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Prospective. There is, obviously, no Smithsonian Institute yardstick for the value of stocks. But by yardsticks usually employed, most U. S. Industry was selling last week on the theory that two, three or more years would elapse before Prosperity could be said to have returned. The actual facts were in no way alarming. Compared with other depression-years, the wonder was not that two houses had failed within the month but that many more firms had not failed months ago. Even such an arch-conservative as the New "York Times' Alexander Dana Noyes berated Wall Street for a pessimism as ex-treme as its fantastic optimism of last year. And, in many a newspaper and business paper, financial leaders were berated for an absence of leadership as notable in days of gloom as in bygone days of merrymaking. Consensus of opinion was, in short, that Wall Street had ceased to be either guide or barometer to U. S. Industry: it was wrong in 1929's summer, wrong in 1930's spring, it was therefore more likely to be wrong than right in 1930's autumn.
Meanwhile, "broker's loans" were the lowest since Jan. 7, 1927, inventories were everywhere reported low, commodity prices rose slightly, a definite rise was reported in homebuilding, money continued cheapest since 1925 and total reported dividends paid by U. S. corporations were actually greater this year than last.