Evening star., 1926-11-07
BY Nj. s. RrKEYSER.

ure OF success frequently have spent
their lives in vocation far removed
from their boyhood ambitions. E. H.
1 H. Simmons, for example. who is max
ing one of the best presidents the
New York Stock Exchange has ever
had, originally intended to become a
physician instead of a broker. He
nourished that yearning to the ex-
tent of studying medicine for two
years at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons in New York before enter
ing Wall Street in 1897 as clerk in
a brokerage firm.
And, yet believing that Mr.. Sim
mons retained the scientific view
point, l asked him to diagnose the
common faults of the amateur
trader at the great whirlpool of spec
ulation. which centers at Broad and
Wall streets.
The basic fault and weakness of
security traders" replied the leader of
the brokerage community, who but
for a turn in the wheels of chance
might have been an eminent NJ. D.,
lis in the last analysis the same as
that of traders in all forms of prop
erty-an impetuous desire to make a
large fortune suddenly and with little
effort. Natural corollaries of this
| fundamental motive are Inadequate
capital. information and judgment.
Most Complaints Unjustified.
About 90 per cent of the com
plants against exchange brokerage
houses received by the business con.
duct committee prove on investigation
to he without real justification. This
| is perhaps natural enough. since the
! brokerage business is highly compli-
Gated and infrequently understood by
the public. While the investigation
of groundless complaints by the pub
| lie entails no small effort and expense
to the exchange. nevertheless this bur
| den is Cheerfully assumed as an in
! evitable result of the invitation ex.
tended by the exchange to the pub
lie to bring complaints and misunder-
/ standings promptly to it's attention.
The exchange would welcome a closer
contact and more numerous communi-
cations from the public, even though
it's investigation of groundless COM
! plants should as result be in
creased
Mr.. Simmons is a tall, lean figure,
with black hair. and the dark COM
pleXion Of the Latin. He has brown
eyes and sharply chiseled features.
| He is genuine sportsman, loving the
outdoors. He is fond of the woods,
and shot big game all the way from
New Brunswick, Canada, to Maine.
He loves base ball, and also is inter-
ested in golf, tennis, riding, fishing
sailing-and poker He is a Repub-
lican in politics. and is veteran of
the 7th Regiment of the New
York Guard.
Mr.. Simmons represents the pro.
gresive wing in Wall Street and is
carrying on the tradition started by
his predecessor. the late Seymour
Cromwell, of making the Stock Ex-
| change become what 1t can be, rather
than statically attempting to justify
things as they are. Specifically. he
has consistently urged listed compa-
| nies to give fuller and more frequent
| publicity to earnings in order to place
the outsider on a par with the insider
| He has built up better machinery for
ena bling the Stock Exchange to CO.
operate with other agencies in the ex-
| posure Of financial frauds and Chi
| canerieS.
Nephew of Hartman.
l asked Mr.. Simmons in what ways
| does the Stock Exchange serve the
public, such as giving liquidity to cap
| ital, publicity to market trends and
fighting bucketshops and swindlers.
| Your question practically answers
| ITSELF" said the Stock Exchange presi-
dent. whose first three initials are
| those of his uncle, the late f. H. Har-
riman. former railroad king. The
| fundamental services of a stock ex-
change are the greater negotia bility
which 1t lends to securities dealt in
upon it, the issuance of reliable quo
tations and the imposition of en-
| forceable and standard regulations
for the business in all its many
phases. In addition to these, and as an
inevitable result of them, the New
| York Stock Exchange has also striven
to improve the conditions in the Sc
curity business of the country, which
is transac cted off as we'll as on the EN-.
change floor, by using all it's infiu-
| ence and powers to curb bucketshops
| and other swindlers."
The stock Exchange, In current dis
| cusSions. Is frequently criticised for
it's policy Of being so strict in passing
on paid advertising by members that
it turns into dull tombstone copy, and
at the same time of being lax in re-
Srect to information sent out by
! brokers in market letters and flashes
over direct wires.
The admitted practice of the EN-.
change" explained Mr. Simmons, lin
extending Il closer supervision to ad-
market letters and direct wire COM
munications is based on the neces-
sarv distinction between the public
character of the one and the essen
TALLY private character of the other"
Exchange Not Monopoly.
The recent decay of the CONSOLIDATE
ed Stock Exchange in New York
| which for three decades has been deal
ing in the same securities that are
, listed on the New York Stock F,X-
| change. led me to ask MIR. Simmons
! whether the New York Stock En-
change was natural monopoly.
The New York Stock Exchange is
neither a natural monopoly nor any
other kind of monopoly he replied
| 1t is IN active competition with
other organized and unorga niZed mar
| kets not only all over the United
States and even in foreign countries
but also right in New York itself.
1T has never enjoyed from the
| Government any special favors or
privileges. except perhaps the police
protection afforded equally to all
other business institutions Far from
| being in any way especially exempted
| from taxation, its operations have
! been. and to some extent still are the
object of special Federal and State
taxes not equally imposed on other
| lines of business. II enjoys no fran
| chise. right of way or other unique
| privilege properly subject to public
! grant. Even in the business in securi-
ths listed upon it. there are some
tmes more dealings outside the En-
,hange than upon its floor. AS far as
| the New York Stock Exchange is the
! dominant market for any security or
seclvities. it has won this position
under fair and free competition with
other markets by giving the. public
! efficient service at satisfactory costs. ;"
Has the Stock Exchange, as a