In these uncertain economic times there has been much quoting and noting of the comments made by Roger W. Babson at his 25th Anniversary Conference on September 5, 1929. The following excerpt is from the September 16, 1929 issue of Babson's Reports and it is said to be verbatim:
"Sooner or later a crash is coming which will take the leading stocks and cause a decline of from 60 to 80 points in the Dow-Jones Barometer. Fair weather cannot always continue. The Federal Reserve System has put the banks in a strong position; but it has not changed human nature. More people are borrowing and speculating today than ever in our history. Sooner or later there is a crash coming and it may be a terrific one. Wise are those investors who now get out of debt and reef their sails. This doesn't mean selling all that you have, but it does mean paying up your loans and avoiding margin speculation." [emphasis in the original]
PBS did a film on the Crash of 1929 [see transcript] which has a useful Timeline of Wall Street activities.
R. C. (Rip) Rybnikar
Babson College Archives
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