Evening star., 1923-12-16
BY EDWARD +. ROBERTS.


q IALL-sALARIED MEN Take
Warning Keep Out of the
Stock Market
Ihat emphatic counsel is CIV
en- by a man whose authority to give
II VIII not be questioned-Seymou l..
cromwell, president of the New York
Stock Exchange.
went to Mr.. Cromwell with a
problem which is periodically pre-
sen'ed to the American public
through fiaring headlines in the
newspapers which read something
ike this: Brokerage House Fails
Tor $4,000, o,o0o-Thousand Of In
vestors Lose All-District Attorney
Promises Investigation" i put this
problem before Mr.. Cromwell in the
form Of these three questions:
Three Questions Asked.
How can the American public be
protected against bucket-shop op-
orators, fake stock swindlers and
similar gold-brick artists whose
oepredations, according to the dis
tflct attorney for New York city.
war? ~
What responsibility has the stock
9eNchange In the matter and what is
IL doing about it?
W nat can our legislatures do ahouf
1t? 60 w "oou'
Mr. Cromwell countered to my first
question with a question of his own:
VINO are the victims OF the bucket
promoters?" he asked. and without
waiting for me to reply he went on:
Ihe great majority of the people
who are robbed by these crooks are
clerks and others on small salaries;
school teachers. small merchants.
professional people with meager in
comes and men and womensgeneralIy
whose savings are little, but who are
oosessed by the dream of an easy
road to wealth.
Should Not Speculate.
These people have no business in
the stock market under any circum-
stances. Reputable brokers neither
seek nor desire their business, but
the universal longing to get some
thing for nothing makes them an
easy prey for crooks. The man with
the small salary should put his money
In the bank"
Granting the folly of the bucket
shop victim,' / said, "it must still
De matter OF self-interest to the
stock exchange to put the bucket shop
operator out Of business?"
1T most certainly is" replied Mr.
Cromwell, "and we have waged war
on these crooks for years and with
very considerabl success, too. One
OF our troubles is that the average
layman does not seem to be able to
distinguish between the stock ex-
change and the horde of gamblers
and swindlers who call themselves
stock brokers' and who have no more
10
peddler with reputable physician.
Great Primary Market.
The stock exchange is simply a
great primary market and an essen
tial part OF our economic system. 1t
IS exactly the same as any other
primary market in it's functions, the
only difference being that it estab-
fishes the prices for securities instead
OF for cotton, wool, grain or some
other merchandise.
We have LOO members and even
With the addition of our branch offices
ths nunbe remains relatively small !
compared with the number of brokers
and promoters who operate outside |
our organization and over whom we /
have no supervision. AS far as our
own membership is concerned, we en- |
force what L believe to be the strict |
est code of business conduct ever
adopted by any similar organization |
in the world. All our members are
pledged particularly to discourage the |
man with small means from specu-
latipg. and any firm that infringes
this rule is promptly called to ac-
count. Since l have been president
know of at least two firms who
were called before our business con-
duct committee to explain reports
that they had accepted as clients
people who were earning only small
salaries"
How can these outside brokers be
ropfroIIad sHoyv