Shall the Government Regulate the Sale of Securities?
| Author | Hastings Lyon |
| Published date | 01 January 1916 |
| Date | 01 January 1916 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000271621606300123 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
255
SHALL
THE
GOVERNMENT
REGULATE
THE
SALE
OF
SECURITIES?
BY
HASTINGS
LYON,
Member
of
the
New
York
Bar.
As
an
expression
of
personal
opinion
this
chapter,
written
for
the
special
issue of
The
Annals,
could
be
made
shorter
than
the
famous
chapter &dquo;On
the
Snakes
of
Ireland&dquo;
in
the
old
history
and
description
of
that
country
which
contained
only
the
statement
&dquo;There
are
no
snakes
in
Ireland.&dquo;
On
that
literary
method
this
chapter
would
consist
of
the
single
word &dquo;No.&dquo;
Though
the
ancient
historian
thought
his
treatment
adequate,
presumably
if
he
had
written
for
The
Annals,
the
members
of
the
Academy
of
Political
and
Social
Science
would
not
feel
that
he
had
sufficiently
considered
his
subject
unless
he
had
given
some
statement
of
the
services
of
Saint
Patrick
and
shown
that
a
large
indulgence
in
alcoholic
liquor
need
not
hold
the
same
terror
for
an
Irishman
in
his
native
land
as
for
a
man
in
some
country
less
fortunate
in
respect
to
snakes.
So
this
chapter
will
defend
the
thesis,
which
expresses
a
personal
belief,
that the
government
should
not
regulate
the
sale
of
securities.
Such
a
statement
is
not
intended
to
include
the
regulation
for
rate-making
purposes
of
the
issuance
and
sale
by
public
service
corporations
of
their
securities.
It
is
the
primary
intention
of
such
regulation
to
protect
the
interests
of
the
user
of
the
service
of
the
corporation
and
see
that
he
gets
as
much
as
possible
for
his
money.
It
may
not
be
amiss,
however,
to
express
an
opinion
that
even
this
regulation
cannot
do
much
toward
the
accomplishment
of
its
purpose.
Our
discussion
here
has
in
mind
a
regulation
of
the
sale
of
securities
for
the
purpose
of
protecting
the
interests
of
the
people
who
purchase
them,
not
the
people
who
consume
the
product
of
the
enterprise
the
securities
are
issued
to
finance.
Nevertheless,
our
title
does
not
limit
the
scope
of
the
discussion
by
including
the
word &dquo;industrial&dquo;
to
make
it
read &dquo;Should
the
government
regulate
the
sale
of
the
securities
of
industrial
corporations?&dquo;
The
ordinary
scope
of
the
regulation
of
the
issuance
and
sale of
public
service
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