INTRODUCTION 
MANY causes have been assigned for the stock 
market crash of 1929. These usually take the form 
of putting the blame on different individuals or 
groups. United States Senator Robinson of Arkan- 
sas blames President Hoover, Secretary Mellon and 
Ex-President Coolidge for their “unduly optimistic 
statements’ about business conditions, which he says, 
worked the country into a fever of speculation. But 
United States Senator Robinson, Republican, of In- 
diana, praises the administration, and holds that 
John J. Raskob, Chairman of the Democratic 
National Committee, was among those who were 
“psychologically” responsible for the collapse, by 
urging people to buy stocks. 
Senator Glass blames the “stock gamblers.” The 
Reverend John Haynes Holmes holds the brokers 
and their unholy ways responsible. A prominent 
banker ascribes the Wall Street crash largely to the 
blocking of the Tariff Bill in Congress. New York 
State Senator Hastings finds the cause in those who 
“sold short.” Congressman Clyde Kelly blames 
“this nation-wide gambling house which is called the 
New York Stock Exchange.” 
Mr. Daniel W. Blumenthal finds implicated in 
the panic certain brokers “who successfully carried