Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-29
Is II possible In tfsse times ID ffiAtiips

Is 1t possible In these times to fiiAtiips
ulate the stock market?
In view Of the fact that IL Is esti-
mated that one-fifth of the American
people are interested In stock trading,
the question which has come up anew
has special interest. Representative
Wood Of knaianA u ureank q con-
greSsioral investigation to determine
whether the more recent market slumps
iii which. thousands OF traders, large
and small, lost heavily, was mAtiipu-
lated. AS chairman Of the Republican
congressional campaign committee, Rep
resentative Woods interest has been
aroused and he has made the charge
that the market has Been manipulated
for the purpose, Of discrediting the new
Republican Adniinistfa
For whatever purpose such an inquiry
Is made, 1t is Of prime interest TO dis
cover whether 1t Is possible In these
times for any group to manipulate the
market at all.
The last generation and, perhaps,
the present one, were educated on tales
Of stock market fnAnipulationS. Cor
nerS In every sort Of security and COM
modify have tlifnished the basis FOR
stories Of frenzied finance. Corners In
wheat, corners In rail- stocks, corners
IN gilmore corners than there are In
Q Chinese puzzle-have been attempted
With varying degrees Of success. But
has been anything approaching q corr
ner-that d. . controlled holding Of
all, Or practically. all, OF. the outstand-
ing shares Of q corporation or an In
dustry, It Is believed highly question
able whether any group can bring to
bear sufncient pressure to turn the
market in accord with its desires.
The reason Is growth. This means
growth. Of the country, growth of the
sums Of money involved in stock market
trading, and, more especially. growth in
the number of issues traded In.
IN the days when q handful Of irlfiu-
manipulate the market and send stocks
soaring or. .tlimbiing down, there were
relatively few stocks and bonds repre-
senting the Nations business in which
to trade. There were certain definite
interests In the market. The rail group
was dominant one, for example, and
the oil group was another.
The types OF stocks were 50 few, reIa-
lively, that II one wanted to speculate
In the stock market at al speculation
must be confined to these lines Of trade.
NV oVOSA W1uCu u nov lBtSu OH Cue new
York Stock Exchange, can. be traded
upon there. So. with restricted fieid
for speculation it was possible to Hnanip-
uiate . trend. A strong selling move
ment IN rails could send 50 much Of the
market cascading down that the entire
list would be affected.
Situation aAs ChAnksd.
To-day the situation is wholly differ-
ent. There are 80 many Issues 10 trade
ed by listed stocks and bonds that 4
large group Of wealthy traders could 1T.
tempt q coup In oil, for instance, and
leave traders whose interest lay In bafik
stocks unaffected. perhaps entirely tin-
aware Of what was going on. It Is pos:
sible for b bear movement TO be opera
tive In one group Of stocks With re-
sultAnt declining prices while 4 bull
movement In some other group 4 send
ing other prices up.
In the last annual report of the New
York Stock Exchange the statement d
made:
"An ingenious stztistician. efnpIoyins
only 10 or 30, listed share issues, - :
could, by selecting particular stock.
quite readily prove either that the whole
share market had recently experienced
an enormous rise or that It had SUI.
fered q huge decline or that It hSS
failed to show any real change 1t ali. ;
There Is an old adage which says
that figures don't lie, but there Is
middle-aged Adage which, while admit.
ting the force Of its elder, adds thai
liars certainly can figure, without
being a liar and Nth ma i,4aY,dN nir,Is