Evening star., 1933-12-31

SENATOR FLETCHER.
big and little. was doomed or inflated.
in the same way. Holding companies
were organized by them and heavily
capitalized. to manipulate the stock Of
their corporations, and through these
holding companies the antitrust laws
could be more easily violated. Then
investment trusts were organized on
vast scale to deal. or rather speculate,
in stocks. The stock, in all Of these.
generally speaking. was sold to the pub
lie and, rest assured at inflated prices.
"Watered" Stocks.
THE laundries that do the family
washing, the bakeries that bake your
bread, the groceries that sell you food,
the dairy concerns that sell you milk,
the department store. the apartment
house. or hotel in which you live, the
telephone company. the electric and gas
company, the aluminium company, and
practically every kind Of business has
been organized into corporations. and
you can rely upon 1t that the stock and
bond issues Of all Of these companies,
with rare exceptions, was viciously
'watered' or inflated Some OF these
companies were simply promotion
schemes organized for the purpose of
selling stocks and often bonds, with no
idea on the part Of the swindling pro-
moters Of conducting an Industrial plant
TO give men employment and promote
industry.
When the stocks and bonds in such
promotion schemes were unloaded on
q ~ h0Or,, la
were through; the plant shut down, If
indeed 1t had ever started production.
and little or nothing was ever realized
from these wrecks, Much Of this stock
was listed on the Stock Exchanges
throughout the country and nearly
every large city has Stock Exchange.
Most of the towns in every State of
$4,000 population up each have q stock
brokers' Office. with leased wires from
New York and members OF the New
York Stock Exchange as their once
signs proclaim
Some Offices such as in Detroit
washington, Omaha. Los Angeles. etc.
each nave dozen or more OF these
brokers Offices. They are always I'm
the most central locations and where
the rent is highest. They are eypen-
sively furnished. have forces of sta
tSticlans, cashiers and office forces and
manager who often commands an
annual salary Of $4,000 a year or more
Leased wires to New York are a con-
siderable daily overhead Now, who
pays this tremendous overhead? The
customers who buy stock and bonds. of
course -
some one may say: "Oh. the price
OF STOCKS and bonds and the manipu-
iatlon OF them do not affect me in the
least, Tor I never own any or speculate
in them.
Holds All Are Affected.
AS matter of fact every person
VINO uses electric light. gas, telephone
lood products. clothing and. in fact
Hsariy Hy every necessity of life pays the
olvldends on the inflated or watered
stocks
Some rich men. up to the time Of
this collapse. preferred to keep their
tae fortunes OF million or more
IN the confines Of safety yault
m IN ,he shape OF dividend paying stocks
ana interest, Paying bonds. And you.
reaoer. whether you were ever inter
ested in the stock market or not Won
PAID all OF this, in addition To- The
prlncely salaries of the presidents of
tnese corporations. And some of these
executives received as much as 81 600 =
ouO or more year in bonuses in addi-
tion 10 their salariesl You, reader and
the rest Of the 1000 900 of our nao-
PIE PAID every dollar of this when Won
palo your gas. your electric light, yoIlr
leiephone and all the other bills yoll
p".u lor tne necessities, comforts and
Corporations. honestly created and
conducted are necessary. And one Of
our big jobs now is to enact Ieo,siation
TO regulate and control them. 7 meen
laws that will have teeth in then,
and minus jokers.' And that Is wbat
we propose to have during the next
year or so. venture that President
Roosevelt and Congress. with neonie
pack OF them, will put such laws into
eHect long before the present presi.
Dental term Of short four wears is
ended. The banking act of The last
congress, now law, prohibits banks
from dealing in stocks as thev have
oeen doing. The stock brokers will in
future take care Of the stock and bond
business and they will have to toe the
marx. as will the stock exchanges after
we are through with our present lepisla-
tive program.
Strict Control Predicted.
II venture that in the future the
SWlnollng stock and bond promoters
VIII not be permitted to unload their
Watered and worthless issue to the pub
llc through the investment bankers
or through solicitors in personal calls,
as they have been doing. LOBBYISTS
and corporation lawyers have heretofore
mad big voice in the framing Of laws
10 regulate the corporations. These
mighty paid servants and tools of the
big interest have no influence with the
present administration. Such men
have never before been so discredited
as now and their game Is ended.
The Presidents embargo on gold and
the plan for the purchase of freshly
mined gold, as well as his fixing a fair
price for newly mined silver has had
very stimulating effect. Tens of
thousands of men. that were unem-
ployed, are now engaged in prospect
ing for gold and silver in the former
mining States. Gold and silver mines
that have been shut down for years
are now alive with activity. The gold
and silver being produced Is adding
wealth to the country besides furnish
ing employment to men giving them
purchasing power for themselves and
their families, and to help industry In
every line.
"It is reasonable to say. with the in
formation We have. that this admins