Bawl Street

For the first time in 14 years it rained for the Bond Club of New York's annual field day last week. The rain annoyed a troupe of women swimmers and divers hired for entertainment more than it did the 300 members who journeyed to the Sleepy Hollow Country Club near Scarborough, N. Y. For a long time no one noticed that Bondman Wilfred T. Pratt had fallen into the pool during an exciting barrel race. On the "Sleepy Hollow Stock Exchange" trading in lottery tickets for automobiles and cases of whiskey was active with no restrictions on short-selling or sharp practice. A winner of a case of bourbon was Chairman Winthrop Aldrich of Chase National Bank. In the golf tournament Jess Sweetser, onetime British amateur champion and now of Shields & Co., won low gross with a 73. Only tip-top Manhattan bondmen enjoy the Sleepy Hollow jamboree but the. Bond Club's annual publication -- the " Bawl Street Journal--is sold in every important financial city in the land and is even ordered from Europe, China, Brazil. Written largely by bankers, brokers and their employes and printed on the presses of its famed prototype, the Wall Street Journal, the Bawl Street Journal is regarded as the most expert parody in the publishing field. Founder Robert A. Bould began having fun with the sedate Wall Street Journal and its advertisers in 1919 but after he was drowned in Long Island Sound in 1926 publication lapsed for five years. In 1931 the Bawl Street Journal was resurrected by John A. Straley, lean, sardonic promotion manager for Corporate Equities, Inc. A writer of fiction on the side, Editor Straley started offering prizes which brought in contributions from all over the U. S. This year more than 10,000 copies were sold at 50-c- each. Profits go toward defraying the Bond Club's heavy Field Day expenses. In last week's issue were such stories as: VOIDS RAILROAD MAIL CONTRACTS Farley Kills Agreements on Suspicion of Deals with Franklin in 1776 . . . The sweeping cancellation, Mr. Farley told reporters, was the result of a recent Senate investigation which indicated the possibility of irregularities in the original contracts awarded by ex-Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin to stage-coach drivers and dispatch riders in 1776. . . . 'There is almost positive evidence.' Mr. Farley, said, 'that at a somewhat later date the Wells-Fargo Co. paid the Pony Express the sum of $7.38 in cash, and a keg of Jamaica rum, to refrain from bidding on the Government contract to carry mail from St. Louis to Fort Leavenworth.' " BUSINESS HAS MINUS TROUBLE Babson Sees Industry Going Forward-- Declares It Is Merely Non-Plussed I. B. M. ADDS TO LINE "International Business Machine has announced the addition to its line of an automatic letter filing case, developed to meet the needs of public utility holding companies. This file, which will be known by the trade name 'Investigation Proof,' automatically picks out and destroys all letters from or to State Senators." Burlesquing the Watt Street Journal's "High Spots in the News" department, Bawl Street had items like: "Return to normalcy seen as banks are again robbed by outsiders"; "Investment trust loadings unchanged in May 19 week"; "Distillers' association adopts slogan: Never Too Late to Blend"; "Standard Oil of New Jersey may lose Blue Teagle." What the Bond Club always enjoys most are the house advertisements, appearing in exactly the same positions as in Bawl Street's prototype: "We Maintain the Same Unlisted Trading Service That Once Upon a Time Maintained Us"--Bristol & Willett. "We Fiddle with U. S. Government Notes--Private Ire From Washington"-- Boettcher-Newton & Co., "52 Back-to-the-Wall St." "Dillinger, Read & Co." "Metal Specialists--Ingot We Trust"-- Harris & Vose. "All we know is what we read in the papers. ... If you don't believe it, send for a copy of our United Aircraft letter to Senators"--J. P. Morgan & Co. "WTe take pleasure in announcing that we have completed arrangements with Adrian H. Muller & Son [securities auc-tioneers] to handle the markets on all of our underwritings"--Kuhn, Loeb & Co.

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