Evening star., 1941-06-26
Wall Street Studies
Schram's S Plan for
Trade Association
Suggestion From New
Exchange President
Stirs Interest
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated PreSS.
NEW YORK, June rs. Wall
Street discussed today the possibili-
ties of strong trade association to
promote its interests and revive
dwindling business in line with sug-
gestions made last night by Emil
Schram. chairman of the Govern
ments Reconstruction Finance Corp
and president-elec of the stock
exchange.
Mr.. Schram, for eight years con-
nected with the New Deal admins
tration in various capacities, made
his first appearance before a Wall
Street gathering as he addressed
100 men at a dinner given in his
honor by the Association of Stock
Exchange Firms. He said he would
take over his new job July l.
In tho audience, which included
most of the top names in the bank
ing and brokerage community, were
Wendell L. Willkie, Federal Loan
Administrator Jesse Jones, Leon
Henderson, Securities and Exchange
commissioner, and William McChes-
ney Martin. jr., youthful former
president of the exchange and now
an Army draftee.
Martin Gives Talk.
Mr.. Martin, in brief unscheduled
speech. told of his Army experiences.
Six days after he was inducted, he
said, a sergeant called him from the
ranks to practice executing right
about face" which he had been
doing badly. Each try was worse
than the preceding. Mr. Martin said.
until the exasperated sergeant said:
I've met some stupid men in my
day, out I never met any one like
you. I don't know your name, but
you're awfully lucky to be in the
Army You couldn't make a living
anywhere else"
Mr.. Martin was 33 when he was
named president of the exchange at
a salary of $4,000 a year.
Exchange members. who for
months have been discussing ap-
plication of merchandising meth
DDS" to alleviate the slowest business
in decades, expressed particular in
terest in the trade association phase
of Schram's speech as the first clue
as to what their new leader might
have in mind to develop trading.
Schram said he considered the
association of stock exchange firms
offered the nucleus of a powerful
trade body"
adequately financed and stated" !"
Schram said, "it would become a
vigorous co-ordinating force Many
examples of cooperative effort have
been set by other industries. AS
visualize it, your association, prop
erly organized for such an attempt.
- could become the strong right
arm of the exchange"
Sees Public Role.
Schram told the exchange men the
answer to some of the markets s
problems 'lies in the operation of
the exchange not only as business
enterprise-but in the manner of a
public utility as well"
He also told his audience: Free
markets are a necessary adjunct of
that system to the preservation of
which the country has now conse-
Grated itself. I regard the stock eX-
change therefore as an institution
whose continued vitality is of ma
tional concern"
Schram, whose choice for the
S48 900 year job as exchange head
on May was surprise to most
Wall Streeters, both because of his
connection with the New Deal and
because he was not experienced in
the securities business, told exchange
men:
Il am no Aladdin with a magic
lamp, no Moses promising to lead
you out of the wilderness. I offer no
panacea for your ills. But do say
there is no problem facing the ex-
change today which we cannot solve
together by intelligent effort and
earnest endeavor."