Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-23
STOCKS co HIGHER
|. IN ACTIVE MARKET
Constructive Move Seen in
Action on Wages by Large
Corporations.
BY GEORGE t. HUGHES.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, September 23-Strong
and active, todayS stock market staged
q vigorous advance. The railway shares
were the leaders, with gains which a.
one time ran to II points and over in
the higher-priced issues, but there were
many industrials which made almost rs
good a showing.
: In the last hour profit taking cam
celled a part of the rise, but 1t was we'll
absorbed. volume falling off on the re-
action, and the list closed higher AL
around. Bonds were strong. and so we're
some commodities. especially cotton.
Sterling exchange reacted. but that
had no significance other than the at
tempt to find basis representative Of
the new situation in Great Britain.
Generally speaking. it was the most
cheerful day Wall Street has experience
ed in months
The one weak spot in the stock
market was Anaconda Copper, which
went to new low, suggesting I'M
favorable dividend action at tomorrow's
meeting of the board.
Just before the close the Northern
Pacific directors declared a dividend
of rs cents a share, putting the stock
on q So annual basis against the So
previously paid.
News of the cut In wages by the
United States Steel Corporation, the re-
duction in salaries by General Motors,
and the other readjustments in the
industrial field to the realities of the
situation, was interpreted by Wall
Street as a constructive move of the
first magnitude despite the hardships
to the individuals concerned. IT. was
one more piece of news overhanging the
market to be removed.
The belief was freely expressed that
the railroads would follow the example
of the steel corporation and thereby
reduce their costs to a point where they
could operate with some hope Of a
profit. Wage news overshadowed the
weekly returns from the iron and steel
industry, which told of another recess
sion in the rate of operation. 1t
obscured the fresh batch of unfavor-
able railway earnings reports. In short,
the Street today could see nothing but
favorable implications in the outside
developments. Just as only a few
days ago it could see nothing but the
dark side of affairs.
From a technical standpoint, the
most important thing was the lifting
of the ban against short selling by the
stock exchange authorities. It bespoke
confidence in the ability of the market
to take care of itself. The result was
that when traders found themselves
perfectly free to sell stocks short, they
lost all inclination along that line.
The railway stocks were buoyant.
Short covering went along with new
buying, the former impressed by the
recent demonstration in Reading and
the latter convinced that the present
level of prices had discounted the earn
ingS situation. Gains of and points
we're common in this part of the list,
with almost every active stock parti-
Pacific, which made such a discourage
ing report Monday, moved ahead with
the rest. New York Central Baltimore
d Ohio. Lackawanna, Atchison. and
Pennsylvania were outstandingly strong
The spectacular performer was Della
ware g. Hudson, up over Is points.