Evening star., 1937-03-03
STOCK 'COVERAGE
BY PRESS IS TOLD
Financial Editors Testify at
Sc. C. Hearing in New
York.
N the Associated Press.

~ the Associated freSS.
NEW YORK, March 3.-EW-
dence to show the widespread dis
semination of securities market quo
tations by newspapers and news serv-
ices was introduced at the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commissions hear
ing Yesterday on charges that Charles
C. Wright and others manipulated
stock of the Kinner Aircraft & En-
zine Co. on the Los Angeles Stock Ex-
change.
The testimony was brought out by
William Prayer, counsel for the COM
mission, in an effort to rebut the re-
spondents' contention that stock ex-
change transactions are intrastate
rather than interstate in character,
and that the Securities and Exchange
Commission therefore Is unconStitu-
tional.
Claude A. Jaeger, financial editor
OF the Associated Press, with head
quarters in New York, in response to
Prayers questioning described the
securities quotation service of the
press association. Most Of this serv-
ice. he said, Is tabulated in New YORK
by a special staff from 16 stock and
bond tickers.
$4,000 Miles of Leased Wires.
Frequent complete tables Of major
New York and Chicago securities mar
kets, he said, were sent over special
teletypewriter circuits aggregatlng
$4,000 miles of leased wires reaching
l8O member newspapers in all sec
tions of the country. In addition, at
90 Associated Press Bureaus through
out the country, editors prepared from
this special service shorter lists sent
on regional wires into every State IN
the Union. At least part OF the
financial service goes to virtually all
of the approximately 1900 member
newspapers of the association. he said.
The ticker service, from which the
tables are prepared. is purchased from
the Western Union Telegraph Co..
Jaeger said and is disseminated to
member newspapers. No part OF the
service is given to stockholders or
turned over directly to the general
public, he testified.
Asked by defense counsel if the
quotation service was furnished at the
solicitation of the New York Stock
Exchange, Jaeger said that it was not
and that it originated solely at the
initiative of the Associated Press and
its members.
Los Angeles Quotations.
Los Angeles Stock Exchange quota
tionS are transmitted by Associated
Press leased wire to New York, where
they are received simultaneously at
the offices of the Associated Press and
the New York Times and New York
Herald Tribune, Jaeger said in re-
sponse to Prayers question.
John G. Forrest, financial news edi-
tor of the New York Times. another
witness called by the S. E. c.. testified
the New York Times published lists
of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange,
which were obtained through the As
sociated Press.
Elmer c. Waller, financial editor Of
the United Press, gave similar testl-
mony. He described the financial
quotation service as going on special
circuits to virtually every section Of
the country except New England.
Quotations from the Los Angeles Stock
Exchange, he said, were distributed IN
California and Arizona. The ticker
service, he testified, was purchased
from Western Union.
Object to- Testimony.
Isidore Kresel and Eugene L. Carey
OF counsel for the respondents object
ed vigorously to admission of the testi-
mony of Jaeger, Forrest and Waller,
moving it be stricken as not material.
S. E. C. Examiner Edward c. john
son, however, denied the motion.
Thomas H Montgomery of the long
lines department of the American
Telephone & Telegraph Co. testified
concerning the leasing of wire service
to brokers.
Earlier in the days hearing James
W. Elliot. managing secretary Of the
Los Angeles Exchange, was called 70
the stand by the defense to give evi-
dence concerning transactions in that
market.
He said all transactions were be-
tween members as principals, and
members were bound by such trading
even if the customers for whom they
bought or sold failed to complete
them. Private wires from the floor of
the exchange to members and nom
members, he said, went only to the
Offices of houses in Los Angeles and
did not cross State lines.