Evening star., 1923-03-24
STOCKS GO LOWER
IN BRIEF SESSION
Today's Decline Covers Most
of List-LeaderS Off
Many Points.
HY STIART Il. WEST.

spcria! Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. March 23.--rhe de-
cline in stocks today were very
general one. There were only few
exceptions to the downward move
nent and these We're not important
consisting of Il few unrepresentatlvt
industrial specialtics which happened
TO be under better pool control than
the rest.
At the lows of the day the specu-
lative leaders were down three. i've
md as much as ten points from their
highs of the var.
The maximum loss occurred in
stocks like the motor accessories anu
Corn Products. in which operations
for the rise had been conducted the
most extravagantly.
Steel shares, particularly the stocks
of the so-called independents. "rre
noticeabiy weak. and so were the
sugars In the latter instance the
selling rad more of an excuse in the
efforts a. Washington to discredit the
recent rise in suga. prices.
Reasons for slump.
For today's continued reaction OF
the stock exchange there We're n"
r"as.:ns beyond th"$e repeatedly
1."inted out "n previous days. Wall
erect always !. cf,rS L. refer every
movement I" ."Enc outside rauSt. con
S=quentiE il kent IN t"ihinG about
III" possibility Of another advance IN
federal rcSrrvr rates NEXT week. "F,
if this did not occur. Il statement hy
the board that would tend - DIS
courage speculation.
All this MAS pure guess Work. Nh
advance III federal reserve discounts
may come next week or il may not
The point is that Wall street has
no more reason to expect it now
than 1t had a week ago when it Was
still highly optimistic over the stock
market position.
Spreads to Other Markets.
The market went down today as il
went down Friday, for no other rca-
son tha9 that the speculative cam
paign had gone stale. Outside OF a
frT special socks at enpiiH& 20 re-
Elve speculative interest had been
failing more and more manifestly
for two weeks. The sequel was, as 1t
always is IN such cases, sudden re-
versal of the professional attitude
In favor of the selling side.
In other quarters beside the stock
market speculation was receiving Il
pretty decisive check. Cotton broke
sharply and there was further un-
doing of the efforts made early Ill
the week to put up French francs.
The wage question in the New Eng
land cotton mills has now become an
important factor in the speculative
cotton market and increase i'll cotton
wages similar to that announced by
the wooden manufacturers might
compel an increase in cotton goods
prices sufficient to bring about cur
tailment of the demand
Leaders Take Tumble.
Interest still was strong today in
the Piggly Wiggly affair. Attorney
L. w Bradford for President Saun-
ders, said that the offer to allow
shorts to cover at 500 a share mad
expired Friday and that. therefore.
those not covered must go into the
market. While d large percentage OF
shorts took advantage OF the offer OF
500. there was still substantial
short interest
throughout the two-hour session. the
low prices for the most part being
reached in the last half hour. Bald
win Locomotive was off five points
from where it was selling week
ago. Pullman the same and Lima
Locomotive nearly as much. General
Asphalt was down nearly six points
from its recent top.
Pools In the oil shares were either
unwilling or unable to hold their
specialties up against the tide.
American Wool broke sharply on
running sales and so did American Can.
The general market closed weak
and right at the bottom. There was
one conspicuous exception III lHe
shape of swift run up in Beech
hut Packing.
Sentiment Greatly Mixed.
Brokerage sentiment was quite
mixed again today. Several of the
market letter writers took the stand
that the market was sale on rail-
lies, while just as many were of the
opinion that the market was acting
In a normal manner and that the
technical position had been improved
materially by the selling which made
its appearance Friday and again to-
day. AS a matter of fact the market
lis quite professional. Floor traders
are wondering what is going to hap
pen If the good news fails to hold up.
The bulls emphasized that the sell
ing Yesterday did not make any great
headway. but the fact remains that
some stocks sold at lower prices than
they have reached in month. While
The market has appeared strong to
the aNerase trader, it is noted that
special issues were the ones which
were furnishing the fireworks on the
upside and the main body of stocks
was practically standing still.
fCopyright. 1928