New-York tribune., 1919-11-29
Stock Market
I Slunps Under
Wave of Selling
railroad Shares Show Ex.
treme Weakness on Re-
port That Carriers Would
Be Returned Monday

EH Liquidation in large volume swept
,ver the stock market yesterday and
arried prices almost throughout the
I, ist to substantially lower levels. From
he very opening of the market until
he closing gong sounded stocks we're
inder almost continuous pressure.
Ii The decline was general, but the
weakness of the railroad stocks was
,Ihe outstanding feature. Not for
months has selling OF transportation
! ithares been so heavy. For group
which ordinarily moves in stolid fash
''on, the action of the rails was really
- spectacular. Losses of several points
! hand more were common. Moreover,
ssallying power was lacking. for after
g. day Of steady selling, recoveries at
fIhe end were mostly fractional
aa4s A report that the Administration had
@ decided to return the carriers to their
/, gowners on Monday, without having
amnade provision for their future, was
largely responsible for the weakness
2 etcould not be confirmed in Wall Street.
tbankers and railroad officials alike
nienylng knowledge of any action Of
the kind. but it was nevertheless widely
1tccepted. especially as brokers said
iahe market itself gave indications of
dwhat is known as good" seling-that
rs. selling by those who sometimes have
,,hdvance information of important de-
Nelopments. The theory seemed more
cspr less plausible, for there was moth
Ing IN the news to account for the
Sudden drive against the rails
o In the industrial list, motor and
cooper shares suffered the greatest
Ndeclines, although steel, equipment and
Other stocks were very heavy General
'n1otors opened 16 points below We'd
lHesoay,s final price and closed at
Gloss of 22& points. Pierce Arrow.
which had been kiting sensationally
Heariier in the week, dropped 81 points.
twhlle Studebaker was off more than
"a points.
~ baldwin Locomotive lost over s
points in spite of the fact that the d.
tfectors yesterday declared dividend
crof II per cent on the stock, the first
declaration since 1914.
Unfavorable developments over the
Aholiday in the coal strike situation
owere largely responsible for the heavy
,seling of the industrial stocks. It ia
secbvious that if production of bitumin
Nous coal should be seriously curtailed
5 Gfor any considerable length Of time
sthe reaction on productive activity in
S other industries depending on btu
mlnous mines for fuel would be most
eserlous. With the whole world short
wv SoouS, any slowing down or the in
dustrial machine is not pleasant to
hcontemplate.
Naturally, therefore, Wall Street
swas inclined to pessimism, especially
aas the coal crisis was supplemented by
nwhat many regarded as crisis in cur
srelations with Mexico, and by the
aadvance of acceptance rates an
nounced by the Federal Reserve
Bank OF New York This latter
. development was taken as prob
ably foreshadowing another increase
IN rediscount rates on commercial
d, paper 1nasmuch as such an increase
would, in the judgment of most Wall
Street observers, make it difficult, if
mot impossible to build up another i'm
portant speculation on the bull side,
the incentive to hold for rise was re-
= duced. good many spectators who
had been holding on since the recent
! crash, in the hope that losses sustained
then might soon be recovered, became
discouraged and decided to get out
from under
Selling of this sort and other lqui-
dation was supplemented by short sales
of considerable volume.