Evening star., 1942-03-12
Investors M'isIed'
On Gas Light Stock,
Hankin Reasserts
P. U. c. Head, However
Denies Imposing Any
Liability on Company

Gregory Hankin, chairman of the
Public Utilities Commission, today
restated for the official record-but
with a modifying explanation-his
declaration of Tuesday that he felt
the Washington Gas Light Co. had
"misled" the investing public when
1t fioated 1886 issue of convertible
preferred stock.
His declaration again was denied
by counsel for the company and in
response to repeated requests from
the company's spokesman Mr.. Han
kin declared:
II will say this-that I did not use
the world 'misled' or the word mis-
leading in sense imposing any La
bility on the officers or directors Of
the Washington Gas Light Co., or
upon the company itself"
Prettyman Explains.
E. Barrett Prettyman. the COM
pany counsel, had insisted that the
company was sound and eco
nomically operated and that 1t in
no sense misled the stock-buying
public in the sale of the 1886 pre-
ferred stock issue, that the terms OF
the convertible preferred stock were
made known and that the investors
had had available current market
reports on the market value Of COM
mon stock
As Mr.. Prettyman concluded his
explanation of the financial issue,
Mr.. Hankin modified his earlier
statements by saying the company
counsel's statement would have been
complete if he had ended with
remark of "and the devil take the
hindmost."
The issue arose out of the Tues
day public hearing before the P.
U. C. on the petition OF the COM
pany for authority to issue 10000
as a means OF getting money to
finance expansion and operation OF
the gas service. The commission
has not yet decided on the stock
issue
Extraordinary Hearing.
An extraordinary public hearing
was convened at IL a m. today after
Mr.. Prettyman had discovered that
Mr.. Hankin's statement about the
public being "misled' did not ap-
pear In the official transcript OF
the Tuesday hearing. Members OF
the P. U. c. staff. including Mr..
Hankin, the official stenographer
and newspaper reporters, were called
TO the stand today as the COM
mission investigated the mystery
Of the omission of what were the
sharpest words said at the Tuesday
hearing.
After two hours of investigation
and testimony. 1t was developed that
no one had asked or directed the
official stenographer TO leave any
thing out of the official record and
that Mr.. Hankin's charge was lost
during fast and heated debate
AS the commission heard the COM
mercial stenographer read and re-
read from his stenographic notes,
the commission was convinced there
were many" misinterpretations or
commissions in the Transcribed rec
ord.
History Of 1886 Issue.
The financial history was that the
1886 issue of preferred stock was to
be convertible into common stock at
the election Of the stockholder, on
the basis of one share of preferred
stock for three OF common. This
stock has not been converted, but
Mr.. Prettyman stated and reStated
that this would be done anytime the
preferred stockholder asked that 1t
be done, and he reminded the COM
mission today that neither the COM
panv nor the commission has any
control over the market price OF the
common stock.
Mr.. Hankin explained that he
felt the buying public had been
"misled" because. he said. 1t had
not been told that If an investor
bought 500 share of preferred
stock and converted it into common
shares ''he would be converting
something worth sl0o into some
thing worth $50"
Mr.. Prettyman challenged the
commission chairman on this point
on the ground the public had avail
able the market quotations on COM
mon stock when the stock was
noated. But Mr.. Hankin insisted
there should have been some addi-
tional statement from the company
so that the public would not be
buying a pig in poke
During the long discussion be-
tween Mr.. Prettyman and Mr..
Hankin over the misleading"
declaration. the commission chair
man said that he and Mr.. Pretty
man were agreed on the facts" but
were not in agreement on the con