Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-20
BEAR CROWD GET
|. SEVERE GRUELL|NG
Technical Conditions Force Ex.
tensive Covering Of overex-
tended Short Contracts

New York. Aug. 20.-The short in.
terest came in for hard gruelling
during the first half of today's session.
II was little short Of a Waterloo for
the bears and the frantic efforts to get
In out of the wet carried the more ac-
tive stocks up from 70 nearly <
points. while In some Of the more
closely held specialties the advances ex.
tended to 10 points.
Technical conditions played an i'm
portant part in the pronounced reversal
of the market trend. much as IL did In
the two preceding sessions. The over.
sold condition of the general list was
not fully disclosed until this morning.
when the whole bear outfit found IL to
be a much easier thing to sell stocks
indiscriminately than it was to buy
them back again.
News Of the favorable turn Of affairs
in Poland. naturally helped the recov-
cry. coming as it did at the psychology
cal moment when the professional ele-
ment had ovcrreached itself in
attempting to force n general liquidating
movement, which it had been playing
hard for all during the current week.
The knowledge that there had been an
excessive supply OF call money on the ex
change also had an important influence.
But after all in its technical position the
market did not require very strong
stimulus to start the ball a-rolling on
the uptack. II was just ripe for such
a turn and only wanted the touching off
There NAV have been some increase in
the outside buying but the principal
motive for the upward swing was un
questionably supplied by the over -ex-
tended short interest.
The rebound was partly foreshadowed
by the animated rally which took place
in the final dealings yesterday. and
with the over night foreign news much
more favorable, indicating a possible
rout of the Russian forces, it was an
easy matter TO keep the shorts on the
run. In consequence Of this urgent de-
mand and with the supply Of the more
| active stocks scant. substantial ad-
vances were made at the outset OIL
motor. steel. equipment and food shares
gained | to 2 points. Conspicuous
features embraced Mexican and Pan
American Petroleums. Crucible. Rep
logic. Nanadium and Gulf States Steels.
| Stromberg Carburetor, Now York Air
brake. American Beet Sugar. Interna
tional Paper and American Writing
Paper preferred.
The market became more active
within the first hour, trading for the
morning reaching larger proportions
than on any previous day of the week,
The urgent demand included a number
of stocks that suffered severe impair
ment in the general decline Of recent
days, particularly oils, sugars and mo
tor accessories. Houston Oil gained
almost 10 points. South Porto Rica
Sugar and Kelly Springfield 4. Beth
lehem and Lackawanna were added to
the stronger steels. and gains of l tC
~ points attended the buying Of rails
under the lead of Canadian Pacific and
Reading.
Trading quieted at midday, but thu
general list held or added to early
gains. Shippings and low priced rails
we're the chief features. Atlantic Gull
making an extreme advance of u.
points with as much for Baltimore ant
Ohio and further gain for Reading.