The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-06-24
sock market during the past week and month";

&; s; 5 J; e
1 a:sssn n his':. 3" 81 a. 81 81 81
Stocks vary very little from week to week. The
tendency Of the market on general principles,
appears to be downward But money is so easy.
and the bears so bold in their sales, that q few
rich bull operators are able to sustain price. by
carrying all the stock that comes into the market,
and 30 creating a scarcity. This operation IL
facilitated by the prevalence Of a singn-
lar fallacy among large portion Of the
public. People are constantly heard to say
nat, now that civil war has broken out, rail-
road stocks are the best investments in the mar
ket. Some persons are actually proving their be-
lief in this idea by selling State stocks to buy rail
way securities Now it is clear enough that, in
the present state of political affairs, no can be
recommended to buy the stocks OF any slave State.
But it is equally clear that the same causes render
the bulk of our railway stocks most precarious
property. Railways, like all great commercial
corporations, depend for their profit on the
activity Of business. Their receipts rise aud
fall with the increase and decline of traffic.
War, the great destroyer of trade, never
Of a few regiments of troops, and of a few car
loads of military stores, cannot compensate road
for the loss of its regular passenger and freight
traffic. Our great Northern and Western
railway system was built to carry pro-
duce eastward to the seaboard, goods west.
ward to our new States, and passengers
each way. Since the war began, two at least of
these sources of traffic have been comparatively
destroyed; there is no movement of goods west
ward, there is no passenger travel worth mention
ment Of psoaGCs sast%dfffS w wa ktssssthSs "S a.
minish. 70 suppose that the movement O!
troops win compensate the roads for the
Toss Of these Sources Of income is as falla-
eious as it would be to argue that the profits
made by few New York tailors on clothing
cur volunteers win repay New York for the
loss of trade caused by the war. The truth is,
that our railways, which this time last year babe
fair to emerge from the abyss in which the crisis
Of 1867 plunged them, are now by this war placed
in o worse position than ever. The probability is
in fact, that the war will break many OF them.
Already we see indications Of the end on many
sides. Thus the Galena, which had last year the
best crop on its line that has been grown since
1856, is obliged to pass the usual dividend.
The directors very properly decline to di-
vide money among the stockholders when
they have bonds maturing next year which they
know they can neither pay nor renew. The road
has, in all probability, seen the last of its career
as Q dividend paying property. If it could not
pay dividend this summer--and it is plain the
directors did right in passing tit will again
A few years ago Galena was fine property, and
have been built north and south OF it it has
been tapped at several important points, and
valuable business diverted from it; the share
holders who understand it best have sold out
their stock; and now it will probably go
through the same experience as the Michigan
Southern, the Toledo, the Rock Island and
the Wisconsin roads. This war is going to bring
TO light all the weak points, both in mercantile
houses and moneyed corporations.
Parties who are in search of investments during
the war will find what they want in the loans to
be negotiated by the. general government and the
great free States Of the North. These can gene
rally be recommended safe, and they are pretty
sure to yield handsome income. Yesterday at
noon the bids for 81 900 new Indiana six
per cents were opened at the Office Of Messrs
Winslow, Lanier g. Co., in Wall street. They
amounted to 81 40s 900, and there did not appear
to be any mere speculative bids among them.
The State agents at once decided to reject bids
For about million Of dollars, which were below
s.. They viii decide tomorrow whether they
cannot afford to place the limit even higher. This
rs security which can be recommended to CAPT
talists. The successful bidders at 50 will probably
have an opportunity before long of selling out at
profit, if they desire to do so. The new loans of
the States of New York, Pennsylvania (Which has
been taken at par), Maine tpart of which has been
taken at premium), New Jersey, Connecticut,
Ohio and Illinois are likewise very desirable IN
vestments.
We must, however, make IN exception to the
general rule in the case of the proposed loan Of the
State of Iowa. That State is in the market for
war loan. In order to borrow, without violating
the State constitution, the State authorities are
obliged to act on the fiction that the State is in
danger of invasion. If the people of the State Of
Iowa had established character for honor and
integrity, the public would perhaps feel that the
vice which thus taints the new loan in its incep
ton would never be pleaded in bar of its due pay
ment. But we regret to say that the people
the State OF Iowa have earned precisely the cha
racter which warrants the belief that they would,
after they had got the money, resort to this
and every other available trick to defraud
the parties who had lent it, There is hardly
q town or populous county in Iowa which
s not at this moment evading or attempting to
svade its most solemn obligations. Such towns as
Davenport, Burlington, Dubuque, Keokuk, Musca.
tine, and such counties ss Henry, Demoines, &C.,
which have been built up by the railroads inter-
seeting the State, are repudating in the most