Business: California, Here I Run

There was no doubt about it: the U. S. was seeing within its own frontiers what has come to be a commonplace of Europe—vast sums of timid money skittering out of a country at the first rumor of devaluation or rebellion. By last week the flight of capital from sunny California and the EPIC plans of its Democratic nominee for Governor had become a major market factor.

Election betting on Socialist-turned-Democrat Upton Sinclair plunged to even money. Forthwith the stocks of six big California enterprises listed on the New York Stock Exchange sloughed off $60,000,000 in total value in one day. The market value of the securities of California’s three leading utilities has dropped $100,000,000 since the August primaries when Mr. Sinclair was nominated. A list of 20 California stocks (including preferreds) has dropped 16% in the last five weeks.

President Joseph M. Schenck of United Artists announced in Miami: “If Florida is on the alert, it will benefit to the extent of $150,000,000 a year on the film industry if Sinclair is elected.” Not a whit of all this was lost on the campaign managers of Candidate Sinclair’s opponents. But Wall Street was able to be amused as well as alarmed by what it called the “California-Here-I-Run” movement.