Evening star., 1937-11-25

III IL ny
Chairman Douglas of the Securities
and Exchange Commission attacking
the New York Stock Exchange and
virtually saying that some of the pres
ent decline in security prices is due to
manipulation. But, on the other hand,
after Mr.. Douglas got all through LAM
basting the stock exchange he made
, q very significant comment at the end,
saying he understood the stock ex-
change had been making some good
plans to police itself satisfactorily.
The most important thing to watch
In administration statements, after all
the threats and sharp-toned state
ments, is what it is proposed to do
about it.
President Is Factor.
It would be unfortunate if the ad-
ministration were to try political tao
tics in asking the public to believe
that the fundamental change in the
business situation in recent weeks was
due to stock market declines. Mr.
Douglas doesn't go that far, but inti-
mates that sometimes the swing Of
the pendulum downward is greater
than it should be because the morale
OF business men is affected by stock
market trading. On the other hand,
II Mr.. Douglas reads the papers closely
he will find that the man who inf1u-
ences the trading up and down more
than anybody else-and, Of course, he
doesn't do it deliberately-is the Presi-
dent himself.
Take, for instance, the conference
ON Tuesday between President RooSe-
welt and Wendell Willkie, president Of
the Commonwealth & Southern Power
Corp, one of the progressive leaders
Of the industry. When the two-hour
session was over, what did the press
report? First of all, there had been
Issued by the White House during
the very time the conference was in
session statement by Frank P. Walsh
of the New York State Power Au-
thority bitterly attacking the utili-
ties. From this it might be inferred
that the President was trying to keep
his left-wing following Of public own
ership advocates at the same time
that he was acting courteously toward
the representatives Of the power COM
panies.
Public Ownership Disturbed.
What probably happened was that
the group represented by Mr.. Walsh
took issue with recent statement
transmitted by the President to Con-
sress as a part of the report of the
National Resources Board. The report
said in effect that hydroelectric prof.
ects were more expensive than steam
plants which generated power. The
public ownership folks were disturbed
about this, because they say the sec
ton of the offial report was written
by an engineer who took the power
companys side, and that the stuff
crept into a report which the Gov
eminent members didn't scrutinize
carefully.
Yet the truth IS the public isn't
interested in which of these two fac
tions call each other names or bitterly
accuse each other Of propaganda. The
facts about hydroelectric and steam
plants can be gotten very easily from
any group Of impartial engineers the
Government or anybody else might
select.
It would be found, for instance, that
the question often turns on how far
from source Of supply of fuel steam
plant happens to be located. For then
heavy transmission costs enter the
picture. Likewise efficiency has been
growing in steam plants in recent
years, whereas hydroelectric power is
not so reliable because of the uneven
flow of water in certain sections of the
country and over certain spans of
time. In other words, the operating
costs Of hydroelectric or steam plants
depend on local conditions.
All these are questions on which
there should be good deal Of enlight-
ened discussion Of facts and less
attention to polemics.
Stated Own Slant.
Then there was the Presidents own
handling of the news Of the conference