Evening star., 1924-09-05
STOCKS SELL OFF
! IN WALL STREET
-
American WooIen Chief
lTopic Among Traders.
II More Activity in Oils.
by STUART T.. WEST.

Suecal Dispatch to The Star.
!jNEW YORK;, September 5.-Wal
Street today still felt the depressins
Influence of the passing of the Amer
idan Wooden dividend. Inasmuch q:
the announcement had not been made
Until shortly before o'clock Thurs
dAy, there had been no time for L
I'd become fully known. lot o.
hblders. who had had no chance t(
, saIl on the previous day, were anN'
"ipus to sell and these orders. bunchel
~. the opening brought about an I'M
mediate decline of nearly points
The stock rallied subsequently fol
1t time under short covering, but il
was freely offered on the recovery
and fell away again as the day
went on.
10, WeakenS Other Stocks.
Once the decline got well under
way the support was withdrawn from
number of the recent pool favorites
and attempts to sell this type o,
stock found a very poor market. 1r
this category were Rubber first pre-
ferred. which broke quite badly: In
dustrial Alcohol, which was of ovel
Is points from the high of the sum
mer, Coca Cola and Famous Players
In the two last named we'll as ir
Rubber preferred selling was un'
doubtedly Influenced by the action o.
the American Wool dividend.
Earnings of Coca Cola have beer
picking up and the second half year
for Famous Players will be. accord
ing to the best information, con-
siderahly better thrn the first half
But these two stocks are in the same
position as American Woolens in thai
for a long time the margin over
dividends has b. en- slim
J Oil Shares More Active.
The sudden taking up of the oil
shares out Of a weak market seem ed
tor call for some special explanation
There was none, however, in any
trade developments. The oil trade
SITUATION continues unsatisfactory in
that despite the succession of price
reductions output has not fallen off.
But the technical position of the oils
Is, better than that in almost any
other group. because the old short
interest has not been disturbed and
there has been little participation
in the advance of the Summer. The
way it looked today was that stocks
like Marland, Phillips Petroleum
Pacific Oil. Pure Oil. Standard OF
California and Houston were being
bm up partly as an offset to the
y
td create more favorable condition
for the distribution of unsold stock
!: Days Decline More Rapid.
The decline set more rapid pace
than it had on the days preceding
There was, however, nothing fresh tc
be! added by way of explanation tc
what has been said since the start OF
the week. Everybody having any re-
spect for past experience should no,
haye failed to remember that a rising
Midsummer market is very seldom
prolonged far into September
I'm former years where prices have
risen in September 1t has practically
alNays been sequel to depression in
casion where stocks have had a pro-
nqunced advance in July and Angus,
thare has been a reverse movement af.
teF Labor day.
This appears as the most effective
reason for the weeks downward turn
But at the same time Wall Street
has awakened to the fact that it was
not paying enough attention to poll
tics, and that it had allowed itself to
gef altogether too enthusiastic over
tho business outlook. The possibiii-
ties of the Maine election were one
consideration, but a minor one.
American Woolen's dividend action
and the sharp decline in the stock
again today were chief topics of street
gossip. According to unofficial in
formation. American Woolen not only
has failed to earn its common divi-
dend. but it will do we'll if 1t earns
fts.7 per cent requirements on the
preferred stock. Last year the COM
pany earned 1854 a Share on the
cotamon: