New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-09-24
Commodity Price
Declines Depress
Industrial Shares
Reductions i'm Grains as
Well as i'm Manufactured
Goods Cause a Bearish
Influence i'm the Market

Again condition contested with a
theory for supremacy as q market in
fluence yesterday and once more the
former was successful. The condition
was dramatic conveyance of re-
auctions in commodity prices in impor-
tant fields Of industry, and the theory
was the belief of certain operators that
the readjustment in business has been
discounted in the falling of security
prices for nearly year and that Sc
curities are, now technically ready to
anticipate what improvement in trade
the future may bring.
The securities of the industrial con-
Germs which are most likely to be af-
fected by changes in price levels were
the chief targets of selling pressure.
In the face of the liquidation and short
selling that took place at the posts on
the floor where Industrial shares are
bought and sold, the r,:ils held up firm
ly, and there was evidence of some
switching of speculative holdings from
industrials to rails. Although there
was some profit taking in the field of
high-g1ade railroad stocks, the cheaper
ones OF this group were again eagerly
bought. Further conversation in stock
market quarters about the possibility
of new railroad mergers tended to
stimulate the desire to speculate in this
field. The president of the Lackawanna
declined to comment on the latest sug-
gestion that his road might combine
with the Buffalo, Rochester & Pitts
burgh. Eventually consultations may
take place under the terms of the
Esch- Cummings act, and in the mean
time traders in stocks seem determined
to exploit the possibility up to the hilt.
Many Of the professional traders ap-
parently took the view that the quick
ening Of the current of readjustment in
industry offered an unsatisfactory set
ting for constructive maneuvers in the
industrial list. They reached this con-
clusion earlier in the week and yester-
days quota Of information about cuts
of prices Of from 10 to 20 per cent by
Leading mail order houses, reduction
OF prices of from II to 81 per cent by
the Franklin Motor Company, and fur
Their facts regarding the lowering of
quotations of cotton goods by one-third
by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Com
pany, leader Of the trade, strength
ened their conviction.
Despite the selling movement which
caused losses of from one to three
points in the industrial list by the
middle Of the session, some observers
took the view that nothing unexpected
had happened. The movement of
prices of things to lower levels has
been generally anticipated by students
Of the commercial situation. Of course,
until the recession has run its full
course no one can predict with finality
precisely how far it will go, and until
that fact is established it will be i'm
| possible to dogmatize as to whether
the changes in industry have been
fully discounted. At any rate. it is
agreed that the great downward trend
in the stock market since last fall has
been mainly an attempt to take &C
count Of prospective changes in in
dustry and in the credit situation.
There is just enough doubt in the
| situation to mark out an area for
| speculation.
The changes that have been reflected
on the ticker tape in the last few days
have altered Wall Street sentiment
somewhat. Brokers who were thor
oughgoing bulls last week are now
tending temporarily to confine their
recommendations to the rails and to a
few industrials, like the tobaccos and
! the oils.
Even spectators are also consumers,
and as such they are able to perceive
the favorable aspects of what Is going
on in industry. The popular appetite
fairly avid, and in the face of changes
in the stock quotations Liberty issues
and bonds generally held up we'll. In
| the stock market there was some re-
covery in the later trading, but the
close was irregular.
The developments in industry un-
settled the cotton and grain exchanges
also, and quotations tended lower. Be-
cause of the hugeness of the crop corn
prices in Chicago yesterday dropped
below 81 for the first time in three