Rescue' attempts but I.O.S. still At the heart of

REPORTS THAT three of the leading directors of Investors Overseas Services have resigned, that the acting chairman Sir Eric Wyndham White is locked in conflict with the IOS insurance chief Richard Hammerman, and that the 1969 accounts are still not ready, point to the imminent disintegration of IOS. Paisley The hold-up on the 1969 accounts, due to be sent out to shareholders this weekend by Canadian law, is reported to be a disagreement over the way to present the Arctic land deal, described in Workers Press on May 23.

The value of over 10 million acres of this land, bought jointly with John King in 1969, was written up to $8 an acre, after a portion of it had been sold at $14 an acre to King. wall St hase undermined confidence in the future of IOS, founded by Bernie Commeid. mutual funds who had savings invested by IOS have been their money back ate rate of s5 million a day, while the values of assets are falling even faster.

Economies in the running YEAROFLENIN & TROTSKY with 15s to:

Speclal Election Offer, Workers Press 186A Clapham High Street London, SW4.

the seat', said housewife Mrs Effie McDermott, 'a single candidate was our only chance to lift N Antrim from the Unionists'. expenses of the Geneva headquarters and the sacking of sales stall, only served to highlight the problems of the $2 billion firm. On Thursday, it was revealed that the repurchase of IOS preference stock held by departing salesmen was being suspended.

Since April, a wild variety of stories have been circulating about plans to 'rescue' IOS.

Apart from the bid of John King, which we shall refer INVESTORS Overseas Services announced over the weekend the resignation of Richard Hammerman from his post as interim president of IOS Ltd, the parent company of the Mutual Fund giant.

A spokesman said Hammerman retains his other posts in the company, including board chairman of the London-based IOS insurance group. No reason was given for the resignation. to layer, ade financial in- the names of almost stitution on both sides of the Atlantic have been mentioned.

Latest reports indicate that each of the IOS directors is negotiating individually with a bank or group of banks to take over IOS or part of it.

The German and British ends of the empire are each looking for ways to break away from the parent body before it dies.

Hammerman's conflict with Wyndham White appears to be over the question of the independence of the British Dover Plan subsidiary, and Dr Mende, head of German operations, has criticized the Geneva management on the The Paris Rothschilds, who dropped out of 'rescue' while King was involved, are now negotiating reports indicate European banks are driving a hard bargain in take a hand in the IOS orisis.

Meanwhile, Cornfeld, deposed as chairman, but still the largest shareholder, is commuting between Geneva and New York in efforts to interest US banks. Despite all appearances, Cornfeld is still probably the leading figure in IOS.

Early on in the crisis, Harvey Felberbaum, IOS chief in Italy, remarked:

'It's becoming a real battle of the giants. The tragedy is that it is the little man who will get murdered.' Very true. But this raises a doubt about all those 'rescue' stories Are we really to believe that these financial giants are putting themselves out for the benefit of the 'little man'?

Cornfeld In the course of the boom period of the 1950s, the rapid expansion of credit often took the form of such paper claims. was these While the boom pected continue, claims were often, in effect, met by issuing still more paper claims.

With the shaking of confidence expressed in the Wall St collapse, these apparently self-supporting pyramids are immediately in danger. Their break-up . then spreads to other sectors of the credit structure.

The dilemma of the US capitalist class is that it cannot overcome these dangers, shown in the continued inflation undermining the dollar, without precipitating a depression. the this stage of the crisis, larger financial institutions must be getting ready for the slump.

After all, depressions can be times of great prosperity for some people, even while millions of others face starvation. In the 1929 slump, great fortunes were made on Wall St by those who "sold short' —selling borrowed shares, and buying them later at the lower Where firms were near bankruptcy, the banks which had loaned money the height of the f the boom co ad get control of their assets very cheaply.

coral aline to are to do 03 is he position the internatione Lucassue Milan and Tokyo stands on the brink of the abyss.

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