Official Bear

Daniel Manning McKeon, a member of the New York Stock Exchange but a partner in no firm, was not summoned to Washington during the recent bear-hunt. Nor did his name appear upon the Senate's list of big shorts. Although his brother, Robert Manning McKeon, is known in Wall Street as an important independent floor trader, Daniel McKeon had little fame in the financial district until last week.

One morning 20 minutes after the market had opened President Richard Whitney mounted his rostrum, rang the electric gong. What trading there was came to a halt. Gravely President Whitney announced that Member McKeon had been suspended from the Exchange for one year. The charges were that on April 28 (a day when prices were falling) Member McKeon "made offers to sell securities for the purpose of upsetting the equilibrium of the market and bringing about a condition of demoralization in which prices would not fairly reflect market values, and thereby was guilty of acts inconsistent with just and equitable principles of trade." Although the Exchange found Member McKeon's offers had not been accepted, his intentions were sufficient to bring about the penalty. Hearing the news, Wall Street chuckled at the thought that after 32 months of a declining market the Exchange at last had an official bear to exhibit.*

Board of Trade to Arms. Last week Farmers National Grain Corp., subsidiary of the Federal Farm Board, had no trading privileges on the Chicago Board of Trade. This situation came about as an upshot of the long and bitter feud between the Pit and the U. S.

Farm Board trading has been done on the Board of Trade by Updike Grain Co. Last week Fred J. Thatcher, president of Updike Grain Co. and J. F. Florentine, treasurer, were suspended from the Board of Trade, the company itself suspended from privileges. Charges were that the two officers had sworn a false affidavit that they owned stock in Updike whereas the stock had been sold to Farmers National Grain Corp.

Knowing the charges were being made against Updike, recently the Farmers National applied for membership, was denied it on the grounds that it was a corporation, hence ineligible under a rule passed in 1929. Upon the refusal. Rev. Clarence Elmer Huff, president of Farmers National, asked Secretary of Agriculture Hyde to cancel the Board of Trade's license as a futures market. Secretary Hyde said he would withhold expression until after the Updike case was settled. Angry at the way it was settled, George Sparks Milnor, general manager of Farmers National, last week said the Government would be urged to revoke the Board's license at once. The Board's defense will be heard next week by a commission composed of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Attorney General.

Side show to the fight was a verbal fray last week between Board of Trade President Peter B. Carey and Chairman James Clifton Stone of the Farm Board. President Carey said that any six grain men could dispose of the Farm Board's surplus at good prices if given a chance, insisted that the Farm Board by selling wheat 5-c- lower at seaboard than in the interior has depressed the Liverpool price, aided importing nations at the expense of U. S. farmers.

* Year and a half ago the Board of Governors tried the late John Walker Pope, charged with spreading reports about Fox Film Corp. He proved his statements, was exonerated. Last week Fox Film reported a loss of $1,922,628 for the first 13 weeks of the year against a profit of $974,704 in the same period last year. Had Member Pope lived he would have seen Fox shares at $1^4 last week against a price of over $30 when he first decided they were too high.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.