Arizona republican., 1900-11-29
COUNTRY WAS SCARED
How Badly Beginning to Be
 Found Out
Shown in the Marvellous Increase in Investments in All Directions Since the Election-Eurepe Par ticipated in the Alarm.

New York. Nov. 2S-Another week Of
 extraordinary activity in Wall street, | with some abatement in the ardor of ! buying, however, but no development
 of important bear selling There is
 no apparent timidity about the gen
 eral good undercurrent of the market
 For the five days ending with the Fist instant, the sales of stocks aggregated 6,237 ,S36 shares, or an average of 1,247.- 567 shares per day, which is a contin-
 uous activity unequalled in the trans actions of the Stock exchange. The
 business with London has been of un- paralleled magnitude, the buying on
 English account. on Wednesday last, l being over 200,000 chares; and the pur
 chasing orders from Chicago and from
 the interior in general being on an eX- | traOrdinary sca'e. The extent of the ] lJi1yfng ~np local account indicates an
 accession of C0nfidence. arising from
 the outcome of tEe Federal elections.
 exceeding all anticipaff6iis, and, at the same time, shows an unusual abun-
 dance of surplus earnings seekfngg- l transient employment.
 Rarely has there been, in a great speculative boom so little disposition to challenge a large rise in prices. It ! is true, that among the more prudent
 of large operators, there has been some 1 considerable realizing of profits; but
 such offerings have been freely taken. l So elated is public opinion over the
 confirmation of the gold basis and the 1 prospect of completion of currency re- 1 form that it is felt that all invest ments have gained added value and
 that our whole financial system has been placed upon more solid foun- dation. As yet it does not fully ap- 1 pear what this appreciation in the sta i tus of securities may be legitinately appraised at; but, judging from the avidity of buying. there appears to be an etensive willingness to invest at i the higher prices which have been reached. In some quarters there is some misgiving lest an upward turn ! in the rate of interest may check the rising drift of values. and though this ! feeling no doubt causes some hesita- i tion in buying. yet the effect on prices | is not serious. Moreover, a stage mas been reached in the money movements | of the season at which the enlarSing reserves of the banks may be expected to keep the rate of interest modera ,e l for some months to come. In truth,
 however. it should be welcome effect i if this sort of caution should help to restrain the market from running into
 an excess of buying by the public at
 unwarrantably high prices.
 The extraordinary "bullish" aspect
 of the market of late reveals the extent and depth of the ante-election misgiv- ' ings as to the mere possibility of the public vote resulting adversely to sound money and wholesome govern ment. The alarm among the business community at the remote chance of such a result was so acute, though not demOnstrative, as to induce a far
 more extensive suspension of invest ing than was at the time suspected to exist, and the amount of funds thus kept out of permanent investment has been immense. In Europe, and es- pecially at London. the same process of postponement, until our people had
 pronounced on these great national questions, was adopted. Foreigners
 regarded the election as placing the republic again under a great crucial
 test and they realized upon a consid- erable amount of American securities pending the finding of the verdict. The overwhelming vote in favor of con- serVatiVe government carried with it such eXuberance of public gratifica- ton that the investing class have con cluded that their misgiving had been needless and that their all could be entrusted to the safekeeping of the republic with entire safety.
 The foregoing factors are of much greater magnitude than has been gen. orally supposed, and as they are real and legitimate their effect upon the market is not surprising. There is also another little observed factor which is having an important effect upon investment transactions. Among | investors. there is a growing dissatis- | faction with the low rate of earnings upon first-cFass securities, especially | railroad bonds. Railroad stocks have been largely rejected because of the uncertainty of their earnings; during 1 recent years, however, the restraints on new railroad building, the improv- ing regulation of rail competition, the | more intelligent and economical man. agement. the increasing traffic and the rising scale of net earnings,-thesei causes have produced an important gain in the investment value Of this class of securities, which is now beSln- ming to be understood and appreciated. 1 The result of this tendency is appar- ent in current realiZings upon railroad | bonds and the reinvestment of the proceeds in approved stocks. The re- suit of this transpOsition of invest ments is distinctly apparent in the comparative neglect of bonds in the current boom.
 These considerations plainly suggest that an important change in the in vestment status of railroad stocks is now in progress, which must be recog- nized in any competent estimate of | the future value of that class of se- curities, or of the true meaning of the present extraordinary boom. In the
 present activity, operators may better understand the situation Of affairS if |