Milford chronicle., 1956-12-28
New Laurels For
Distaff Financiers

A lot of things happened to
women during the year, as they do
every year. The past IL months
may not be particularly notable
in distaff history for the fact that
number of underage girls took to
writing overage books; that a Rus
sian lady discus thrower took to
hooking cheap hats; that the wedd-
ing of the Philadelphia girl on the
Riviera interfered with the pub
licity OF BuigSnin's and Kruschev's s
goodwill tour.
When the long view of history
is taken, however, it may just turn
out that 1856 was remarkable for
the fact that it was the year when
the fair sex crashed the last bar
riers into high finance.
Look, fellows, and be prepared
to take to the hills. First there was
Mrs. Alice B. Morgan of Bristol,
R. l., who at the age of rs carried
off $4,000 from a television quiz
for answering questions about in
vestments and money, And then
there was Mrs. Charles Ulrich Bay,
the widow who on Dec. 1 became
the first woman in 200 years of
Wall Street history to be named
chairman of the board and. presi-
dent of stock exchange member
firm
Through the years the relation
ship of the female to the dollar
has been the subject of consider
able interest and speculation, par
ticularly by members of the OPP
posite sex. There has been gen.
eral male agreement that women
were penny-wise and able, when
necessary, to make one dime do
the work of two. There was also
feeling that familiarity with such
exotic mysteries as selling short,
putting and calling and analyzing
annual reports was an occupation
as purely masculine as cigar-smok-
ing.
But there has been a change go
ing on. Since more and more
women have been becoming wild
ows, more and more women be-
coming w1So earners, more and
more females have been dabbling
with the fascinating idea of putting
their money to work instead of
under the mattress. Signs and
figures, once as secret as 33rG
degree masonic rites, are now be-
coming as easy to understand as
recipe ingredients.
Perc eptive stock brokerage
houses have been putting on for
ums and putting out literature on
How to Invest" themes and
have been deluged with interested
women.
In the last four years alone, the
number of women who own secur-
tiles has increased almost by one
half.
Although Mrs. Morgan, in front
of te1evision camera talking about
debentures as Familiarity as she
can also discuss the Steps to
Washington" quilting pattern or
Mrs. Bay reading the Big Board
with the same facility as she in
J0IpISIS u0T SnOppluS 1ISJs are CA
amples of a trend, they are pretty
dramatic ones.
Let's face it, Mrs. Morgan rolled
up nest egg of some $4,000 (after
$4,000 taxes) in the risky all-or-
almost-nothing arena of quiz
program. Mrs. Bay became limited
partner in a Wall Street firm only
five years ago. By. a not so curious
coincidence her husband, the for
mer ambassador to Norway, had
been the senior partner in the
firm for some years before that.
1t won't be long now before the
old financial walls fall before the
general female assault.
But relax, fellows, we're not 60
ing to cause the structure to shat
ter All we're after is just nice,
safe, conservative portfolios of
growth securities with a long
record of steady dividends, bright
future and a comfortable prospect
of averaging say around 10
per cent dividends. But nothing
speculative, mind you.
The gentleness of most sled dogs