WALL STREET: A Lot of Talk

After listening to evidence for seven months, patient Federal District Court Judge Harold Medina seemed to be losing patience with the Government's attempt to prove that 17 Wall Street firms had monopolized the investment banking business (TIME, Dec. 11). Said Judge Medina: "I have heard a lot of talk about [an agreement to restrict competition], but I just haven't seen it yet." He complained last week that the U.S. attorneys, who had thumbed through nearly 4,000 documents, were reading only those parts which seemed to show a lack of competition, were skipping the parts which showed that the defendants were "competing to beat the band . . . You are proving the defense with every one of these papers that you put in," Judge Medina said. "That is the funny part of it." But Medina didn't think the case funny enough to keep him amused all summer. Last week he called a recess, adjourned the case until Oct. 1,