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Newshawks who had not noticed that Mr. Wiggin and Mr. Aldrich were not acting like bosom companions during the hearings, suddenly woke up to the fact that Messrs. Wiggin and Aldrich had never found seats together at the Committee table.
When Mr. Wiggin finished for the day, Mr. Aldrich red-faced and grim, stepped forward, spoke succinctly, leaving no doubt of his feelings:
"In order that there shall be no misunderstanding on the part of present stockholders of the bank as to what the attitude of the present management of the bank is with regard to the participation by the affiliates of the bank in trading accounts in bank stock, I would like to state that it is absolutely opposed to such transactions.
"As a matter of fact, today the Metpotan Corp. [subsidiary that took part in pools] does not deal in Chase stock in any way whatever, and as long as I have anything to do with the management of the bank the market in Chase stock will not be an artificial one."
Mr. Wiggin listened without expression. No accusations passed between the two men. Later with the Committee's permission Mr. Aldrich softened the last sentence to read: ". . . The market in Chase stock shall not be affected by the operation of trading accounts by the affiliates of the bank." Thus, with the best of taste, was defined the difference between the Chase's past and the Chase's present.