The times., 1899-08-28
STOCK MARKET GOSSIP.
Attacks by the Bears That Have
Been FruitIess.

Been FruitIess.
NEW YORK, Aug. 27.-The past week
has witnessed several sharp attacks upon
| prices in the stock market. They have
been accompanied by special matters of
| news affecting individual securities which
have been considered rightly or wrongly
most bearish And also there have been
the usual tricks of the bear cliques, shall
| low gossip about sensational declines in
prices, pessimistic predictions regarding
disasters and difficulties. Active stocks
| like Sugar, Tennessee Coal and Iron, Con-
| solidated Gas, and Brooklyn Rapid Tran
| sit have been made the direct objects OF
attack, and in some cases slumps have oc-
! Cured in them. 1t is doubtful, however,
| if better illustration of the strength OF
| the market as whole could have been
devised than this bear crusade has been.
Instead of creating downward movement
and throwing the holders OF stocks into
! fever of fright it has been utterly unable
TO make any general impression whatever.
f, The level of prices in the railway list is
| little If any lower now than it was week
ago.
Many careful market people see in this
| condition of things a presage of general
desertion of the bear side, and of the be-
ginning of an upward movement in prices
| in the near future. Ii is certain that few
/ doubt that the autumn will witness such
a movement
! The period of summer recreation is now
nearing its close, and from this time for
ward the ranks of Wall Street operators
4 will be re-enforced by the return of alb
sentees. 1t would seem that they may be
safely expected to resume operations only
with buoyant expectations During their
| two months of absence, the whole drift
of affairs, both in finance and trade, has
been toward the maintenance of an active
bull campaign.
The activity Of our industries far ex-
ceeds anything ever witnessed in the past;
| nor is there anywhere an indication of
impending oyerpToduction nor of any re-
dictionary tendency; and what is still more
| important, producers have now a guaranty
they never before had, in the rapid growth
of their ability to command foreign out
| let's for any possible surplus of supply in
the home markets. At the beginning OF
the summer, there were some uncertainties
in the situation which produced degree
| of hesitaney in the securities market and
made operators the more willing to take
breathing spell after several successive
months of extraordinary excitement. Those
obstacles have now disappeared. The
crops taking them as whole, are more
| than a good average. Our grain market
may be expected to receive the stimulus
of another season of short crops in other
countries: and, judging from the present
temper of business on the produce eX-
change, it seems possible that while the
quantity of. our exportable surplus of
cereals may not fully qeual that of the
the last two seasons, yet their aggregate
| value may easily approximate that Of
! either of those years. So that appearances
indicate the probability of continuance
| of the remarkable creditor foreign bal
ances that have marked the fiscal years
1878 and 1889.
The money market has taken a course
much more favorable than was feared a
few weeks ago. Those who have put much
reliance upon the largeness of the re-
serves held by the banks OF the interior
have been justified by the current drift OF
the internal exchanges. Those most close
ly intimate with. the facts of the banking
situation have the least misgiving about
any possibility of any approach to real
stringency during the remaining six weeks
during which the domestic exchanges are
apt to rule against New York. There is
every reason to believe that the local banks
hold both the foreign and the home ex-
changes we'll in their hands, and that
while they will raise no obstacle to good
rates for money, yet they will steer the
market clear of positive stringency.
Under these circumstances and in view
of the still increasing earnings of the rail-
roads, it seems highly probable that the
market for securities will henc5forward
be borne along by strong bull currents, and
that the effects of that tendency may soon
begin to appear