The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-20
Rumors HaUe Competed With Admitted Facts in Past Week Concerning Financial World
Bears Have Been Selling the Stock Market Recklessly and the Short Interest Is Probably Larger Than It
 Has Been for Years-No Cause for Worry Now

you can say that I have neither re- slBhed' nor been asked to resign, the presidency of the Guaranty Trust
 company; that on the contrary. the
 directors have expressed their conh-
 dence in me and that l have no
 thought other than to continue as president l had intended Co leave
 July Tor a trip in Europe, but in- stead ! snail remain right here until everything gets strengthened out.
 My New England birth and bring ing up did not give me Puritan
 thrift, but 1t put one thing very deep into ihe-that was faith. It is there today as strong as ever It Is true that there havo been losses incurred on the huge business this company has done, but their amount has been exaggerated hugely. and there is ab- solutely nothing in our situation to give concern or to warrant the stories that have been afloat. prob- ably circulated for ulterior purposes The Guaranty Trust company will go on, notwithstanding, and the time Will come when some who point at 1t and laugh will do so another way"
 deal with this matter clrcumstan- tlally in the hope that I may allay the Ignorant apprehension of finan- N-"i tiVupie III New orK that has been excited all over the country. There is no trouble here that the clearing house and the federal re- serve bank will be unable to cope With. and though some institutions may have lost money, and nearly all or them hold some slow paper, a great bank failure is not, in my tudg- ment. any longer possible.
 If people would only realize this trey would save themselves needless worry. It is needless worry that made the stock market so susceptible to bear attacks last week It is diff hcult to believe that those who own securities that have been paid for have been selling them at a time when only 40 stocks out of 304 fs- sues traded in on the New York stock exchange last Thursday were quoted above par.
 Bears Are Sellers
 The bears have been selling the stock market reck1essIy, and the short interest is probably larger than 1t has been for years. The omission of the regular dividends on several preferred stock issues has assisted those who are operating for the de- cline, but 1t has probably been over done. and a sharp upturn will be in order at any time. Most of the stocks l and bonds that can be truthfully de- | scribed as securities are now to be | bought at prices that will probably | prove to be very cheap unless this | country is going to commit economic | suicide. in which case it doesn't make | any difference what we own when | we are buried.
 The same generalization is appli- I cable to those commodities which | are back to or near pre-war prices. | as are corn, coffee. copper, cotton, hides. wool and rubber.
 The following diagram, though it 1 omits some Of the more important staples. will give an idea of how in elusive the reactionary movement has been and how nearly complete it is:
 srhe foregoing would seem to indi cASe reasonable stability in merchan- disc prices hereafter. Values will no doubt fiuctuate in response to calcu- labie variations in production and consumption. but speaking broadly | we seem 10 be back to the levels at | which experienced merchants can carry normal stocks with confidence | in their ability 10 distribute them at a normal profit. In gauging values 1t should, however. be borne in mind | that it is unlikely that the cost of | skilled labor will get back to pre- war levels. Wage reductions there will be. but the social philosophy |