1929: The Great Crash Page #2

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But one man saw an opportunity that would

change the face of the financial world.

Charles Mitchell, president of National City

Bank, spotted a lucrative gap in the market.

Mitchell saw that investors had purchased a

lot of government bonds during World War I,

and so, he said, "Now we

have an investing public there,

"all we need to do is market other

products like corporate bonds,

"common stocks, and just tell people

these are respectable investments. "

Mitchell was a natural salesman

with a big ambition.

If people were willing to buy bonds

to raise capital for the government,

surely they could be tempted to buy

stocks and shares,

to raise capital for private companies

listed on the New York Stock Exchange?

And they could make a profit

for themselves in the process.

Gradually, people who never dreamed that

they would invest in stocks were doing so,

and stocks lost a lot of the stigma.

Historically, stocks had been considered

much too risky for ordinary people,

whereas in the 1920s, there was a sense that,

investing in stocks was, in fact, not only safe

but reliable and respectable.

The idea took off.

And to exploit this lucrative new market, Mitchell

opened brokerage offices all across the country

where people who had the money

but not the investment know-how

could speculate in

stocks and shares.

This speculative frenzy embraced all

kinds of people, not just professionals.

Ordinary people began participating,

as well, in unprecedented numbers

all across the country - not just in New

York City but in cities and small towns -

all across America people

were in love with the Stock Market.

Technology made it all possible.

The latest share prices flashed from Wall Street

could be printed out within minutes across America

using telegraphic

ticker-tape machines.

You could find ticker tape

in night clubs in railroad depots,

in beauty parlours, on ocean liners.

The market became a pervasive part of

America's play culture in the 1920s.

I eat sleep, dream, talk stocks,

the only way, I believe,

to make money. It's exciting.

I love it

17,000 dollars' profit

on 3,500 dollars' capital.

Not bad!

There were wild speculations

in all kinds of securities -

movie company stocks, aeronautical

stocks, all the auto company stocks.

One of the hot stocks of the 1920s

was Radio Corporation of America.

It was a lot like today's Google.

It was cutting-edge technology.

They had this idea that you could

put radios in cars - imagine that(!)

The American investing public began

to connect the products they were using

that were coming from

corporate America

with the notion that, "hey, I might own a share of

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