The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-06-30
EFFORT ID BEAR STOCK MARKET |S SEEN BY EXPERT
Propaganda Exists Every- where In Desperate Attempt
 To Lower Prices
By WALTER B. BROWN (EditOr New York COmmer cial.)

NE01tOf New 1OTk OOmmcrclalsb
 uensed Wire to The Age-Heraldo
 NEW YORK, June 29.-There can no longer be any doubt that there is a well organized conspiracy to bear the stock market. Propaganda Is everywhere. It strikes at new places every day and is carefully calculated to undermine not only confidence in the stock market but in the general business situation. Those conspira j. tors, whoever they may be, are will ing to sacrifice the general welfare to gain their ends. A few weeks ago Wall street houses were flooded with spurious orders to buy stocks which seemed at first to be only prac- tical joke, but which later turned out to be scheme to profit by the re- action which was sure to follow.
 Loss Of Confidence.
 It resulted in temporary demorali- zation and loss of confidence. On Fri day of the past week practically all stock exchange houses received tele- grams from an individual in Chicago signing himself Stewart, stating that there was to be general cutting ot prices by automobile companies and that consequently automobile shares should be sold. short time ago the oil shares were under bitter at- tack and it was a curious fact that rumors in regard to cutting of prices of crude petroleum were circulated well in advance of the bait: Whethe CT this was due to foreknowledge or merely shrewd guessing no one knows. At other times. the motor shares have been under attack ac- companied by all kinds of rumors, such as price cutting, over-produc- culated to stampede their sale. Then the steels, the coppers, equipments and various other groups were sub- jected to the same sort of treat ment. Curiously enough the rails were let pretty well alone. It was be much headway in the face of the record carloadings and earnings reports that were being published from day to day.
 Ats..k r.ree nos3h.: n q Q
 Sa This attack has been going on for three months. Most market ob- servers and analysts have steadily declared against the decline. It has been impossible to account for it by any logical line of reasoning; Cheek ing up market factors such as ex- peYfence has demonstrated to be ef- feStive one way or the other, mak- insS ,wAnces for the natural work ing economic law and the exercise of a,} I common sense, all seem to
 
 mari should be in the other direc- tionY | at least should have re- mai1Z somewhere near the maxi Nmuu vsls. I'll ,round was skilfully prepared lat t outset. There began to be talk imitation. The regular spring meet of the federal reserve gov
 n Washington was distorted
 .2ecial call to consider what
 ade out to be critical sltua-
 ita the prospect of an increase
 rediscount rates. The federal
 :: board answered this by de-
 that 1t would make its own
 snts whenever there were any
 Nke and 1t gradually came to be - E0cd that the rediscount rates
 not be factor In the situation
 the amount of rediscounting
 Incidentally the federal re-
 board has within the past few
 withdrawn tho rediscounting
 ilege from non-member banks, a
 ilege which was given them as e ar measure, but the necessity for which las since ceased to exist. Every incident that could possibly be tonstrued as a bearish factor was nclYen extraordinary prominence ana rak.nified far beyond any possible importance it might have. The busi- ress cycle theorists have been made tools or these cOuSpiIdtoiS. .. AhcJ have had so much to say about peaks and depressions that when industry reached its peak, which it did when the labor shortage began, they have been led to talk about the depression that was sure to follow, the only req son being that there Is bound to Do a valley on the other side or the peak. Some of these theorists having Wit messed the decline taking place have looked upon it as confirmation of their theories. They have neglected to get down to rock bottom facts: They have dealt with effects instead of causes.