The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-12-06

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By the speeches Of those two officiAia tn,
Issue that concerns us most II. Of course. thu
one which Gov. Hill has ably and courageousll
presented. and at the same time committed
himself upon in no uncertain wny. Mr.
qoschens speech OF last Wednesday resulted
in Il short-lived furry In the silver bullion mar
ket The trading element on the Stock Ex'
change. without half comprehendlng the real
purport Of Mr. doschen's plan. jumped In and
bought silver bullion certificates as II they
wero highly speculative speciality It is
worth noting why the price did not respond to
the operations Of tho traders.
In the first place. IL will be readily conceded
BY every one who knows anything about tho
silver market, that those who bought the bulk
OF the silver sold on Wednesday and Thursday
did not know what they were about They
were running counter to nearly all OF the
large dealers In the metal. both In this coun-
try and abroad. Il has been well known for
| many weeks that the market for silver. both in
London and In New York. has been constantly
depressed by the operations Of combination
Of bankers centring at Paris. The object 10
to buy the metal cheaply In order to supply at
| n handsome profit tho constantly increasing
| demands for it's use. The shelters in this
| country are understood to BIO opposed to any
advance In the price pending tho assembling
OF Congress. These two interests working to-
| Eether. though not in concert more than or
set the sudden burst Of enthusiasm which q
few stock brokers we're betrayed into at the
middle Of tho week.
Il ia asserted by those in position to know
the facts that foreign bankers cancelled their
| buying orders for silver in this market as soon
as they detected disposition on tho part Of
| SPECTATORS to take hold OF the metal. They
| oven supplied part OF the speculative de-
| mand and sold some silver to the Government
| yesterday at IN actual loss. Yesterday and to-
day tho foreign buying orders were renewed
but at figures which seem to indicate belief.
or possibly hope. that the market will como
to the buyers Another feature Of tho bearish
manipulation 10 the increase during the week
Of tho stock OF silver against which ne
gotiablo certificates are issued. in the face
OF unusually heavy exports OF the metal and
heavy purchases by the Government. OF
course. there ia q So called invisible supply OF
silver bullion in this country. and. for reasons
that have been mentioned. tits available and is
used to affect the market price. but according
to the best evidence obtainable that supply Is
not large. and few more purchases by the
Government on the scale Of those made this
week. and continued shipments to Europe.
which are certain.will soon determine whatthe
actual amount Of surplus silver bullion is. And
upOu tHlS pOluU ~ Is " no uCIeu tnuU
receipts Of silver from Mexico have virtually
come to an end. That country has about paid
for its abnormal imports made in anticipation
Of the operations OF its new tariff law on Nov
/. and even II It had not done 50 exports Of
specie would DO checked now by the high
rates for money in Mexico. The next de-
velopment In this most interesting and impor-
tant matter will be looked for In President
Harrison's message on Monday. There Is In
the banking community an eager but pardon
ablo curiosity to discover whether the Presi-
dent will have the courage to pick up the
gauntlet that Gov. Hill has thrown down.
Though the stock market has been narrow
It has been perfectly natural. and for that rea-
son the irregular net fluctuations at the end
Of the week are OF more than usual interest.
That O moderate absorption Of securities Is
going on cannot be denied. On the contrary.
those who make specially Of supplying the
investment demand affirm that there is
steady yet very discriminating inquiry for Sc
curities. In view Of this fact an analysis
of the net fluctuations Of the week
should be Of value. The heaviest
dealings have been In the stocks
are higher. the advances ranging from p
cent. to 2H q cent for G.. B. and Quincy. All
OF tho Vanderbilt stocks. including Northwest.
are materially higher. New York Central lead
Ing with net advance OF 2 Y cent. Louisville
and Nashville has also scored material net
advance chiefly on foreign buying. but the
greatest improvement Of all is found in Chi
cago Gas. which Is 3H p cent higher than last
Saturday.
The shares that are lower than at the close
OF the week are In the minority. but they in
cluds Missouri Pacific. the Northern Pacific
stocks, and North American. New England. and
Richmond Terminal The coal stocks re-
manned either stationary or declined frac-
tionally. 1t Is clear from these changes that
the tendency Of the market Il not unanimously
toward higher figures. though. Of course II
any general speculation sets In the yielding
tendency in certain quarters would be checked.
The upward movement In Chicago Gas.
which has now been In progress for week or
more. Is undoubtedly due to the greater |
knowledge the public Is obtaining regarding |
tho company's affairs. It will be remembered |
that an official statement printed In this COL |
umn a week ago showed that the profits this |
year OF the various companies which have |
been brought into cooperative relations will |
DO equal to OK y cent upon the certificates |
dealt In upon the Stock Exchange. as against |
about 5x a cent the previous year. Now |
the consumption OF gas Is matter concerning |
which accurate statistics can DO collected and |
these show steady increase In the consump-
tion throughout the United States for many
years past Upon the basis OF these statistics
It Is easy to compute what the normal In
crease in the business OF the various Chicago
gas companies will DO next year. and also tho
profit Calculations OF this charac-
ter lead those managing the industry to be-
lieve that the profits next year will be equal to
at Ienst 81 q cent. upon the stock. For this
reason thcy have already begun to discuss
among themselves the advisability OF increas-
Inc tho dividend during the first six months OF
next year. They claim that they Will be justi-
led In that courss not Mono by tho normal in |