May 4, 1973

NYSE dirs endorse May 3 plans to raise comm charges on transactions worth $100 to $5,000 by 10% and increase charges on orders between $5,000 and $300,000 by 15%; proposal, which would also permit individual cos to negotiate separate charges with their customers for custodial services, is designed to produce $300-million in additional revenue annually for member cos; pres Needham sees urgent need for increased revenues, citing aggregate loss of approximately $75-million for member cos in first 3 mos of this yr; exch dirs reaffirm authority of Needham as spokesman for exch in all policy matters, responding to recent criticism; Needham illus; Justice Dept, in Wisconsin, asks Fed Dist Ct to abolish exch system of fixed comms, its antirebate rule and its 40% discount for nonmember brokers

H W Kalmbach, until recently Pres Nixon's personal atty, reptdly has told Govt investigators that he destroyed all his campaign finance records before Fed Election Campaign Act of 1971 took effect on Apr 7, 1972; reptdly destroyed records to prevent any public disclosure of donors' names; destruction could be violation of 1922 Fed Corrupt Practices Act, which calls for maintenance of such files for at least 2 yrs; '22 act expired when '71 act took effect; whether data in destroyed records was duplicated in other records cannot be immediately determined; penalties under '22 act noted; some officials nave estimated that Com for the Re-election of the Pres collected over $22-million before Apr 7 reptg deadline; unidentified Kalmbach associate acknowledges that files were destroyed and gives explanation why they were destroyed; on May 1 White House press sec Ziegler told newsmen that Kalmbach was no longer handling legal matters for Nixon; Kalmbach's relationship with Nixon while he was counsel noted; M H Stans, finance com chmn of Nixon's campaign at time documents were destroyed, is unavailable for comment; Kalmbach is known to have provided cash payments to D H Segretti, leader of sabotage and espionage team that operated in late '71 and early '72; reptdly controlled secret fund of up to $500,000 that was used in part to pay for Segretti's pol spying and disruptions early in '72 Pres campaigns; Segretti operation is believed to have been controlled by former White House chief of staff H R Haldeman; Kalmbach reptdly was also asked to raise additional funds after June 17 break-in at Watergate; funds were used to help 7 arrested men pay their attys and keep defendants silent; Kalmbach reptdly is being probed by grand jury for his alleged role in what sources have described as conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with initial probe into bugging; reptdly testified to grand jury some 10 days ago and recently gave statement to Sen com probing Watergate case; Kalmbach atty J H O'Connor confirms testimony but remains silent on matter; attys of 2 groups that have sued Repub re-election com are stunned by information about destruction of records; Common Cause counsel M Rogovin and W A Dobrovir, atty for 3 consumer groups that sued Nixon Adm in connection with '71 milk price increase, comment

former White House aides H R Haldeman and J D Ehrlichman appear at length on May 3 before Fed grand jury investigating Watergate; both men say they did not use 5th Amendment; Haldeman says he did not invoke exec privilege either but Ehrlichman declines to comment on this point; soon after Ehrlichman went before grand jury White House delivered memorandum to J J Wilson, atty for Haldeman and Ehrlichman, outlining Nixon's current position on exec privilege; Wilson had asked for guidelines and memo informs him that Nixon decided use of exec privilege should be 'held to a minimum'; Atty Gen-designate Richardson gives impression to Sens who met with him that he will appt special prosecutor to handle Watergate case; S J Harmony, sec to G G Liddy, says under oath that she typed repts based on wiretaps of telephones in offices of Dem Natl Com, Apr 27 testimony released May 3; says she typed intelligence information on special stationery with code word 'Gemstone' printed at top; says sources for data included in repts were variously described as 'Ruby 1,' 'Ruby 2,' and 'Crystal'; says she typed only 1 copy of repts and was unaware of anyone besides Liddy seeing them; says that when Liddy was dismissed as counsel to re-election com she fed stenographic notebooks containing his dictation through paper shredder at Pres campaign hq; lawyer for J S Magruder confirms that Magruder has said that he expects to be convicted and jailed; meetings between Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Magruder with Asst US Atty Silbert noted; special Gallup Poll finds that 1/2 of voting-age population believes Nixon took part in cover-up and that 4 out of 7 people who heard Nixon's Apr 30 TV speech think that he has not yet told 'whole truth'; finds that 58% of those questioned see 'little difference' between Nixon Adm and others over last 25 yrs; illus of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and J J Wilson

Conn Gen Assembly on May 3 approves $1.2-billion budget and gives state its 1st tax cut in 25 yrs; also approves 1st major tax reform in qr century; Sen passed tax bills on May 2 and approves appropriations pkg on May 3 by vote that follows party lines, 23 Repubs to 13 Dems; C T Alfano, Suffern Dem and Sen minority leader, declares at opening of debate on May 3 'everybody knows' budget has $100-million surplus; asserts budget destroys 'last shreds of credibility' of Meskill adm's fiscal policy; main argument advanced by Dems in both chambers is that Meskill and Assembly Repubs want room left in their fiscal planning for bigger tax cut in '74, when they are up for re-election; Meskill has argued that there is no assurance that he will have surplus next yr; has reminded Dems that he inherited $244-million deficit when he took office in '70, when Dems controlled Legis; among amendments offered by Dems is one that would provide towns with payments amounting to $3 for each inhabitant to ease towns' difficulties in trying to get by without raising property taxes; Sen Lenge, W Hartford Dem, asserts that budget contains state payments to towns that would even now amount to 22.6% of budget

Labor Dept repts on May 3 that Wholesale Price Index shows that increase in industrial prices in Apr more than offset farm and food prices; decline in farm-food sector of index, 1st since Oct '72, attributed partly to consumer meat boycott and Govt's imposition of ceilings on meat prices; much of decline in food-farm index was seasonal; on adjusted basis, index for farm prices and processed foods rose by 0.1 % in Apr; chart of wholesale price index shows fluctuation of all commodities, industrial commodities and food-farm commodities