ADDRESS TO THE CHICAGO LAW CLUB
THE OPENING PAGES OF THIS SPEECH AND OTHERS, GIVING A PERSONAL IMPRESSION OF RAY GARRETT, JR., HAVE BEEN GRACIOUSLY PROVIDED BY HARVEY L. PITT.

An Address by
Ray Garrett, Jr., Chairman
Securities and Exchange Commission

Presented before the
CHICAGO LAW CLUB
December 6, 1973
Chicago, Illinois

It is great to be home where honesty of expression reigns. I got the same warm welcome when I was admitted many years ago. Since it confers the privilege to treat subsequent brethren likewise, it is worth it. Furthermore, it warms the heart and improves the digestion -- like hurling a rock through a plate glass window.

I have been speaking rather frequently to hung-up groups of worried men who have all been scrupulously polite while inwardly wishing I would drop dead. They dutifully applaud and hold their tongues, and then probably go home and get drunk or beat their wives.

Perhaps what we need in these tense and anxious times is a ripe tomato day -- when SEC Commissioners and like bureaucrats have to stand up and dodge ripe tomatoes for a reasonable period of time. It would no doubt cut down the incidents of coronaries in the securities industry - and it might even convey a secret message to us.

I remember a delightful cartoon some time ago showing an obviously high government official in his Washington office, and a brick had just come through the window and landed on the floor. The bigshot's aide was leaning over the brick, studying it and saying -- "I don't see any note attached. I guess the medium is the message."

I wonder if there is a punishable offense of contempt of SEC Chairman. If there is, I suppose the punishment should be swift and terrible -- as in an incident I first read about in law school. It was of a trial of an elderly lady in an 18th century court. The judge found her guilty of some misdemeanor whereupon, in a fit of passion, she pulled from her satchel a dead cat and threw it at the judge. Having dodged the missile, the judge remonstrated her, saying, "Old woman! If you do that again, I'll hold you in contempt."

It doesn't seem to me that this is the proper occasion for deep thoughts about technical problems involving the securities law. Many of you, I know, have found happier corners of the law and are not greatly concerned with these matters. I would rather talk about the Commission itself and some of the broader problems we face....

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