The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-19
LOW LEVELS ARE
 HIT BY SHARES
Consistent Hammering Causes General Weakness
 Of Market
By WILL JOHNSON Qeased WiFe to The Aas- u.-.iA,

HefAt01
 NEW YORK, Feb. 1S.-Stock market operators started the new week badly muooled in their minds as to how to proceed, but, leadership was not denied them long. Professionals working for the reaction took matters in hand imme- dlately after the opening which showed modest improvement and prices we're consistently hammered down throughout the session. Price levels in a large number of instances sank beneath tbe lows Of last Fridays recession and losses Of from to points were in or 1er right through the list of the mar kets recent industrial leaders.
 Ine outstanding explanation offered Tor the decline was that the market has internal complaints and that these must pc corrected. The long upward move ment of values since last fall had 6ruoght prices to levels close to the nlgns or last year, 1t was stressed, and II was inevitable that this pace could not De maintained indefinitely.
 Factors In Decline
 cline were:
 Further important developments aris- ing from the Senate investigation of Teapot Dome and allied matters.
 The question of politics and the new orientation thereof.
 The prospect of 40 per cent surtax In the tax program and the almost cer- tain ruthless mutilation of the Mellon plan.
 Continued selling from Miami and the unloading by pools into the hands or speculators uncertain of their ground
 The uninterrupted decline of the French franc throughout the day, the final figure being $.0414, the lowest quo tation ever recorded for the French currency; Belgian francs declined in sympathy.
 The building up of strong short in- terest in the market.
 few specialists were called in dur ing the day to examine the nervous structure of the ailing market and while they found it rather unsettled rendered.
 Says Conditions Sound
 The Wall Street Journal summed ur the situation as follows:
 General industrial conditions con tinue sound. While incidents like the oil inquiry result in hurried liquidation for speculative account, bringing on a weak market because of concentrated offerings, industrial activity was an op. timistic forecast for 1924 earnings. A wholesome sign is seen in the high rate of operations of the steel corpora. tion mills which are as high as 9t per cent"
 Market observers who take the Hong look" picked up a number of bargain. in the market during the worst period of the day which was in the fourth hour. They believe that aggressive buy. ing will appear just as soon as the present wave of selling runs a bit long CT. They say that at the latest this buying will come before the year is many weeks older. Buying orders fol the moment show a tendency of ex. haustion. They might we'll do so when 1t is remembered that aside from short lived setbacks the market has pursued an upward course for IA weeks.
 The afternoon decline was so general and uniform that scarcely any group or stocks stood out more conspicuously than the rest. Railroad stocks as a rule were not as weak as the industriais.
 Cotton was sold heavily by houses with southern connections and the prices was driven down about $4 a bale.