The New York herald., 1922-02-20
BANTON URGES LAW
TO SAVE MILLIONS
Continued from First rage.

providing for periodical inspections Of
the business of such dealers.
1.-THE United States Government could
help. The Government now has a force
Of competent post office inspectors. A
Federal statute might be passed for
bidding the use OF the mails to market
or offer for sale any security until after
a thorough investigation by the Post
Office Department 1t was found that such
security was sound.
1t Is not enough periodically for the
District Attorney TO prosecute a few
crooks and cause them to be imprisoned
only to find afterward that there Is
another outbreak and there are many
more crooks to be prosecuted. Hereto
fore we have been very much like the
man from whom one demon was cast.
but who later was found in possession
OF seven demons each more vicious than
the one. There should be something
done to prevent conditions now existing
in New York and to protect the unwary
against bucket shops, brokers who trade
against customers and traders in worth
less securities. Let us purify the stream
at the source and not be content with
trying to cleanse the tainted waters"
BrOgan for Blue Sky Law.
Strangely enough the ideas expressed
by Mr.. Banton conform in many ways
with those of Mr.. Brogan. who was in
the District Attorneys office under Mr..
Banton's predecessor. Edward Swami.
Mr.. Brogan was one of the first to
expose the swindlers who were taking
advantage of the holders of Liberty
bonds in 1913 and he has been a con-
sistent advocate Of uniform blue sky
law and national security commits
sion. In his statement Of yesterday he
said in part
''The newspapers Of the city. especially
THE New YORK HERALD, and the prose-
cutting officials deserve the praise of
the people for bringing to Justice the
thieves who are being indicted in the
present bucketshop exposure. Pitiless
publicity. prosecution and punishment,
coupled with education and sane legis-
lation, are absolutely necessary to
remedy this evil. Eternal vigilance must
be the watchword to prevent a recur-
renee of wholesale swindlng and
countrywide crookedness. Unless the
prosecutions are followed by construc-
tive legislation the relief will be merely
temporary. as is evident from prior in
vestigations and prosecutions, and these
same crooks will open bucketshops
under fictitious names"
Mr.. Brogan then recalled the investi-
CATION made during the administration
of Charles e. Hughes as Governor, and
the amendments and additions made to
the penal laws as a result. He con-
tinued:
From that time (191o) not a single
prosecution was brought under these
sections until March, 1918. when, at
the suggestion Of the Liberty Loan Cam
paign Committee, I conducted an inves-
tigation into the activities of stock
swindlers and Liberty loan scalpers, who
were interfering with the success of the
loan and exchanging bonds for worth
less stock"
Mr.. Brogan then related the history of
the Federal Stock Publicity Act and the
conference held in Washington to drive
the crooks out of business without in
terfering with legitimate business. He
recalled that President Wilson. fin his
message urged the passage of the bill.
and continued:
~rrue it is that the thieves were
driven to cover, many of them indicted
and convicted. But In the meantime
the armistice was signed and in the ex-
,itement of peace the laws designed to
prevent the very same conditions that
exist to-day, were not enacted.
How far will the present exposure OF
bucket shops reach? Are not the cond-
tions as bad as they were In 1908 dur
ing the Hughes Investigation, ard in
1918? What steps should be taken to
abolish or at least to minimize this evil
in our financial structure and secure
permanent relief?
New York ought to be leader in
this movement. At least fifty per cent.
Of these financial parasites maintain an
office in New York, because Of its i'm
portance as the financial center of the
world, although a majority of them be-
long in the West. or perhaps In Canada,
or Mexico. The Post Office Department
claims the loss Is S1,000,000 day. Mr.
William II. Maxwell, chairman OF the
Fraudulent Advertising Committee of