Downtown

P: When Ferdinand Pecora got through with Wall Street there were only two secrets left--the partnership agreement of the House of Morgan and the wealth of the New York Stock Exchange. Last week, with the reluctant consent of the governors, the Securities & Exchange Commission released the Big Board's figures. A consolidated balance sheet of the Exchange and its five subsidiaries revealed total assets of $43,846,054.86.

Because some $13,000,000 of that represented deposits held by Stock Clearing Corp. and because, like any big business, the Stock Exchange has bills payable, the equity of the 1,375 members amounted to only $27,500,000--$20,000 per seat. Its own land and buildings accounted for most of its assets. Cash was $2,000,000, Government bonds $800,000, deposits in closed banks $205,000.

Last year the Stock Exchange lost about $200,000. Total income was $7,480,000, derived chiefly from dues, rents, listing fees, operations of the stock clearing division, ticker service and charges for the brokers' telephone space. The barber shop took in $15,000. Most of the outgo was for salaries.

P: Quick was Canada to sense the profits in a silver market after President Roosevelt's nationalization of the metal halted trading on the New York Commodities Exchange. Last week the Canadian Commodity Exchange at Montreal was formally opened. Its only commodity is silver. First day's trading: 1,260,000 oz.; price: 53-c- per oz.

P: Last week the bonds of the biggest locomotive maker in the U. S. plunged downward 29 points. Baldwin Locomotive has not made a profit since 1930 but at the beginning of the Depression its financial position was considered impregnable. Last week President George Houston regretfully announced that the company could no longer meet the sinking fund requirements of its first mortgage bonds. Interest will be paid, however, on bonds held by the public.

P: Last week for the first time since the days of Jay Cooke, a group of private bankers marketed an issue of U. S. Government bonds.* Field, Glore & Co. headed a potent syndicate which distributed a $50,000,000 Home Owners' Loan Corp. issue carrying the Treasury's unconditional guarantee as to principal and interest. Said Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau: "A very interesting experiment."

The experiment was an attempt to broaden the market for HOLC bonds, now being issued at the rate of $200,000,000 per month in exchange for defaulted mortgages. Ultimately HOLC will also need at least $300,000,000 in cash. After a big HOLC issue (for cash) flopped last summer, the bankers were summoned, and a great selling drive started to convince small investors that the bonds were, if not as good as gold, at least as good as the Treasury's paper dollar.

Few of these bonds were sold to big Chicago and Manhattan banks last week, and 10,000 salesmen were told that little orders would please Washington more than big ones. After the books were closed, Secretary Morgenthau said: "A complete success."

* During the War private bankers sold Liberty Bonds without commission. Last week the bankers received a commission of $6.25 per $1,000 bond.

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