Challenge

Amazed last week was Chairman James McCauley Landis of the Securities & Exchange Commission by the name sent in to him by a caller--President Sydney Richard Inch of Electric Bond & Share, biggest power holding company in the U. S. and defendant in the SEC's test suit on the Public Utility Act of 1935. Mr.

Inch chatted amicably with Chairman Landis and his fellow Commissioners, made an inspection tour of the SEC division which will police his business if Bond & Share loses its case. Why Mr. Inch suddenly decided to call on his worst enemy was not revealed but the immediate explanation was that he had a forehanded desire to get acquainted.

That explanation was certainly reasonable. A few days later, at the annual convention of the Investment Bankers Association in Augusta. Ga., in his first speech since the election. Chairman Landis officially confirmed the prevalent belief that for the next four years SEC intends to be tough. Referring to holding company resistance to the Public Utility Act, Mr. Landis declared:

"The responsibility that should lodge in the hands of men who wish to do and act has moved strangely into the hands of men who had no vision but that of the past, and of men whose political hatred for the direction of American life made them believe that through some abracadabra of legal learning they could turn it backward. ... In this contest of power between a handful of men and a Nation, no longer lethargic but vocal and tense, there can be no question as to the final outcome."

Having polished off the power men, Mr. Landis turned to the course of Recovery and its control, challenging "those in control of industry and finance" thus: "You cannot forget that the last recovery was your recovery and that it almost destroyed you. Fairly or unfairly, you became the scapegoats of a bewildered and discouraged people. This new recovery, certainly in its early stages, will also be your recovery. Its responsibilities are now yours. How long you will discharge them is your first concern. ... If the mandate of last November means to us that we must not fail, more clearly does it mean to you that you dare not fail!"

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