Arizona republican., 1922-06-07
LOOKING FOR LEAKS

, lowing the law and the force of the
testimony anc argument. The mem
| bers of tke commission are made of
! the same genei al flesh and blood that
the rep, rter is made of. In many
| cases they ar no more careful and
painstaking than he. Actually in
! some cases they are not as we'll in
| formed on the law and precedent. 1t
| is not at ali unlikely that the men,
| bers of the commission and the re-
| porter will arrive at the same con-
| clusion. The reporter will write a
news art Gle forecasting the decision.
| When the decision comes down it will
be found that, with minor differences,
the conclusions are the same. Some
one. usually some less enterprising
| competitor. viii claim leak.
This can happen with any number
of situations. To be sure the re-
porter takes a chance, but If he is
| conservative and painstaking he viii
be right in a surprising number of
forecasts The same procedure can
be followed in stories about policies,
BY studying the policy of such body
as the fede. al reserve board, which
governs creoit conditions in the Unit
ed States to a large extent, care
full reporter can forecast quite accu-
rately what the next step in the
formulation of a policy will be.
Fine Scheme Goes Wrong
One of the most elaborate arrange
ments to get advance news was made
some years ago. not by newspaper
correspondent but by a broker who
was eager to obtain certain advance
intimatio of supreme court deci-
sions. Some of the justices of the
supreme court of the United States
lecture in law classes at the WASH
ington universities. This broker
learned that Mr.. Justice Harlan lee
tured at one of the schools and was
in the habit of illustrating his lee
lures by reference to the cases which
the supreme court had under consid-
Grafton. OF course, the learned JUS
tice would not mention the names of
the cases but a person familiar with
the circumstances involved could be
fairly certain OF recognizing the cases
he was talking about. The broker
sent clever Young lawyer to WASH
ington and had him enroll as a stu
dent in the school where Justice Har-
Ian lect1red. Previously the young
man had carefully familiariZed him.
self with all the pending cases, de-
ClSlOAS III WIltAl nodid oiANNN -tiiS
stock market He became so familiar
with Their aspects and circumstances
that he could recognize references to
them without any names being used.
Patiently he listened to Justice
Harlans' lectures. Finally, one eve
ming the justice began discussing cir.
cumstances which exactly fitted one
of the biggest pending cases. He il
lustrated TIL, law points in his lee
ture by explaining how this case was
worked - IN the law. He brought 1t
right up t. the logical conclusion,
showing what the decision must be
in his opinion, upon such set OF
facts
The ycung broker lawyer student
was jubilanl. He took a night train
for New York and laid his report
before his principals. They bought up
large quantities of the stock which
was to be given an increased value
by the decision which Justice Har-
Ian had thus unwittingly tipped off.
The following Monday the decision
in this case was handed down. 1t
was precisely opposite to that which
the Information SO carefully obtained
had given the brokers reason to ex-
pect. In the usual formal italic let
ters at the enc Of the decision were
printed Mr. Justice Harlan disserts."