Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-04

may be no possibility of misunder.
standing, the tall man, his face be.
traying the faint suggestion Of a smile
that might be expected Of one with an
| important statement to make, an.
nounces graphically:
Three and one-hah.'
Instantly two Of the waiting young
| men step back from the fringe of the
crowd; two white handkerchiefs are
flung aloft and waved frantically.
The signal Is picked up. From far
up the corridor come two answering
flutters.
The news of the decision Of the d-
rectors Of the New York Federal Re-
serve Bank to reduce the rediscount
rate from to 31s per cent, is winging
Its way to the offices Of Wall Streets
two financial news services, and
through them to every corner Of the
country. So complete and so careful
are the arrangements made by these
financial services in anticipation of
announcements of this kind that dis.
lance and time have been virtually
eliminated
When the two representatives at
the conference with DIR. Burgess
flashed their signals to their col.
leagues up the corridor, the latters'
relays were picked up fnstantaneously
by two other representatives posted
at telephones, the wires to their re-
spectiye offices wide open in readiness
for their message. These men were
in direct communication with trans
mission men" in their offices, who.
sitting with head phones adjusted and
keyboards before them, simply per-
mitted the news to run In their ears
and out their f1ngertips, when 1t was
n a 70 NO 70
news tickers.
This Is a perfect routine example
of the way news is handled by the big
financial news-gathering organization.
These news agencies typify in the
highest degree the sharp difference in
attitude toward general news on the
one hand and financial news on the
other. This difference lies in two d.
rections. Below Fulton street news
is anything and everything that in
any way may affect the securities or
commodities markets.
And there is only one phase of the
news to deal with-getting 1t. Pres.
entation. so important In the case of
the ordinary news story. doesn't In
terest the editor of the financial paper
In the least. He serves his news raw.
and his only interest is in getting
more OF 1t and getting 1t more quickly
tnan his competitor. But although
ms problems are fewer and less sub.
tile than those of the ordinary editor,
the pressure of time and responsible.
ny upon him is enormously greater.
FINANCIAL news makes the financial
markets. and the financial markets In
turn make and break fortunes.
X X \ &
HE news leak" and the news "tip''
have played their part in Wall
Street history since that street first
came to be the recognized synonym
for organized speculation. Back in
the days of Daniel Drew the story is
told of how that astute gentleman,
walking through the lobby of his no.
tel, Inadvertently" whisked out of
his pocket with his handkerchief an
order" to sell 10000 shares Of Erie,
in which he was known to be extreme
ly active. The "order," as the well
known operator had hoped, was
speedily placed in the hands of his
enemies, who lost no time in laying
their lines to trap him.
That they failed of their purpose
was due. of course. to the fact that Mr..
Drew's Tip" was planted" for the
specific purpose of inducing them to
do just what they did. Instead OF
being short Of the stock In question.
the cagey trader was on the other side
Of the fence, and the net result Of his
ruse was that he got rid Of a long line
Of stock at handsome profit.
The stock market Is a bigger load to
swing than it was in the days Of Mr..
Drew, but it may still be severely
q hi
when a piece of important news ."goes
of" before it should. And this. de-
spite the fact that the machinery d"
vised to prevent such occurrences
The most elaborate and the most Cor.
plets of its kind In the world. Tn;
md unless the human element Is com
)letely eradicated we shall continue.
no doubt. to have our quota of false
'eports, leak charges and bungled in
erviews. Which, for those who like
good story Is perhaps just ~ web.
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