Evening star., 1920-11-19
MORE LIQUIDATION
RAvAGES MARKET
Another Violent Wave of Sell
ing Marks Third Day of
Bear Raiding.
RY STUART p. WEST.

WALL. STREET. y, T.. November 10.
- Another Violent wave of selling
struck the markets this morning. It
Was tho third day In succession that
both securities and commodities have
crashed down AN the sequel to Tues
days statement by New York bank
representatives after their conference
that further LIQUIDATION in these mar
kets was to be expected.
1t ig aafe to say that nothing whlch
on ifa face purported TO be reas-
surinr because OF Its reference to the
Fundamental rrmness Of the business
and banking situation. has ever done
SO much harm at q very delicate and
critical time.
The Hquidat ion. or at least some OF
II, would doubtless have come ABOUT
anyway, but the bear raiding which
has characterized the asst three days.
and which has done 10 much to agra :
yate the unsettlement, would not nave
ron. IL such extremes, would not have
had the supreme confidence Which ~
has displayed.
Rail Advances Futile.
The aclliny today in the case of
wheat and cotton was as urgent as
ii has been Mt any time. In the case
of stocks 1t was equally severe IN Ger
tain directions, while in other quar-
ters it was not. Although Soou news
scarcely has much effect nowadays,
most Of the railway shares did make
some response at the opening 70 'ne
order of the Interstate CoWiheree
Commission that the increase In ln.ra
state rates objected to by tne New
York authorities be put into enect 70
.orrpsnond TO the new scale Of inter-
state rates.
Atchison opened up nearly three
points. Great Northern preferred
nearly two, Western Pacihc Two anu
a half, Erie q point. Southern Pacihc
and Northern Pacific were promln neht
in this upturn. The advances in the
rails did not hold. however. when the
driving down Of industrial stocks be-
gan. Although every indication
pointed to this selling having its m
certion with bear operations. no eHec,
tive resistance was interposed until
further losses of 8 to points had oc-
Cured in numerous issues. me
stocks selected for attack were Corn
Products. Industrial Alcohol. the IN
dependent steels, Mexican Petroleum
and the shares OF companies llke IN
ternational Harvester and Virginia :
Chemical, which are likely to pc nit
hard BY curtaillnent OF buying power
on the farms.
American Can status.
American Can is another case where
the break in the stocks has no re-
lation to conditions within the com
pany. These are altogether satisfae
years sale in standard goods in Au-
gust, which was the close of the
backing season. and hence it's busl-
ness has not been affected to any
appreciao1e extent by the slump in
general trade which has occurred
t. a
earnings for the current year will
equal if they do not exceed those OF
a year ago AS for inventory. Amer
lean Can is not concerned with this
question because 1t buys its tin for
canning purposes only as it receives
and i. makes it's ,rice for the latter
to accord with I'll , price Of the raw
material
il is one of the few industrials
which has record for having issued
no new securities within the last few
siderably expanding its productive
Industrial Alcohol.
The strength displayed by Industrial
Alcohol yesterday and the day before
had evidently been misleading. The
stock was held I'D awaiting the decla-
ration of the regular dividend. which
came as expected yesterday. With
this support out of the way the bear
party went after Industrial Alcohol
with vengeance. and breaking
through 10 lot of stop orders were
encountered which accelerated the de
cline. 1t was simply another proof
Of the power of the bear crowd work
ing under the encouragement held out
by the bankers last Tuesday. in their
statement that further liquidation
was to be expected. and that hence
by implication bear raiders need look
for no powerful opposition.