"REFORM OF THE SECURITIES MARKETS: THE NEED FOR COOPERATION"
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 SECURITIES INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONVENTION
Boca Raton Hotel
December 4, 1974
Boca Raton, Florida

Preparing remarks for this occasion has been a puzzling task. I was asked to speak about legislation and related matters, which is surely timely, but it has not been exactly clear whether there was going to be any legislation this year. While Harvey Pitt and I worked on alternative drafts and tried to stay loose, I determined at least that I was going to do my best to show grace in victory -- if that should appear to be the situation this morning -- and patience, if not quite joy, in defeat, if necessary. It would have been more fun to demonstrate the former, but for that we may have to wait till next year. In the interest of all of us and the country, I hope you will join me in striving for composure. There are those who may tempt you otherwise.

For example, some weeks ago, Lee Pickard, the director of our Division of Market Regulation, and I were both in Scottsdale, Arizona, attending the annual meeting of the National Securities Traders Association. There, on a Monday morning, we found the usual free copies of two of the weekly securities news services under our doors. The lively topic of the moment was the consolidated tape and the problems the Commission and the tape participants were encountering in getting the pilot phase going.

In this connection, one of the services reported that Garrett was so suspicious of the New York Stock Exchange that he had ordered Pickard to take special measures to make sure that the tape would not be sabotaged.

Lee and I read this with some amazement. It seemed to us that we were the final experts on the accuracy of that report. I was certain that I had given no such order to Lee; he was equally certain that he had received no such order. And, neither of us had been consulted prior to the publication of that particular story to find out if it was true. All of which led Lee to observe, "You know, there never would have been a Spanish-American War if it were not for certain elements of the press. And we don't need another Spanish-American War." I agreed....

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