Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-14
STOCKS FORCED UP
/. TO NEW HIGH LEVEL
Only Rails Lag Behind in
General Recovery in
Drive on Shorts.
BY GEORGE I. HUGHES.

special DlSpdtCh TO Inc SiaE.
NEW YORK, August lF.-Under in
creased volume, today's stock market
forged ahead into new high ground on
the recovery, only the rails tagging be-
hind and some of them doing better.
For the most part the movement was q
drive against the shorts, but 1t did
draw in a proportion of new buying.
In the last hour General Motors as
sumed the leadership. Other stocks re-
acted slightly under realizing, but were
still substantially higher on the day.
All through the session the market was
most active when prices were advancing.
The demonstration was well timed.
It had been abundantly proved that
stocks were no longer pressing for sale.
Professional operations for the decline
in all recent sessions have met Scant
success. There seemed to be no dan
ger whatever in an attempt to bid up
prices. while in a dozen or so individual
issues there was a stale short interest
which could be counted upon to help
the forward movement once 1t was I'M
der way
The market opened higher, with the
gains distributed over the whole list,
excepting the rails, and they were not
weak. United States Steel, above 81
before noon was only point under
the price at which it sold the day be-
fore the dividend was reduced from 81
to 81 annually. Steel authorities ex-
pressed confidence in an Autumn pick
up In business, but admitted they have
no tangible evidence Of it as yet How
ever that may be, United States Steel
common has been loaning at pre-
MUM consistently for weeks and its
technical position is extremely strong.
Other stocks that had been sold Ito
q standStill'' rebounded sharply today.
The list included Union Carbide, Johns
ManYille, American Can and, most
noticeable of all, j. I. Case. The story
about Case was that a 100000 pay
ment was expected from the Soviet
government on account of old contracts
which would insure the safety of the
dividend despite current conditions in
agriculture
Merchandising stocks were uniformly
strong For this movement there was
real Justification in the reports from
distributiye trade. New highs we're
reached by Safeway Stores, First Ma
tional Stores and j. C. Penney. A little
later Woolworth was taken up Buying
in the utilities went on on a large scale,
with good gains in all the popular
speculative mediums Public Service of
New Jersey, Standard Gas g. Electric,
Electric Power g. Light and North
american ". WEIE <AAAACAA-
can Telephone & Telegraph made a
new high on the movement.
Not so much could be said for the
railroad stocks. Some Of them Inn
proved a point or 2, but they were
sluggish, compared with the industrials.
Great Northern preferred was outstand-
ingly weak at a new low for the year,
not so much because Of the value OF
liquidation as because OF the lack OF
buying orders. Great Northern only
recently declared semi-annual divi-
dend of $50 a share.
The market Quoted down in the aft
ernoon. as realizing cut a part Of the
gains. In the main, however, prices
held well. The turnover during the
first two hours of a million shares vas
twice that Of the preceding day during
the same time and more than Tor many
of the recent five-hour sessions. Blocks
of stock in the thousands became once
more a familiar sight on the tape.
General Motors made up the dividend
which came off the price today. The
balance sheet as of June 80, which was
released for publication, showed the
same extraordinary strength for which
the corporation is noted. Cash and
cash items were more than 215 times
all current liabilities and the position
was improved compared with that at
the close of last year.
The oils came in for more attention
today, although gains were mostly
fractional. Socony- Vacuum made a
new high since trading in it began.
For the first time in months spokesman
for the industry are becoming guardedly
optimistic. They point out that drill
ing operations have been almost COM
pletely solved and that once the over
production in East Texas is renedied
there is likely to be a scarcity of oil
and an advance in price.
Organized buying in the low-priced
issues was a feature of the afternoon.
Radio was favorite at the best of
the recovery, and there was active
buying of Briggs Manufacturing, of
Kelvinator and of Standard Brands.
In the high-priced list Eastman Kodak
was prominent.