The Stock Market Crash 
2 
shares, as against the previous record monthly vol- 
ume of 114,779,500 shares for November, 1928. 
Trading records for single days were eclipsed, so 
that on October 29, the turnover amounted to 16,- 
410,000 shares, as against a previous peak of 
8,246,700 shares on March 26, 1929. The March 
record was beaten on three different days of October, 
while on October 29th, the New York Curb, the sec- 
ond largest stock market in the world, recorded a 
five-hour session of 7,096,300 shares. 
Industrials reached their record low of 122.7 on 
November 13th, rails touched bottom at 116.3 on 
that day, while public utilities dropped to 149.1. 
During this disastrous month the machinery of the 
New York Stock Exchange was badly clogged, with 
lagging tickers adding to the confusion, while traders 
shut their eyes and plunged into the market, trusting 
almost wholly to luck to get execution for their 
orders. It was reported that these blind orders re- 
sulted in the purchase or sale of stocks five points or 
more below their current selling price on the tape. 
Curiously, money rates which had occasioned the 
first sharp break of August were not a factor in the 
disastrous liquidation of the two-month panic. 
Many influences worked together to set the stage and 
arrange the climax for this great financial drama. 
The flow-back of funds from October 1st dividend 
and interest payments released a volume of credit 
that eased money rates in the New York market and 
brokers’ loans continued to grow. There had been 
an appreciable slackening of industry from the be-