Evening star., 1932-10-31
Market Effect of Election.


In every brokerage house in Wash
inetan the probable action Of the stock
market after the election is the upper
most topic of conversation. Majority
opinion. which may be right or wrong
seems to be that the market Will ad-
vance when all election uncertainties
have been removed On this subject.
VI. Charming Burbank OF Clark ChlIdS
d keech. says
The thing which concerns Us all IN
Wall Street IS the market effect OF the
election II is practically impossible to
denote in terms of percentage, or IN
terms of points what the result Of the
election Will be Ours is not an exact
science. nor can any science be exact
IN which the personal element becomes
the greater factor but it would seem
TO me that all those people to whom
2 Democratic victory would appear as
4 menace. would be dumb indeed II
they did not. and had not protected
themselves markCtWIse. I think pretty
generally this has ben done. and that.
consequently. what stocks remain to be
sold are not Of supreme importance. or
Of vast volume. and / also believe that
during the last few weeks very con-
siderable sh0!t interest has been built
UP which IS hoping 10 cover on any
sharp dip following election.
Let Us remember that all the brains
are not included in one political party
there are brilliant men il b0th-ln-
centiye to Improvement IS equally dl-
Vided. and a termination OF the un-
certainty. and the reaching of final
viewpoint. from which new bearings can
be taken. VIII be hailed as bullish fac
tors. and that at tbs level in the
market there should be more awaiting
buying opportunities than there should
be waiting to make further sales.
If We were at the high level of
prices OF 1929 and were facing 50 I'M
portant q presidential decision We might
We'll regard the situation with grave
apprehension, but at the present level
the picture has been so radically
changed that upward possibilities far
OutdlstanCe those Of decline.
No man can predict, and no man
should attempt to predict, anything
governed by human emotions and hu-
man activities. but one can at least
call attention to the visible signs of
the working of the great economic
laws, feeling certain tlat those laws
will continue to function irrespective OF
politics, and that their results Will be-
come increasingly evident as time
goes on
Johnston & Co. in New Offices
James NJ. Johnston & Co. opened for
business today III their new Offices in
the Southern Building, where the
dealers IN investment securities have
much enlarged quarters The head of
the firm has been active in the financial
district for years, is a member and an
official Of the Washington Stock EX-
change. His firm acts as CORE
Spondent of Spencer Trask G. Co,
members of the New York Stock EX-
change
Forty shares Of Capital Traction stock
changed hands at 6 on the Washington
Stock Exchange today. This is the
same quotation as the last previous sale
Washington Gas Light Is. series A.
figured in a sale at 997g. Other local
securities were quiet.
New York City bank stocks fluCtuated
in a narrow range and ended the week
with the average price showing a small
fractional increase. The average price
OF II leading banks stands at 43. COM
pared to a high in September of 50.7
and the all time low in June of 244 as
shown by Waggaman, BraWner & Co..
Inc IN their weekly bulletin
UnIticatICn of commercial banking
operations by extending further the
scope Of the Federal Reserve System
among te banks. rather than by
doing away with the State banking
systems and forcing ell commercial
banks under Federal charter as pro
posed at Washington is advocated by
the Economic Policy Commission Of the
American Bankers Association in a
report issued today. Ii points out that
the ratio of commercial banking ac-
tlvlties conducted by members of the
system comprising both State and ma
tlonal banks, has risen il recent years
II nearly 30 per cent Of the total
Volume while the percentage of nCa-
members has decreased.