Evening star., 1926-02-15
STOCKS COLLAPSE
IN FINAL TRADING
Today's Market Break Is
Worst Experienced for
Long Time.
BY STUART L. WEST.
spccial Dispatch to The Star.


Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, February lo.-N all
Street prices crashed doWnWafu todaS
in the worst break that has been seen
in = long time. In the last hour the
whole list became demoranzed. sup
port was withdrawn ana stoploSs oi
ders were caught right ana lelt' l ne
reason commonly given for the ue
rline was the COLLAPSE in certain pools
which during the last month or So
had been CARRYING things on the bul
side with too high hand. the losses
ran all the way from to lo. ana ever,
Is points, and there was only siilai'
recovery at the close
Food Stocks Weak.
Shares Of food products companies
continued to reflect the dlsappolht-
rnent at the rupture Of the deal be
tween the Postum Cereal and CAN
rornia Packing The Interpretation
commonly put on this happening "ds
that the promoters, after the eApeli'
ence with the baking comnlnatloii' :
we're afraid of what the Governments
might do. California Packing at one
time was off 3l9 points on top OF las.
weeks 34-point smash. but Id Id a'e.
the stock rallied. Postum was OH at
one stage over 20 points from ITS top.
Eew York Gamers were very weak
again. ,o, .o.,o,,
The upset in the industrial section
extended to numerous other STOCKS.
General Motors and Hudson were
heavily sold. Westinghouse Electro
came down in sympathy with neiei H di
Electric. International combustion
dropped over points ana Mo!tso ON,
ery-Ward over a point. Remington
Typewriter fell points.
Oil Shares Stronger.
Oil shares held better than the
average, but they were most OF lneni
lower. There was plenty OF Assoclat-
ed Oil for sale a half-point or so uh,
der the 95 level, which representea
rhe nrice paid by the banking sYndl-
cate Narland Oil was freely offered,
having evidently discounted the favor
able earnings statement. Operations
for the rise in Philips Petroleum were
checked. ~
7, was a distinct disappointment TO
the Street when the Dupont directors
did nothing more than declare tne
regular quarterly dividend ana this
was reflected in the stock.
Selling i'm Steel Common.
steel common was persistently
nressed for sale and other members
of the steel group were most OF thefh
weak. Recent favorites among tne
rublic utilities bore their share IN the
selling movement, stocks IKE Ainer4-
can Water Works, North American
and Philadelphia Co. Railway shares
1rentt with the rest Northern Paclhc
fell a point, Atchlson oroppeu pe'o"
130.
The main cause of the selling was
that speculatorS had become frlgnl-
ened. They saw specially IKE be-
woe Ravnolds crash down Al points
in a. single week and add another io
points to the loss in the trading thls
morning. Here was a stock paying
dividends of only s2.40 which was
,i,sbed ND to 104. Instead of anything
happening In the way OF dividend IN.
crease. the annual statement showed
earnings applicable to the stock OF
only little over S3.oo
Late Market Weak.
As the afternoon went on the down
ward movement became more general.
Some of the steel stocks were OH
noints or more, although in their In
stance there had been no question Oh
speculation being overdone. The true
reason was that the steel trade re
norts of the last month have not been
sstisfa ctorv. A big business has been
done, but buyers have felt that they
had command of the situation and
have successfully opposed any raising
of prices.
on the contrary. week by week the
steel price average has geen coming
down. so that it is now low in com
parison with the prices prevailing
during the greater part of last year
and very low in comparison with the
quotations of two years ago.
The low prices on the Stock Elk
change were reached in the last hour.
A number of stocks sold at their
lowest of the year. United States
Steel was one of these, Baldwin was
another, American Locomotive an
other.
General Electric, which had with
stood the selling on Saturday and
had gone up rather spectacularly
against the market, broke violently.
The decline in the industrial section
reached in some quarters the proper
tions of a collapse.