The Washington herald., 1920-08-24
RALLY COMES AS
MARKET CLOSES
Strong Opening Marred by
Free Selling Which Causes
Material Losses.
STERLING GOES LOWER
Federal Reserve Boards
Tactics Scathed IN State
ment by Senator Owen.
STERLING GOES LOWER

New York. Aug. 23.-In spite OF
the poor statement of the local
banks and the Federal Reserve
Bank for the whole country stocks
opened strong and active in Wall
Street today. They were sold freely
from the beginning by pools and
insiders so that before noon mate
rial losses were recorded. Trading
fell of but in the afternoon a rally
was engineered under leadership OF
Reading to cover up sales of Balti-
more & Ohio stock by a pool. The
market closed in the midst of this
rally.
Owen Scores Reserve Board.
Senator Robert L. Owen has come
out in strong denunciation of the
Federal Reserve Board and has fol-
lowed exactly the thought eX-
pressed frequently in this column.
Senator owen is from Oklahoma.
but he knows finance and banking
well enough to teach many a Wall
Street bafker. He says the Re
serve Board is using the bank not
for the purpose of stabilizing cred
its, but for the astounding purpose
of Debating credits, breaking down
confidence, and it is bringing on an
Industrial depression that may be
extremely harmful unless promptly
checked"
Senator owen was instrumental
in having the Federal Reserve law
passed The law was passed for
the protection Of business men. It
has been turned into a most danger
Gus weapon to destroy them. All
the newspapers and magazines that
are under banking influence praise
the patriotic" action of the Re
serve Board in attempting to de-
fate credits. ignoring, either
p through ignorance or under duress.
the fact that the board is the most
damaging influence in American
business today. 1t helps for an
authority like Senator owen to
speak out. But the damage has
been done. Business is crumpling up.
. In all the smashup of stocks that
attended the recent Red advance on
Warsaw, stocks in London held firm
because the British banking policy
is to conserve business. Reserves
are created to use in emergencies.
The Federal Reserve Board has used
emergencies to increase reserve.
England is grateful.
Report persists that an important
announcement is coming out of Mex
leo soon in regard to the oil stocks.
Atlantic. Gulf and West Indies was
weak again today. But as it is a
twin the street did not know wheth-
er il was weak as an oil company
or as a shipping concern. Both its
personalities are in losing fights for
business. The company has taken
the unpopular side in Mexico. The
American investors, protected by the
British government, had about won
their fight for fair play when the
Atlantic Gulf espOused the cause of
the confiscators. The oils were all
heavy today after the first burst of
trading.
Reading.
The pool manipulatinn in Reading
was too open to be mistaken. There
was no especial reason for the ad-
vance Of Reading except the fact
that il is owned in large quantitie,
by the Baltimore and Ohio. \ pool
that has accumulated large quanti-
ties of Baltimore and Ohio shrewdly
guessed that strength in Reading
would be reflected in the weaker
stock. This proved correct, for as
Reading advanced the market for
Baltimore and Ohio broadened per-
Ceptibly. One fact does make for
improvement Of the latter stock II
is a great freight carrier and will
reap much benefit from the advance
Of rates. II had a lot of passenger
business wished on it by the gov
ernment that it will be glad to lose
thus making room for freight.
InvincibIe Oil announced that II
had at last brought in the new well
in the Rising Star district Of Texas
The well is up to the best expeCta-
tions. yielding 5000 barrels, day
The stock was quiet.
The recent buying Of Southern Pa
cihc is based on a belief among law
yers that the company cannot retain
its oil and lumber lands. A segre-
cation announcement is expected
The company has a large investment
IN Mexico that would be extremely
rich segregation material II peace
were established in that country, as
the oil men say it will be estab-
lished soon.