Fifteenth Annual Report of the Securities and. Exchange Commission Fiscal Year Ended Jnne 30, 1949 Securities and E;:change CQlfr~i~5ion Library UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1950 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Prlntinlt omee, Wasbin&ton 26, D. C. PrIce 55 eenta SECURITmS AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Central Office 425 Second Street NW. Washington 25, D. C. COMMISSIONERS HARRY A. McDoNALD, Chairman RICHARD B. MCENTIRE PAUL R. ROWEN DONALD C. COOK EDWARD T. MCCoRMICK ORVALL. DuBoIS, Secretary n LETTER OF TRANSMI'ITAL SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, Washington, D. G., February -, 1950. SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission, in accordance with the provisions of section 23 (b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, approved June 6, 1934; section 23 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, approved August 26, 1935; section 46 (a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, approved August 22, 1940; and section 216 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, ap- proved August 22, 1940. Respectfully, HARRY A. McDONALD, Chairman. THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. G. III TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Foreword_________________________________________________________ XIII Commissioners and staff offieers , ________________ _________________ XVI Regional and branch offices _________________________________________ XVII PART I ADMINISTRATION OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 The registration process _ 1 Purpose of registration _ Examination procedure _ 1 2 Effective date of registration statement _ 3 Time required for registration _ 3 The volume of securities registered _ 4 Volume of all seeurities registered _ 4 Volume of securities registered for cash sale _ 4 A. All securities _ 4 B. Stocks and bonds _ 5 C. All securities registered for cash sale for the accounts of issuers-by type of issuer _ 6 D. Use of investment bankers as to securities registered for cash sale for the accounts of issuers _ 6 All new securities offered for cash sale _ 7 Registered securities _ 7 Unregistered securities _ Corporate _ 7 Noncorporate _ 7 8 Total registered and unregistered securities _ 8 New capital and refinancing _ 8 Registration statements filed _ 9 Disposition of registration statements _ Other documents filed under the act _ Exemption from registration under the act _ 10 Exempt offerings under regulation A _ 11 Exempt offerings under regulation A- M __ . _ 11 Exempt offerings under regulation B _ 12 Confidential written reports under regulation B _ 13 Oil and gas investigations _ 14 Formal actions under section 8 _ 14 Examinations under section 8 (e) _ 15 Stop-order proceedings under section 8 (d) _ 16 Deficiencies discovered in examination of registration statements _ 17 Failure to disclose interest of parent company _ 17 Expenses paid by company to accommodate selling stockholders. 18 Failure to disclose cease and desist orders __• • - - _ 19 Liability for pensions not disclosed _ 20 Overstatement of inventories and understatement of losses _ 20 Write-up of fixed assets . _ 21 Effect of additional depreciation and taxes on earning power _ 21 Good will amortized _ 22 Sale of stock at different prices _ 22 Promoter's profit in cooperative ... _ 23 Disclosure of financial position _ 23 Comparative investment positions of public and promoters _ 24 v VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ADMINISTRATION OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933-Con. Page Changes in MIles, regulations, and forms~_________________________ 25 Rules relating to exemptions .______ __ _________ 25 Amendment of rules relating to registration______________ 25 Rule 13I-The red-herring prospectus____________________ 25 Regulation C_________________________________________ 25 Amendment of forms for registration_________________________ 26 Revision of Form 8-L____ __ ___ 26 Revision of Form 8-2______________________________ 26 Forms 8-4 and 8-S________________________________ 26 Form 8-7_________________________________________ 26 Form 8-11________________________________________ 27 Litigation under the act ._____ 27 PART II ADMINISTRATION OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Regulation of exchanges and exchange trading________ __ _ 30 Registration of exehanges.L, , __ __ ________ __ 30 Floortrading_____________________________________________ 32 Disciplinary actions by exchanges against members ____________ 33 Registration of securities on exchanges , ___ _ ___________ 33 Examination of applications and reporta., , ___________________ 33 Statistics of securities registered on exchanges_________________ 34 Temporary exemption of substituted or additional securities, ___ 34 Securities traded on exchanges; __________ ________ ____ 35 Market value and volume of exchange trading __ _ _____________ 35 Special offerings on exchanges..; , _ _ ___________ 35 Secondary distributions approved by exchanges_______________ 36 Comparative data of securities traded on exchanges____________ 36 Termination of registration under section 19 (a) (2)________________ 37 Unlisted trading privileges on exchanges___________________ __ 38 Applications for unlisted trading privileges____________________ 40 Changes in securities admitted to unlisted trading privileges., ____ 41 Delisting of securities from exchanges___________________ 41 Securities delisted by application- _ __ _______ __ ___ _ 41 Securities delisted by certification____________________________ 42 Securities removed from listing on exempted exchanges..; _______ 42 Manipulation and stabilization_______________________________ 42 Manipulation ; _ _ ________ ______ ___ ________ 43 Trading Investigations., _ _ ___ __ __ ___ __ ____ ___ 45 Stabilisation , ___ ____ ___________________ 45 Security transactions of corporation Insiders , _ _ ___________________ 46 Preventing unfair use of inside Information; ___ _ 47 Statistics of ownership reports .________ _ 47 Solicitations of proxies, consents, and authorizations_______________ 48 Statistics of proxy statements_______________________________ 48 Examination of proxies_____ ___ __ _ _________ ___ 49 Regulation of brokers and dealers________________________________ 51 Registration______________________________________________ 51 Administrative proeeedings; ___________ ___ ______ _ 52 Cumulative record of broker-dealer proeeedings., __ 53 Broker-dealer insl?ections______ __ _ _ ___ 57 Pricing practlces _ Inspection of broker-dealers in Hawaii___________________ 59 Financial reports; ______ __ ______ __ _ 59 Supervision of N ASD activity • 60 DisciplinaryM~~b~rship---;------------------.----------------------_aetions . __ _______ 60 Registered representative rule_______________________________ 61 Commission review of actions on membership_________________ 62 TABLE OF CONTENTS vn ADMINISTRATION OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1894-Continued Page Changes in rules, regulations, and forms _ 63 Changes made during the 1949 fiscal year _ 63 Revision of registration and reporting rules _ Rule X-16B-S _ 63 6S Changes made during the 1945-48 fiscal years _ 64 Adoption of rule X-16B-4 _ 64 Revision of proxy rules _ 64 Quarterly reports _ 65 Proposed revision of registration and reporting forms _ 65 Litigation under the act _ 65 Injunction and appellate proceedings involving broker-dealers _ 66 Kaiser-Frazer investigation and the litigation with Otis & Co _ 73 PAR'I'III ADMINISTRATION OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 1935: The public utility industry under the act _ 78 Regulation of financing and operations _ 79 Registration of holding companies _ 79 Exe~p}if>n from the act _ 79 Acqulsttlons _ 80 Tra~s~ctions wi~hin holding company systems _ 81 Servicing operations - - _- _ 81 Issues of securities and assumption of liabilities _ 82 Total security issues sold _ 83 Sales of securities and application of proceeds _ 84 Competitive bidding _ 88 Integration and simplification of holding company systems _ 90 Data on companies divested and no longer subject to act _ 93 Data on companies divested and still subject to act _ 94 Status of holding company systems _ 96 Cities Service Co _ 96 The Commonwealth & Southern Corp _ 98 Electric Bond & Share Co _ 99 National Power & Light CO _ 99 American Power & Light Co _ 100 Electric Power & Light COrp _ 101 AJnerican (}as& Electric Co _ 102 American & Foreign Power Co., Inc _ 103 Engineers Public Service Co _ 104 General Public Utilities Corp _ 105 International Hydro-Electric System _ 106 New England Electric System _ 106 The Middle West COrp _ 107 Midland United Co.-Midland Utilities CO _ 108 New England Gas and Electric Assooiation _ 108 New England Public Service Co __ . _ 109 The North American CO _ 110 Northern States Power Co _ Ogden COrp _ 111 111 Standard Power & Light Corp.-8tandard Gas & Electric Co , 113 The United Light and Railways Co _ 1Jnited COrp _ 114 115 Niagara Hudson Power Corp _ 116 The Columbia Gas System, Inc _ 116 The United Gas Improvement Co _ 117 Public Service Corporation of New Jersey _ VVest Penn Electric Co _ 118 118 Cooperation with State and local regulatory authorities _ 119 Litigation under the act _ 122 Enforcement proceedings under section 11 (e) _ 123 Other court decisions during the fiscal year _ 127 VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS ADMINISTRATION OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY ACT OF 1935-Continued Page Summary of litigation under the set; _ 127 Petitions to review orders of the Commission__________________ 127 Enforcement of reorganization plans under section 1L_________ 128