Delivered to financial editors in Manhattan early this week were telegrams inviting them to send representatives at 5 130 that afternoon to Suite No. gR at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria. Even if the reason for the invitation had not been revealed in the message, the signature aloneG. A. Ballwould have been enough to guarantee a good turnout.
Every alert newshawk knew that George Alexander Ball, the 74-year-old Muncie, Ind. fruit-jar maker, had been listening attentively to offers for the stocks by which he controlled the $3,000,000,000 Van Sweringen rail and real-estate empire (TIME, April 19). They knew, too, how for a mere...
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