THE STOCK MARKET CRASH—
AND AFTER

CHAPTER 1

THE STOCK MARKET CRASH

THE most rapid and precipitous decline of stock
prices in the history of American security tradings
commenced on September 6, 1929, and continued,
with only minor recoveries, until November 13th,
after extraordinary measures had been taken to check
the panic.
The unexpected advance in Federal Reserve rediscount
 rate at New York, from 5 per cent to 6 per
cent on August 8th, was a percursor of the slump.
The average of my daily industrial stock index fell
from 195.3 on the preceding day to 191.4; the average
 of rails descended from 152.9 to 149.6, and of
utilities from 239.2 to 233.9. Sharp recoveries, however,
 carried the market averages to new high levels,
as follows: Industrial stock prices climbed to 211.8
on September 7th; rails to 163.7 on September 4th;
public utilities reached a new high of 259.3 on September
 3rd, then falling off to a level of 250.4 on
September 13th, and resuming their climb to a record
high of 267.3 on September 24th.