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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 22, 1955
Page 2
Stock Exchange Always Against Senate Investigation
The Senate committee on banking and currency became concerned about the effects that certain corrupt-appearing practices of the stock exchange might have on the operation of business and the general economy of the country. The date, mid-March; the year, 1914.
The committee felt that the investigation was necessary because; "... but a small part of these (stock exchange) transactions is of an investment character; that whilst another part represents wholesome speculation, a far greater part represents speculation indistinguishable in effect from wagering and more hurtful than lotteries or gambling at the race track or the roulette table because practiced on a vastly wider scale and withdrawing from productive industry vastly more capital; that as an adjunct of such speculation quotation of securities are manipulated without regard to real values and false appearances of demand or supply are created, and this not only without hindrance from, but with the approval of the authorities of the exchange, provided only the transactions are not purely fictitious. In other words, the facilities of the New York stock exchange are employed largely for transactions producing moral and economic waste and corruption; and it is fair to assume that in lesser and varying degree this is true or may come to be true of other institutions throughout the country similarly organized and conducted."
But how was this situation to be changed? And did the situation really exist? The stock exchange scaffed at the report and said that it was ridiculous because the membership of the great institution of the stock exchange was a representation of the best citizenship of New York.
The senate committee had suggested that the
stock exchange should take the responsibility of controlling the speculation and fraudulent investment, but the New York stock exchange personnel could see nothing bad about the stock exchange. and would not listen to such talk from a mere senate committee.
So the committee needed some means of control over the operation of the stock exchange. Thus was born the Senate bill which brought considerable reaction from the exchange. The bill was: "To prevent the use of the mails and of the telegraph and the telephone in furtherance of fraudulent and harmful transactions on stock exchanges."
This bill, if passed, would have enabled the government to require the stock exchange to observe certain requirements as a condition to the transmission of its quotations through the mails and by telephone and telegraph.
In 1917 the war came along, which curbed speculating somewhat, and directed interest away from the stock market, so that the market settled down and held steady for several years after the war, but then the market began to fluctuate again in the late 20s, and with no cooperation between the government and the stock exchange, interfering in the fluctuations and speculation. No one thought the stock exchange needed to carry on any kind of regulation, and the stock exchange was well pleased with the prosperity, until, in 1929 came the big crash.
The bill was opposed loudly by the stock exchange, and by most large business interests. The bill didn't pass, and no cooperation was afforded the Senate committee by the stock exchange.
Then the Senate committee started to work again. —Jack Fisher
Book Review-
Answer to Problems of Crime May Lie in 'Cell 2455, Death Row'
The University campus has often, and appropriately, been described as "an ivy tower existence," but in many respects this implied lack of realism, this romantic detachment from the world itself, is found in nearly every environment, separating its victims from the society in which they live.
With such glib abandon does a large majority of this nation treat crime and the criminal. The unpleasant problems of penal institutions, capital punishment, and apprehension of the latest "scourge upon society" . . . all these, and many other amplifications of the crime rate in this country, are left to the police departments and legal authorities.
In far too many instances an entire nation can be transformed into a raging mob, demanding the life of a vicious killer and creating a prolonged series of heated debates in the most polite recesses of society. Until finally the criminal is executed, and headlines blare the fate of yet another wrong-doer.
But we suspect that the answer to this problem of crime and the criminal may lie within the pages of Caryl Chessman's daring book "Cell 2455. Death Row." For deeply embodied within this bold and brazen history of a "criminal genius" there is a recurrent theme which cannot be denied.
But the question which society never stops to ponder is one which Caryl Chessman has been given over half a decade in Death Row to consider. How much purer will the slate of society's battle against crime appear after Chessman's life is forfeited? And this "criminal genius" has written the shocking but indisputable answer which too few of us have the foresight to acknowledge.
"At least tentatively," Caryl Chessman writes, "let us accept the thought that the only thing the execution of the man in Cell 2455 will prove is that he will be dead. And then let us ask: What will his being dead prove?
"The problem of dealing with crime and criminals obviously will not die with him. The harsh fact is that society can execute him and his kind until it wallows neck deep in their blood and still there will be crime. Still there will be 'criminals.' Social vengeance—disguised as justice—is therefore a monumentally futile thing and society needless confounds itself by exacting it."
Boldly written . . . yes. Bitterly . . . yes, we must grant that. But these are the words of a doomed man, a hardened criminal who has spent his life in a world which embittered him to an unbelievable but indisputable extent. And as to the wisdom of Chessman's ultimatum, we may refer to his plea for the realization of his words. "Credence should be given to one skilled in his peculiar art," this man explains.
And Chessman is surely "skilled in his art." His book is a fantastic account of nearly every conceivable phase of crime, written by one who lived and enacted each scene of the endless tragedy.
And can we honestly delude ourselves into the stagnant lack of responsibility which most of us continue to show concerning an adequate solution to this problem? If so, then it is thoroughly ridiculous for society to remark at the most vicious of criminal careers!
Chessman's criminal genius seems all the more shocking to the carefully detached reader when that "good citizen" discovers the birthright of the man in Cell 2455. Here is a desperate and dangerous criminal, the reader feels. Yet this criminal exists within the same physical body which once housed a shyly happy boy, a brilliant but sensitive child, reared in a home of deep love and nurtured on affection, a strong sense of sincere religious beliefs, and with even the added advantage of financial security.
Caryl Chessman deflates completely the simple answer of capital punishment as a cheap way of ridding the world of criminals. He compares the millions of prisoners supported by the states to the relatively few who are condemned to Death Row, and thus we must admit that we are "saving" very little by "legal executions." And to a young potential criminal, capital punishment is no more of a threat than the oft-repeated "Crime does not pay," Chessman tells us.
The oft-quoted "scourge of society" cannot be limited to a definition of the criminal or crime, but it must be admitted to include the very qualities of society itself which create and perpetuate the criminal. —Amy DeYong
"Looks like Patterson has finally found a way to make my 8 o'clock class on time."
A jet propelled, steam operated boat was developed as far back as the 18th century. George Washington watched a test model run in 1784 and called its demonstration of the propelling principle one of "vast importance."
The giant fulmar, or stinker, when approached during incubation, likely will throw up its entire last meal. The bird can shoot up to six feet, says the National Geographic society. No amount of cleaning will remove the odor from clothes. From the very start the stinker chick, too, can deliver a powerful little jet, and its aim seems to be even better than that of its parents. Except for the albatross, the giant fulmar is the largest of the petrel family, about 37 inches long and weighing around eight pounds. Its wings extend more than six feet.
Berber women of the Ait Haddidu tribe in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco enjoy amazing freedom. A wife can legally divorce an unwanted husband for 15 cents. Some tribeswomen have had more than 20 husbands.
The near-sighted elephant uses his sense of smell and hearing to give warning of potential enemies. His flapping ears become stiff as boards and fan out when he feels the presence of danger.
Most Okinawa children never tasted cow's milk until relief agencies shipped in tons of dried powder after World War II. They had to be taught to drink it, but they soon learned to like it.
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