New-York tribune., 1885-07-20
Stocks. Shares. Rise

OF these twenty stocks. 2, lGS, ,639 shares were
wanted and bought last week of the fifty
eight other stocks of which there were sales on
Saturday. and II hundred more on the Ex-
change list the aggregate sales during the en-
tire week were 14G.977 shares. nj yet among
them are many g,Dd dividend paying secur-
ites. The twenty above nalsrd cover 81 per
cent and the first ten of them - per cent, of all
the sales of the week. The fact Is that The
speculative favoritcs were lifted, whether they
had any value or not. Yet il was the best week
in stocks for long time, and the closing aver
age SIS 60, is higher than any other closing
this year. or since the election of President
Cleveland. Prices are rising now faster than in
July last year. AMI those who remember.the
dccine which followed in S7l will not regard
the omen as n favorable one.
In the banks the accumulation of idle money
rises higher than ever, though that is no longer
surprising. Yet il is n sufficient answer to the
assertion that business generally has improved.
The marvel is that the banks gain in legal
tenders, while the Treasury. according to its
reports, also gains, and from the banks. IL is
natural 10 conclude that the banks are report
ing as legal tenders the unlawful = red letter
certificates manufactured by tho Treasurer,
or the small change which they may have re-
ceivcd in place of gold. Bat it is possible that
the rise in stocks may find a sort of reason here.
If people are calculating To buy mt prices meas
urcd in gold, and TO sell at prices measured in
silver, and if the banks have concluded that
they cannot resist silver imitation, but that it
would be well to turn good gold into stocks,
rather than into illegal Treasury certificates or
fractional currency, that would ut least be intel
ligiblc.
The markets during the past week have been
unusually mixed Rumors of war have again
lifted wheat three fourths of Il cent, while corn
has declined three fourths and oats one cent per
bushcl. Batter is steady, and cheese and eggs
have each risen about one cent, pork fifty cents
a barrel. and lard about onc-eighth. But cotton
is one fourth weaker, sugar one eighth and re-
fined onc-fourth, and iron and coal are both n
shade weaker. SPECIALIZED "war" speculation
has helped oil to an advance of 4as cents, and
the refined thrcc-eghths, and in metals tin has
advanced III, and lead about one-fourth. In
all directions there appears unusual speculative
activity, which cannot be considered wholesome
or helpful. The country is not by any chance
richer for all this, but quite likely to be poorer.
While war abroad is rumorcd rs Il help to
speculation, Inc arc hV' w
notice war mt home. Troops have been called
out in Michigan. and the police and rioters are
arming for another struggle in Cleveland. The
labor situation certainly has not improved III
n genuine revival OF business should come, there
would soon be settlement of labor difficulties,
for manufacturers would be able to pay and
could not afford to refuse. But the effort to
make revival of business by lifting prices is
just ~ if one should put his thermometer into
ice, these hot days, in order to get cool weather.