Arizona republican., 1898-02-16
VERY FEW TIMID SELLERS
Fear Reaction Soon Because
 There Was One Before
But the Weaker Operators are Being Succeeded by Men of Larger Means and Better Judgment of Prevalent C. nations.

1 During the past week the stock mar 1 ket has shown no new aspects Of lm-
 portance The main feature seems to 1 be a contest for the maintenance of ] the recent fresh advance in prices. Values have reached a point closely approximating the high range of
 prices established five months ago and 1 from which there occurred a very large decline. It is perhaps not un-
 natural that, at such a stage, there
 should be those who, reasoning on
 general principles, begin to ask-if
 prices fell 10 to 12 points from this level in September and October, why 1 should there not be some reaction now? On this sort of reasoning, some
 of the more pessimistically disposed operators are venturing to sell in ten ] tative sort of way. Their sales pro- duce a temporary effect upon prices;
 but at slight concession, buyers are ready to take such offers with con- siderable avidity. It begins to dawn l upon these bearishly inclined opera tors that general principles" admit 1 of exceptions; and the exceptional facts in this present case are not diff cult to discover. The great break of of prices than to certain speculative conditions. The market was then | flooded with small operators who were using their accumulated profits for
 margins, and some large spectators l were accommodating lines of stocks in excess of their supposed ability to
 carry them. These conditions created danger in the money market so
 real and important that the Wall street banks felt compelled to dfscrimiD te in way calculated to stay those evils; and this intervention was the imme- diate cause of the break down in the fall speculations. At the same time,
 there was then very active interior | demand for money, and the bank re- serves were rapidly falling, whilst, in some quarters, the great Union Pa citic settlement was anticipated with some timidity. Also, the improve
 ment in the earnings of the railroads i was ther a matter of only two or three
 months experience and therefore not certain of being permanent.
 Such were the conditions of the fall ! market; what are the conditions now? The class of weaker operators have been succeeded by persons of larger | means and better judgment of condi- tions and about whose ability to pro- tect themselves there are no misgiv- | ings. In place of the uncertainties of l the fall money market, there is now an extraordinary plethora of money, l not only here but also at the interior | centers, which brings hither orders for securities, from the larger cities. l The Union Pacific settlement has ceas- ed to be bugbear; and there is noth- | ing to disturb the confidence of the ! banks in stock exchange loans. The advances of New York and other cities l to European money markets are esti- I mated to be certainly not less than | $S0, 0,000,000; which assures the main l tenance of ease in money a long time ahead and suggests reasonable prob ability that we may this year escape ! our usual spring exports of gold and possibly import some between now and 1 midsummer. Since the fall break in I prices. we have had four months of I railroad earnings, confirmatory of the
 prospects of a permanent large recov-
 cry in railroad finances, which q few
 months ago could be only matter Of 1 hope. Also, the change in tnterna-
 tiona1 politics has been for the better.
 In tEe fall there were apprehensions
 that the Cuban situation might de-
 velop into serious relations between this country and Spain; later, the 1 presidents reiterated assurances seem
 to leave no doubt that the administra-
 tion is bent upon the maintenance of
 peace if possible. This great contrast
 of conditions, as compared with four
 or five months ago, is so complete as ] to suggest that the present situation
 is not for the application of general
 principles, but rather one for the ap-
 plication of the rule that "circumstan-
 ces alter cases'' Conditions such as
 these cannot but appeal to the specu-
 lative spirit; and taking the existing
 status as whole and making reason
 able allowances for the future promise
 of the business of the country at large,
 It seems reasonable to conclude that
 situation of affairs more encourag- Ing to stock exchange interests has
 rarely been presented.
 Last week noted the favorable ef-