242 The Stock Market Crash—And After 
of the market, the withheld securities might be 
judiciously fed into the stream of sales. These rallies 
were further helped by the expedient of extra divi- 
dend declarations on the part of such market leaders 
as United States Steel, American Can and others, 
out of their ample surpluses, derived, in most cases, 
from earnings plowed-back into the companies over 
a series of years. 
Aid to Stock-holding Employees 
Many large corporations which had sold stocks to 
employees, including United States Steel and Stand- 
ard Oil of New York, undertook to protect the hold- 
ings of their employees by making loans on the stock 
above the prices which had prevailed on the New 
York Stock Exchange. Thus the Standard Oil Com- 
pany of New York accepted its own shares for loans 
to employees at a price $11 above the prices which 
had been ruling. It was reported, however, that less 
than one per cent of employees of this company re- 
quired any aid whatever. 
Proposal to Examine Banks 
Inasmuch as the banks, in coming to the rescue of 
the market, became involved in the carrying of large 
blocks of “frozen” loans on securities, one financial 
newspaper, the New York Journal of Commerce, 
has urged that the government put the banks 
throughout the country into a position to resist 
strain imposed on them by such a situation. It urged 
careful and effective bank examination for several