The Brooklyn Eagle headline of Oct. 29, 1929 read: STOCKS CRASH AGAIN DESPITE BANKS.

The stock market collapsed in a “Black Tuesday� of violent trading that was the most disastrous in Wall Street history. It was the worst by three key measurements, total losses, total turnover and the number of speculators ruined. Frantic efforts to stabilize the market were met by “must sell� orders to liquidate at any price, accelerated by insistent brokers’ calls for more cash to back the record loans behind the falling stocks. The selling storm was the most catastrophic of three that began on Oct. 24th — “Black Thursday� — and erupted again Monday, Oct. 23rd. The only relief on “Black Tuesday� was a smart upturn at the close, believed by some to mean that the end was not far away.

In Washington, the Federal Reserve met continuously, with no lunch break and no action. U.S. Steel and American Can, however, both declared $1 extra dividends as proof of prosperity. On the New York Stock Exchange, in Oct. 29th’s session alone, it was estimated that the loss came to $9 billion. For the month, the total was $16 billion in 240 selected issues.

Because galleries overlooking the trading floor were barred to visitors, the public drama was concentrated in brokers’ offices. There, huddled around glass-domed “tickers� that typed out the stock quotations, tense faces reflected the tragic news on the tape. There were no smiles, no tears, just a sad camaraderie of shared losses.

Death by Depression

In Providence, R.I., 57-year-old David Korn dropped dead while watching the tape, though his holdings were in no special danger. And in Kansas City, Mo., insurance man John Schwitzgebel unsuccessfully attempted suicide with two bullets in his chest, saying, “Tell the boys I can’t pay them what I owe them.�

On the brighter side, New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker urged a theater owners’ meeting to “show pictures that will reinstate courage and hope in the hearts of the people.� Chairman Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck & Company inspired hope in 40,000 employees by guaranteeing their stock market accounts. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Julius Klein went on a nationwide radio hookup to remind the nation that on Friday, Oct. 25, President Hoover said, “The fundamental business of the country — that is production and distribution of commodities — is on a sound and prosperous basis.� And Dr. Klein told the nation, “There is no reason today to change a single word of this statement of the President.�

But the Democratic National Committee released a contrary opinion, charging that the crisis “belongs to the party in power� and that leaders who were talking “prosperity a short time ago are now trying to find a scapegoat in the face of a $15 billion loss in one week of American life.�

— Vernon Parker

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