The Washington herald., 1920-04-22
BOTTOM DROPS
oUT.OF STOCKS
Selling Deluge Sets in at
Opening and Continues
- All Day.
BROKERS ARE IN PANIC
Scramble to Unload Be-
comes so Great as to
:. Cause Semi-Panic.
BROKERS ARE IN PANIC

New York. April Al Old Doc
Pandenonium made his appearance
on, the fioor- of the New York Stock
Exchange today. 'Infiation's the
boy I'm after" said the Doc. as the
old streteher was being wheeled in.
The result of the days proceedings
would seem to indicate that Docs
initial operation was successful, al
though IL may be mentioned that
the stretcher has not, as yet. been
removed.
II Is poor subject to joke about,
but today's market should have
been a huge joke to those who have
read this column of late with any
degree OF interest. At certain Pc
riods. Of the day commission brok-
ers were In q panic, SO great was
the scramble to unload stocks. In
this connection 1t might be we'll to
quote a few. remarks made in this
column yesterday:
Wall Street-at least those gen.
tlemen in. Wall Street who are di-
rectly concerned in many of the
leading stocks have tried every
conceivable method to rope in the
public to buy their wares, and al
though they have received excellent
support from Wall Streets banking
element, il is safe to say that the
public has not been roped in to any
large extent.
The predicament in which these
gentlemen now find themselves is
not. at all to their liking, and it
would not be surprising II a general
scramble took place to rid them
selves of their stocks irrespective
of what the outcome would be. In
other words, il now seems to be a
case of every speculative gentle
man" for himself, and the public
be d., because the public would
not swallow the bait offered.
In this respect it might be in
terestinE to mention that during
the entire period in which these
same speculative gentlemen" have
been endeavoring to unload their
holdings. many of Wall Streets
leading publications have been ex
tremcly buIlish. They have pointed
out the excellent conditions ex-
isting in many issues. and some
have gone as far as to state that
there Is every indication that the
stock market is just beginning to
discount the extreme prosperity
this country is enjoying"
The above, to a large extent. is
just what happened in today's
market. Paper miIIionaires scrambled
to get out from under. and there
Is reason to believe that they will
continue to get out from under"
for some little time to come.
Federal Reserve Takes Action.
Although the speculative money
market gave little indication of the
true situation existing. it is learned
on excellent authority that the Fed
eral Reserve Board has sent sout
explicit instructions to all member
banks to throw out all possible
speculative paper. which can only
mean that Wall Street will he
sooner or later cut to the bone in
the matter of available funds. 4
situation of this sort cannot be
overlooked. 1t rs serious.
The Mexican Situation.
Latest news on the Mexican sit-
uation Is extremely unfayorable.
Tampico. it Is said. will fall within
three days, and this will mean
trouble for all American oil COM
panies operating in the TamPico
district. In fact. the seriousness
of the whole Mexican situation is
no secret 1t is a condition that
is bound to be reflected in this
country in the not distant future