The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-12-21
Excitement in New
York Stock ma[Ret.
CONGRATULATIONS HARVEST.

Sf6hst wv 4A@AsN fA""' ~
Clearing House Association Rushes TO the
Rescue and Secretary Gage Also Decides
to Help.
New York, Dec 10. This was a day
Of disturbance at oil financial centres,
domestic and foreign.
The tightness Of money In oil mar.
kets was actuely felt, large failures
were announced and security values
melted under the strain Of forced liquida-
tion TO an extent that hardly seemed
oreditable q few weeks ago. Appre-
tension and nervousness permeated all
business interests,
The Secretary Of the Treasury gave
temporary relief first. by agreeing to
anticipate a years interest on Govern
ment bonds at small rebate, and later,
when the situation became more acute
by Offering to buy s25. 900. 900 Of Gov
eminent bonds at the market price.
These are makeshifts, and so proved, as
the relief was not Of permanent char
acter.
Finally came the trouble in South
Africa. England was urgently In need
Of gold, and so adjusted her monetary
conditions as TO draw it to London
from nearly all quarters. This coun.
try being heavy creditor, 1t was not
thought gold could be drawn hence but
on last Saturday upwards Of 81. 900 900
were sent out, and it is confidently e1-
pected that more will go this week.
The fact, as Is stated, that there Is no
profit in the shipment of gold at the
present rate of exchange made no diff.
ference. It was urgently needed on
the other side, and 1t went.
While 1t was hoped that the over
speculation would not result disastrous
~. events today proved that. like all
unstable aud uncertain ventures based
on fictitious values, 1t must have an
end
MONEY UP TO lS6 PER CENT.
Panic conditions developed on the
Stock Exchange in the afternoon with
the imperative need Of money developed
by the violent contraction Of values.
Stocks were being thrown over without
regard to the price aud ct heavy sacri-
fee Of values.
No end to the helplessness OF the sit
uation seemed in sight, when, in the
last half hour OF the market some $40.
900 900 was offered on the exchange by
the concerted action Of the clearing.
house banks TO force the rate for money
arbitrarily down to 6 per cent. Money
had previously loaned as high as 1886
per cent. on call loans.
The collapse in the m oney rate check
ed the decline in stocks and the recov-
cries were almost as violent as tie de-
clines had been. but the losses were by
no means entirely retrieved Large
offerings Of stocks continued at the
rally, and at some points Of the list
prices broke anew before the close
making the closing exceedingly irregu'
lar and unsettled. The excitement con-
tinued 20 the end, with sentiment
looking forward apxiously for the de-
velopment OF another day.
The seriousness Of the crisis has call
ed forth the best efforts of powerful and
conservative financial interests, which
are busy concerting measures to tide
over the money difficulties.
SOME OF THE LOSSES
An idea Of the severity Of losses may
be gained from few specifications
Thus, American Tobacco fell an ex-
treme 2i1S, Metropolitan 2O14, Peoples
Gas IA, Sugar 1917. Continental Tobac
ooal16. Tennessee GOAL II, Manhattan
o and Leather preferred ga, all in the
list Of industrials.
In the railroad list suoh stocks as
New York Central, Great Northern
preferred, Rock Island, Southern Paci'
fic, the Union Pacifics. the Northern
Pacifics, Atchison preferred, and, in
fact, the most prominent and active
railroad stocks in the whole list showed
losses all the way from to 9 points.
The rallies, with the final offerings
Of the money rate down to 6 per cent 4,
ran from TO 10 points. The day g
transactions ran up to point Of nearly
1, 800, 900 shares which is the record for
a days business. The excitement was
intense all day.
THE PRODUCE EXCHANGE.