Market Crash of 1929 Compared With Current Wall Street Mm
Editor'i not: Elmer C. Wal
ler, former financial editor of
United Press International,
covered the 1929 stock mar
ket crash and the eventi lead
ing up to the panic lelling
and collapie. In the following
dispatch he compares the
1929 market and the current
ware of buying and selling
that has hit Wall Street.
By ELMER C. WALZEH
UPI Correspondent
The 1962 stock market
break has a number of ear
marks of the crash of 1929
with the ones that hurt the
most in the minority.
There have been the late
tickers, big volume, sharp de
clines, a roaring recovery.
statements by government of- amounted to 151.10 points or
liciais to allay fears on the I 39.6 percent.
state of the economy, a move
to investigate the causes of
selling and talk of new con
trols. Here is the 1962 perform
ance: Prices declined from the
record high in the Dow-Jones
industrial average set last
December at 734.91 to 603.96
at the close Tuesday. That is
a decline of 130 points or
17.8 per cent. We had simi
lar declines in 1953, 1957,
and 1960.
Here is the much swifter
1929 performance:
Prices reached a record
high in the industrial average
on Sept. 3, 1929, at 381.17.
By October 29, they had fall
en to 230.07. That drop
In the six sessions ending
last Monday the average lost
73.77 points. The Tuesday re
covery restored 27.03 points
and cut the loss to 46.74
points.
In six sessions ending Oct.
29, 1929, the average fell
96.44 points, the record de
cline. Recoveries on Oct. 30
and 31 brought the average
back by 43.44 points, cutting
the decline to 53 points.
Figures Misleading
Volume is where the fig
ures are misleading. On Tues
day, sales reached 14,750,000
shares, second highest in his
tory. The largest was on Oct.
29, 1929, when turnover was
16.410,030 shares.
Today's market is seven
times bigger than that of 1929
on the basis of shares listed.
There are more than seven
Medford
Tribune
SECTION P
MEDFORD, OREGON, FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1962
PAGES 1 to to
ml WWmBS
NATIVES WATCH - Thai Buddhist priests,
clutching their food bags and their umbrel
las, used to shade them from the hot sun
and inclement rainfall, watch as a U. S.
Army L19 observation plane of the 24th
Infantry lunds on Friendship Highway near
the 27th Command post at Korat, Thailand.
The highway is used as a light airstrip.
(UPI)
An Eerie Similarity
Congressmen With Little in Common
Display Extrasensory Perception
y if!
By DICK WEST
Washington - (UPI) - Rep.
Elizabeth Kee is a woman.
Bcp. J. Floyd Breeding is a
man. Rep.
Kee comes
from West
Virginia. Rep.
Breeding
hails from
Kansas. Rep.
Breeding is a
member of
the House Ag
r i c u 1 1 u r e
C o m m i ttee.
Rep. Kee graces the commit
tees on government opera
tions and veterans sffairs. '
Apart from the fact that
both are Democrats, they
wouldn't appear to have a
great deal in common. But on
some matters, their thinking
Is amazingly similar.
Recently, both committed
to paper their thoughts on the
Alliance for Progress pro
gram, which the House For
eign Affairs Committee voted
to cut by $600 million.
Through extrasensory per
ception, or some such phe
nomenon, their thought waves
began to travel in the same
channel, and at some points
merged into a single beam.
Many congressmen, of
course, have brains that are
powerful enough to trans
mit thoughts from one room
to another, if the wall isn't
too thick or if the door is
left ajar.
But the offices of Rep.
Breeding and Rep. Kee are
located in different buildings,
separated by a wide thorogh
fare. That their thought waves
were able to travel such a
distance is downright un
canny. "It seems to me that the
action of the committee em
phasizes a growing dissatis
faction, not so much with the
idea behind the Alliance for
Progress, but with the reluc
tance of some Latin Amer
ican governments to make the
economic and fiscal reforms
which are so urgently need
ed," wrote Rep. Breeding.
"It seems to me that the
action of the committee,
which undoubtedly will be
upheld by the House, displays
a growing dissatisfaction not
so much with the idea behind
the Alliance for Progress pro
gram, but with the reluctance
of some Latin American na
tions to make the economic
and fiscal reforms which are
so urgently needed to raise
the standard of living of the
people," wrote Rep. Kee.
This eerie similarity con
tinued throughout the en
lire statements which the
two lawgivers prepared for
mailing to their constitu
ents. There may be some other
explanation, but on the sur
face it appears that Breeding
and Mrs. Kee have telepathic
powers beyond the range of
other mortals and members
of Congress. If they weren't
so busy legislating, they per
haps could make a fortune
holding seances.
billion shares listed, against
one billion in 1929. Hence, to
duplicate the big 1929 day,
sales would have to reach
112 million shares.
So far the old records on
volume still stand - biggest
day, Oct. 29. 1929; biggest
month, October 1929; biggest
year, 1929.
The 1929 volume of more
than a billion shares repre
sented a turnover of all
shares listed of 119 per cent.
So far this year the turnover
amounts to about 15 per cent
of the shares listed.
The market of 1929 kept
right on declining after the
October break. By July 8,
1932, the industrial average
was down to a mere 41.22
that represented a loss of
339.95 points or 89 per cent.
Dollar shrinkage by actual
calculation amounted to $74
billion.
Depression Forecast
The 1929 market break
forecast a giant business de
pression that was to last until
World War II started in Eu
rope in 1939.
Now the market experts are
wondering if our present mar
ket is forecasting a recession
or depression. Markets have
a tendency to forecast the fu
ture since they are subject
to the opinions of millions of
minds, many highly informed.
Market declines or ad
vances occur without the fore
casting quality from time to
time. Take the drops of the
day former President Dwight
D. Eisenhower suffered his
heart attack, our entry Into
the Second World War, and
the outbreak of the Korean
War as examples.
The fact that this market
had a rousing recovery on
Tuesday does not preclude a
resumption of the decline.
Back in 1929, the industrial
average lost 38.33 points on
Oct. 28 and 30.17 points on
the 29th. It rallied 28.40
points on the 30th and an
other 15.04 points on the 31st.
On Monday of this week,
the average fell 34.95 point.1;,
second largest day's loss and
came back 27. ui points on
Tuesday.
Speculation Ran Wild
This market was supposed
to be grounded on investment
and not speculation. How
ever, speculation ran wild
some time ago, especially in
the so-called glamor issues
such as the electronics..
There are millions o shares
locked in by high capital
against taxes and "millions
more held by institutions
which are not easily frighten
ed into selling. Mutual funds
hold $23 billion of stocks.
These holdings are supposed
to be stabilizer, but recent
markets have convinced the
experts this is not so.
Searching for reasons for
the recent decline is as diffi
cult as it was in 1929.
Then as now prices were
high in relation to earnings
and yields. Then the market
clearly predicted the great de
pression. Now the problem as
yet unsolved is whether or
not a similar prediction is in
the making.
Todav'F. market oDerator Is
more sophisticated than the I RO
been a problem of big mar
kets. Back on Oct. 24, 1929,
sales totaled 12,985,000 shares.
Tickers ran until 7:06 p.m..
four hours and six minutes! in large blocks and despite tape more than four and a kot h;s bn n sr i r,-
after the official market close, the plus 18 million shares, the half hours late at the end of , by tin- break. !lnw
then at 3 p.m. On Oct. 29. tape caught up at 5:29 p.m. the day. will dike lo n enpera
1929, the sales were bunched Tuesday's market saw the One thing is sure-lhe mar-1 unsolved problem.
Salutes of 21 guns by U.S.
military forces are accorded
only to the President, vice
president, rulers of foreign
countries and members of
ruling royal families.
ljieMeseMMISMMeeMeMMiMMMeMMeMeMiMi II leear liTnl'' Yrtri-'-.:m.Ji
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Can't Prevent Fluctuations
Todr0v the Securities and
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but it cannot prevent market
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liigh margins do not seem to
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Ticker lateness has always
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