the
property and bank references for the
officers. If the broker handling the
thing is bad we will not list it. But
we cannot compel people who have
stuff to sell to list"
Not Even Incorporated
Plcking up list Of oil companies
mentioned IN market quotation re-
port, Mr.. Sturges pointed to one con-
cern whose stock is being traded in.
That concern came here to be
listed, said he. ut could not show
balance sheet because it had none.
Il was not even incorporated. All the
stock it had outstanding was in escrow.
1t had, in fact, nothing to list. But
that does not prevent its being traded
in"
On the list there were forty-three
oil stocks. Of the forty, but three
we're listed. In the unlisted were
many of known value.
There are various reasons why good
stocks are not listed,' said Mr..
Sturges. "One is that the persons
putting them out do not wish to spare
the time listing requires Another is
that the responsibility of the houses
bringing them out is felt by the pro-
moters to be guaranty enough, These
often came in after they have been
dealt in for some time.
Until we get under roof. things
VIII continue much as they are We
were about to do that when the war
intcrvened. Now it is under considcra-
ton again. When we get under ROOF
We can say who will trade and what
they viii trade in. Until then we can
not
Undoubtedly a crash is coming and
there probably will be a nasty scandal
IN which Wall Street will be pounded >"
said member of the Governing Com
mittee of the New York Stock Ex-
change. "For that reason we are anx-
lous to do what we can to clean up this
situation. We try to say to everv
body not a client of member of this
board, consult your bank before buy
ing any security but we cannot reach
everybody.
"The greatest helps these scoundrels
have are those newspapers which will
take the advertisement of any alleged
broker, no matter how patiently crook
cd he and his promotion may be-
~ IN u ssaf :s..s,rss--
1g 81 a