44 The Stock Market Crash—And After 
fall in the market was not due to mob psychology, 
but “rather, the mob held on to the last minute 
with the greatest tenacity and finally got sold out 
instead of selling out.” 
There may be some substance in this view. But 
the testimony of market operators does not seem 
to bear out the assertion in any absolute sense. 
There was the fear of course, on the part of broker- 
age houses that made them sell their customers’ 
stock to protect themselves. But if the Commercial 
and Financial Chronicle be right in its contention, 
then there was no panic at all, since in a panic the 
mob psychology of fear predominates in the manner 
illustrated by a run on a bank when every one strives 
to draw out his funds before the rest; or a panic 
in a burning theater, where each tries to get out 
first. 
Federal Reserve Policy 
The Commercial and Financial Chroncile also 
suggested that the market had been sent on a new 
upward journey by Federal Reserve action during 
the early part of August, 1929, in sanctioning an 
increase in the New York Federal Reserve discount 
rate from § per cent to 6 per cent, with simultane- 
ous lowering of the buying rate for bankers’ accept- 
ances and the concurrent purchase of acceptances 
on a large scale. This, the Chronicle says, ‘meant 
the forcing out of reserve credit by the act of 
the Reserve System itself, and involved Federal