230 The Stock Market Crash—And After
Hatry in London, which was the signal for a recession
 on the London Stock Exchange, followed by a
decline on the Paris and Berlin Exchanges.
The withdrawal of foreign funds was signalized
by a rise in brokers’ loans in New York while the
market was falling, which indicated that the withdrawal
 forced American borrowing to replace the
funds exported.

Panic Shrinkage of Brokers’ Loans
However, this was the last influence that tended
to work the brokers’ loan account upward. Thenceforward
 the weekly reports of the Federal Reserve
Board recorded unprecedented declines. After the
climb to $6,804,000,000, reported September 25 by
the Federal Reserve Board, there was a shrinkage in
the total by $2,440,559,111 during October. With
the report of December 26th by the Federal Reserve
Board, the account had declined to the lowest point
since September 28, 1927. There had been a cut of
$3,483,000,000, or more than 50 per cent.
The foregoing analysis of Mr. Roberts is the best
I know of regarding the factors of gold and credit.
The essential points are:
(1) After 1920, as a post-war and post-crisis
reaction, gold accumulated in America, artificially
depressing the short-time rates of interest in the
money market, below the rates justified by underlying
 economic conditions.
(2) These low short-time rates contrasted sharply
with the high yields on common stocks, the prices of