By Alfred Eisenstaedt.

TIME'S cover story this week focuses on a subject that directly or indirectly affects nearly every American: the securities markets at the hub of the nation's commerce and industry. Written by Gurney Breckenfeld and edited by Marshall Loeb, the story analyzes Wall Street's present disarray, and examines the prospects ahead in the '70s. A feature of the report is a look at one of the Street's most outspoken personalities. Dreyfus Corp.'s Howard Stein, who was interviewed at length by Correspondent Roger Beardwood. Indeed, Beardwood even accompanied Stein on a brief trip to Ireland, where the roles of interviewer and interviewee were sometimes reversed. Born in England, Beardwood cut his teeth as a reporter for the Offaly Chronicle in Birr, County Offaly, and so was in perfect position to guide Stein through the intricacies of Irish politics, money and idiom-- from RUC (for Royal Ulster Constabulary) to "Let's have a jar and a crack" (a drink and a talk).

The bulk of the reporting on the Street itself was accomplished by Nancy Jalet and John S. Tompkins, who interviewed dozens of brokers, analysts and other executives. Throughout, Tompkins was reminded how much the scene had changed since he first started covering business news in 1952. "The World Trade Center has obliterated a number of cheap Irish bars where one used to be able to get a bowl of stew and a beer for 70-c-," he reports. "The discount radio stores have moved uptown, and Trinity Church now hosts a rock group at midday instead of a choir." Even so, adds Tompkins, "covering Wall Street is like watching a floating crap game. The scene drifts, the players change, but the game goes on and on."

A second major study in this week's magazine deals with West Germany's Chancellor Willy Brandt and the Soviet-German renunciation-of-force pact. Five of TIME'S European bureaus contributed extensively to the story, which was written by William Smith, researched by Anne Tan and Isabelle Kayaloff and edited by David Tinnin. But primary responsibility for the reporting fell to Bonn Bureau Chief Benjamin Gate, who recently observed that "Willy Brandt in his own way has done what De Gaulle failed to do--build bridges in Europe." Gate provided an overview of Brandt's philosophy as well as interviews with key aides and figures in all corners of German life. Gate saw to it that TIME had a correspondent at the treaty signing in Moscow. Gisela Bolte flew with Brandt to the Soviet capital, where she reported every development from Brandt's conversation with Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev to the state dinner hosted by Premier Aleksei Kosygin.

The Cover: Collage by Dennis Wheeler, including a photograph of Stein by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

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