San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-09-23
WEEKLY FINANCE.

Reported for the LIGHT by Henry Clews
| Il Co.
NEW YORK, Sept. 10, lS91.-Special
The Stock Market shows renewed
activity and strength. The "bears''
however are not alone in the opinion
that the advance in prices during the
last few weeks should almost suffice
for the time being. Among the ranks
| of the bulls" there are two classes
who incline to the same view; first,
the conservatives, who think that
present prices are well up To the pre-
sent intrinsic value of stocks and
doubt the eXpediency of forcing up
values to a point at which the invest
ment demand would be checked and
at which foreign holders, under the
pressure of an American drain of gold,
might sell out up on New York; and
a second class are those who have I'M
loaded large lines of "long" stock and
are actuated by the purely specula-
tive purpose of being able to buy in
again at lower range of prices. The
former of these two classes is simply
qulescent, the latter have been using
their influence, directly and indirect
ly, TO depress prices.
For the rest, the market may be
said to consist Of the sanguine and
demonstrative class of "bulls.n who
are always optimistic, over stimatipg
favorable factors and Understanding
unfavorable ones, and who act upon
prospects rather than existing facts.
When there is large outside Interest
in the market-which is the case at
present-this class of operators prove
an important element, for they all act
in the same direction so long as they
are able to maintain their margins,
and it is therefore difficult to break
the force OF their support At pres
ent, the forces of the market are di-
vided into these unqualified bulls, on
the one side, and the qualified bulls
and the professional bears on the
other. The result of such a contest
under present conditions cannot be
much other than succession of slight
fluctuations, with little gain for either ,
the one party or the other.
In judging what may be the out
come of this contest, it is important
not to lose sight of the fact that the
| extreme bulls have in view a pros
| pect which, If realized, will mean 8 Is
| more active and more prosperous
| condition of business and enterprise
than exists at present. We are in
the midst of a progressive improve
ment, and each day brings some new
stimulus to the buoyancy of the pre-
vailing boom. Within the past week,
/ for instance, we have had a govern
ment crop report of Unexpectedly
high averages of the condition of the
unharvested cereals, large increases,
in the earnings of the railroads, the b.
beginnings of imports of gold from
the Continent of Europe, and a bank
statement favorable to ease money;
and in the meantime there are no
unfavorable circumstances APP
pearipg, while the market was
wholly unaffected by the Mitylene
incident. In this sense, il may be
said that much of the bulling com es ~
from the course of events, and in any
| case 1t cannot be denied that such q
favoring drift of occurrences strongly
reinforces the sanguine bull party
while it induces caution on the other
side of the market. This tendency
might be less important if there were,
the caution usual at this season of the
year about the course of the money
market; but, the refluX of gold from
Europe having already set in, the
money prospects are an element of
encouragement rather than dis cour-
agement.