Remedies and Preventives of Panic 241
offices of J. P. Morgan & Company were understood
to have been informed as to the general results shown
by this questionnaire. While no great concentration
of short interest was revealed, it is understood that
the absence of such interest was due to hurried covering
 immediately before the calling for the questionnaire.
 Immediately upon announcement of the inquiry
 a sharp covering movement became manifest
on the exchange, and it was reported that the subsequent
 rally in stocks had been naturally helped by the
measure as a check to bear operators. In fact, this
measure in all probability saved the market from further
 disaster.

Waiving of Margin Requirements
Still another measure was, in part, involuntary.
During the height of the panic many brokers admitted
 that they had declined to sell out insolvent
accounts, waiving margin requirements. Margin
calls had been sent out on October 28th, for example,
 with the idea that the market had “touched
bottom.” It was expected that accounts would need
only small additional margins, at worst. But the
market fell severely on that day. Adequate margins
could not be deposited in time to cover many of the
accounts, and the brokers faced the dilemma of
throwing more stocks on the falling market, which
would involve actual losses to the brokers in addition
to wiping out their customers’ accounts or of keeping
 them at possible loss to themselves. The ac.
counts were carried over until, with tardy rallyings