De Saint Phalles
When the Manhattan brokerage house of de Saint Phalle & Co. last month divulged (to customers, thence to prying newsgatherers) its balance sheet, the other 614 member houses of the New York Stock Exchange confessed their surprise. Neither brokerage houses, such as de Saint Phalle, nor banking houses, such as J. P. Morgan & Co., are inclined to follow corporation practice and announce their financial standing. De Saint Phalle & Co., revealed total assets of some $33,000,000. Last week it appeared that the same prosperous, socially prominent de Saint Phalles* would sponsor yet another innovation. Within two months, their office (at No. 11 Wall St.) will boast Manhattan's first electric quotation board. This device, which will separate many a "board boy" from his $15-a-week job, mechanically marks up prices as swiftly as the new tickers, giving five quotations for each stock: the last night's close, day's opening, high, low and latest. As the ticker registers a quotation, an operator in the central station of the Teleregister types it on a keyboard. Each depression of the key sends an electric impulse over the wires to the brokers' boards. Western Union, 60% stockholders in the Teleregister Corp., believes it can cope with a 10,000,000-share day.
*At the head of the firm is Fal de Saint Phalle, whose clubs include the Knickerbocker, the Tuxedo, and the Turf and Field, whose wife is the daughter of Mrs. E. Guidet Auchincloss, of Paris. The wives of partners Alexandre and Count Andre de Saint Phalle are sisters. They were Helen and Jacqueline Harper, daughters of Donald Harper, of Paris, who has been mentioned for U. S. Ambassador to France. His son, Donald Jr., is a partner in de Saint Phalle & Co. Partner Francois de Saint Phalle manages the Philadelphia office. Before forming the present firm, Fal de Saint Phalle was a partner in Gude, VVinmill & Co. The two houses work closely together in many an important deal. Branches of de Saint Phalle & Co. are scattered over Europe: in Paris, Monte Carlo, Cannes. Brussels, Antwerp, Berlin, Zurich. . . .