The San Francisco call., 1898-03-06
EASTERN MARKETS.
NEW YORK STOCK MARKET.

NEW YORK, March 5.-Liquidation was re- newed with energy the Stock Exchange to-day and the Saturday short session was long enough to effect very striking declines Large selling orders executed for Wash ington account. the case yesterday There was news to account for this sell ing. beyond a general feeling of apprehension the Spanish situation.
 There were occasional .rumors of new de- velopments set ahoat. but to a large extent they represented the guesses of room traders as to the motive for the Washington selling A rally in the late dealings in part the re- suit of covering by the shorts who had sold early in the day. but the coincidence of the rally with the appearance of the bank state ment seemed at variance with the statement. which in some respects a disagreeabe sur prise. The contraction in loaus the falling off in deposits and the decrease in cash were much larger than had been expected. The fact that the financial world had been going through such a trying period with so little harm re- sulting accepted as a bull card, in view of the underlying strength of conditions which is thus demonstrated. Nevertheless the gen. eral list shows marked net declines extending to over point in some cases. Union Pacific preferred, Northwest and Manhattan were the special points of weakness The grangers were relatively firm and the coalers also showed re- sistance to the decline.
 Dealings in Sugar were large and there seemed to be good support for this stock
 As a measure of the uneastneSs felt by the financial community over the status of the country's relations with Spain, to-day'S state ment of the New York clearing house banks makes a striking exhibit. There Is in it evil dence of great drawing in of credits and fix ing of reserves. The statement was a surprise. Ii has been known that the demands. of the country for money for active use have fallen off considerably this week, but the statement nevertheless shows a decrease in cash reserve of nearly $S 600, 600. That this reflects the with drawal of deposits in New York banks by in- terior institutions precautionary measure to strengthen their reserves is beyond doubt. The enormous contraction in loans of SIS 622,- O01 represents the precautionary measure Of the New York banks and explains why money for purely speculative purposes had become scarce, why liquidation on the Stock Exchange has been forced and why prices were acutely de- pressed. It is possible that some part Of the loan contraction Is due to liquidation on ster- ling exchange collateral which has been with drawn from use in importing gold. But 1t is been made on the sale of new bills against London purchasers of American securities which was heavy last week, and against grain shipments from here
 The net result to the clearing house banks is decrease in deposits of $23, 193, 300
 Gold in transit for New York received to- day amounts in the aggregate to s, 800. 900. which will serve as an offset to the banks losses of cash. The situation in the stock mar ket is closely analogous to that which followed the continuation of the rise in prices last Sep tember. The movement of money then to the interior to move the crops caused stiffening of money rates and liquidation of speculative stock holdings. Whether the import movement Of gold will result in a renewed advance in stocks with the easing of the money rate re- moment Is against speculative outlay in se- curities is evident, though large capital appar- ently stands ready to buy stocks at any con- 36Aerable decline in prices. The decline of the-l