New-York tribune., 1920-09-28
Selling g Continues
On Stock Market
And K Prices Decline
Tinaid Holders of Long
Stocks Liquidating as
Spirit of Uncertainty
Is Reflected i'm Drops

Reflection over the week end in no
way impaired the impulse Of profess
sional traders to sell stocks. AS q
matter Of fact, those who regularly
buy and sell securities returned with
an intensified determination to express
in lower quotations the spirit Of un-
certainty that prevails in industry.
The character of the selling indi-
Gated bear maneuvers were facilitating
II not leading the movement which
stock to liquidate. In the forenoon,
when the selling was most insistent,
traders Disseminated closely instead
OF seeking to force the whole list
lower. AS during the periods Of decline
last week, the rails were firm and un-
shakable. Many of the lower-priced rail-
roads were conspicuously strong, touch
ing new high levels for the movement,
in the face Of the weakness of many
of the industrial stocks.
Since the mental preparation for the
selling demonstration in the market
was the recent conveyance Of i'm
portant reductions Of commodity
prices, the stocks Of the industries
most likely to be affected were the
main detectives of the bears. The run
on the savings banks and trust COM
panies in Boston helped to unsettle
sentiment, but its effe@ is expected
TO be localized, because it is recognized
that the trouble is q repercussion Of
the Ponzi episodes. However, the diff
culties in Boston in no way helped
the traders in quest Of higher security
prices.
The motor and accessory securities
were particularly unable to resist the
tendency to fall lower. The securities
Of the. independent steel companies
were also prominent on the weak side
Of the market, and the pressure ulti-
mately affected Steel common, which
moved downward in sympathy with
the others, despite the fact that the
trade believes that the Steel Corpora
tion will not be affected, like the in
dependents, by initial cuts in prices
which are expected. Declines in the
price of this basic metal are now
anticipated, and, according to the
gossip of the Street, the easier tend
ency is likely soon to be felt. Sellers
of steel securities argued, too, that
the volume of business of this
barometric industry was likely to be
changed by the recessons in other
trades, but this contingency has been
to some extent discounted by the
downward trend of industrial stocks
LUZ IHc laSC year. !lc Ued1lSA oenlA-
ment affected the food and alcohol
stocks also, although the rationale OF
this selling was less easy to discover.
In the afternoon many of the shorts
took profits by covering their COM
mitments, and consequently there was
a partial recovery. The downward
movement came despite the improve
ment in the reserve position of the
local Federal Reserve Bank, which was
the strongest reported this year. How
ever, the gain was made at the ex-
pense of other regional banks, and the
condition Of the system as a whole,
which is the all important considera-
tion, was slightly worse than it had
been the previous week. Call loans
were made at per cent all through
the trading day, but after the market
closed $2,500,000 was lent at 9 per cent.
The downward revision Of prices in
the cotton goods industry was again
a dominant influence at the Cotton Ex-
change, where such selling orders from
the South contributed to q decline Of
200 points, which is the maximum per-
mitted in a single day under the rules
Of the marketplace. On the other hand,
wheat fluctuations, which were erratic,
turned upward toward the close, and
quotations were up from to cents
for the week. The range from the
high to the low for the day was 10
cents.