The times., 1897-03-28
rur NoRNlNG TIMES SUNDAY, MARCH %, 1897.


are concerned, their action is based upon
the apparent conclusion that all the eX-
listing associations to regulate rates and
traffic must be abandoned as Illegal. The
hope that Congress will pass bill per-
mitting railroads To form pools and agree
ments as to rates, under The sancuoh
of the Interstate Commerce Commission,
has found expression in many quarters.
Dispatches from Washington and inter-
views with prominent members OF Con-
cress do not, however, encourage the
IDEA that the measure would have favor
able action at the present session
Some satisfaction is expressed because
the roads seem to be acting conservatlveiy
in regard To rates, and this is the basis
for ex pectatiops that an informal under
standing among them may serve the same
purposes for which their traffic assocl-
ationS were constituted. Trade reports
for the week are fairly good. There is
increased industrial activity, but prices
for commodities are not improving, ana
i'll some instances tend to decline. Dc
mands are also still on a restricted scale.
\ 5 to the market itself, speculation seems
20 be in the hands of the traders.
Dow Jones & Co. are of the opinion that
with the railroad associations dissolved
and the political parties in Congress striv-
ing to see which can DE most antagonistc
To trusts the outlook for holders of Sc
curities is particularly unpleasant.
The Daily Stakeholder, in an article en-
titled The Markets Resistance says,
among other things
Under such q sledge-hammer blow is the
market has received this week prices have
shown~a stubbornness which has been
quite remarkable. Happening at almost
any other time during the past few years,
q wholesale destruction of values, such
as has not been witnessed since the panic
of July, 1893, would have followed the
Supreme Courts antitrust decision. 1t
is safe 10 say that the crumbling OF quo
tations incident to the Venezuelan scare,
and the way things went to pieces last
sumner over the free silver-Chicago plat
form developments would have been dis
counted, and an ample margin shown
by the fall on this week prominent event,
If the hardening process which prices nave
undergone had not taken place.
On a soft market crisis would have
been precipitated, which happily has been
ton which has been reached after four
years of laboring along under conditions
of uncertainty, wthinvestors andoperators
ready to take flight at the first appearance
of anything unfavorable in the situation,
and to go crazy altogether at short nouce
and before waiting to see if the bogy was
real live one or only phantom.
Knapp Bros. Mr.. Sisby's New York
stock market correspondents, believe that
tomorrow and next week will see con-
tinnance of the lower range OF prices and
that the market will be weak.
Bradstreet' S financial review of the week
has this paragraph on the railroad cotli-
plication:
The opinion of the Supreme Court in
the Missouri case has encouraged the
Department of Justice to appeal from the
decision rendered in the Joint Traffic As
| sociation by the circuit court OF appeals for
| the New y ork circuit, the Attorney General
having already directed the district attor-
new at New York TO take an immediate
appeal. Until the case comes up for re
| view in the federal court of last resort
! it can scarcely be determined by those
| unconneCtcd with it whether the same
| points are involved as in that Just passed
upon by the Supreme Court. The depart
nent officials, however, appear to take
| the view that the two cases Involve eN7
| actly the same questions. with the eXcep-
| tion that in the Joint Traffic Association
| ca Sc. there is charge of violation of the
| anti-pooliug clause of the interstate coni-
| merce law The officials OF the depart
ment are quoted as saying that even the
| dissenting opinion OF the supreme Court
| minority cannot be regarded as sustain
| ing the points ruled by the circuit court
| OF appeals in the case of the Joint Traffic
Association Clear-sghtcd railway men
are turning their attention now TO the
! possibility Of Congressional action.
There were rumors in the street yester'
dav that the quarterly dividend in Tobacco
will be reduced to per cent. These
rumors are very likely well founded.
Officials of the company state that nc
action has been taken on the dividend, and
| will not he till the regular meeting OF
directors on Wednesday. Whatever the
| action of the directors may he, however
Tohaccois weak at the present time, mostly
on account OF theSe TuiioFs. ue pedis ak
| working it down.
Hambleton & Co, of Baltimore. in dis
cussing Baltimore and Ohio, say that the
| company's funds derived from the pro
ceeds of the receivers certificate are
nearly exhausted, and that it VIII be
necessary to raise fresh money in very
short time.
Out Of twelve railroads reporting earn
ings for the third week i'll March, seven
show some decrease. Louisville and Nash
Vile was among those with an increase
reporting $4,000.
A. E..nr,lI ANhite has pNttnn out of tlt