Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-05-21
VIOLENT DECLINES
! IN STOCK MARKET
Many Shares Follow Steel to
New Low Levels for \
Present Year.
BY STUART y. WEST.

special dispatch 10 lHe otai'
NEW YORK, May 2l.-The day was
characterized by another violent
bear attack on the stock market, ioi-
lowing the same policy of uncover
Ing one after another individual weak
spots, rather than raiding the list
as whole.
New low prcies for the year were
made in 4 number OF instances. steel
common being the most notaote one
There was very little to be said by
way of explaining the weakness III
special stocks. Fo' the most part
it had no relation TO business cor.
ditions in the various compa mes
PRODUCTS common was driven down
points. although ffgureG recently
published have shown that earnings
are running nearly twice what lh'E
over 10 ner cent for the junior
stock Corn Products b1 oke over
pcints, de"pite the fact that the
company is earring over $50 share
on the common and is absolutely
unaffected by the fluctuatug pros
poets for the steel and other indus
tries Thes were typical cases 10
illustrate how little confederation OF
values entered mo the days spec
ulation.
Marine preferred Sold down to
around so. At this figure there are
many who claim the stock is low on
the value of its treasury assets
alone regardless, of what il being
earned aGd rc"al ,.'e-l o. unt1Noraple
dividend act on.
The list of spccialties which broke
more or less badly under the selling
pressure was long one. The new
North American once the support at
20 was overcome. fell sharply DaNi.
son Chemical. Postum Cereal Ameri-
can Ice. Msc< Trucks. Electric Stor-
age Battery. Spicer Manufacturing
and Kelly Springfield were other spe-
cialtieS which gave way easily.
The buying of the California pel"C-
leum issues when was such 4 fea-
ture Saturday Kept on, however. the
common more than recovering the ! a
per cent dividend which came OFF its
price this morning.
American Can. Baldwin Locomotive
and American Locomotive we're 9TH
ers which did we'll, even .Fhile the
selling in other quarters was heaviest.
Fierce Rnid In Afternoon.
The low prices in the share list
were reached in the late afternoon.
Some recovery had occurred soon aft
err midday. In fact, at that time a
number of the leading stocks were
above the Saturday close, but an
other wave of selling more powerful
than any before il swept through the
market in the afternoon. II carried
prices down to new lows for the year
and established the fact that opera
tions for short accounts We're meet
ing with more success than they nal
IN the latter half of last week.
AS late a / o'clock the locomotive
stocks. American Can. Allied Cheml-
cal and a few others were selling
tI,s GN,1 h 4
fornia Petroleum common had touched
par. Then came another violent on
set of selling under which the entire
list Succumbed.
Wall Street Features.
The latest gossip in the street re-
EardiuG the affairs of American Cot
ton Oil is TO the effectsth common
shareholders will be asked to pay an
assessment as part of program of
readjustment of capital account. The
amount of assessment, II there is 10
be one, seems to be much in doubt.
Accompanying the break in North
American below IS today, there was
talk OF new financing. Rumors that
shareholders would receive less in
dividends also We're heard. Directors
meet on Friday to act on the diNl-
dend. There is u suggestion that "a
per cent again may be paid in COM
mon stock on the new SO shares.
German Marks Stronger.
Nothing that happened during the
6ay outside the stock exchange was
comparable in interest to what oc-
urred within.
Sterling exchange got across S4.63,
where II was up 3'2 points from the
low of fortnight ago. This may
have been some belated recognition
or the change in the trade balance
"r what is more likely il indicated
that operations in connection with
IA
debt TO the United States have been
pretty well completed.
The decline in German marks did
not continue: rates were slightly
higher most of the day.
1t was noteworthy that the wheat
and cotton market were not as sensi-
tive as they have been recently to
the course of things in the stock mar
ket.