The effect of stress on the magnetization of high purity iron has been studied systematically at different locations on the M,H plane corresponding to a variety of magnetic states of the material. The results confirm earlier studies that show the sign of the derivative dM/dσ changes at different locations on the M,H plane, and can even change as a result of a monotonic increase of stress either in compression or tension. The observed behavior can be explained on the basis of a recent theory which predicts that the irreversible changes in magnetization resulting from changes in applied stress cause the magnetization to approach the anhysteretic magnetization curve at the given applied field strength.