The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-14

| which. itself, was far from tad, COMPARE
| lively speaking.
Yesterdays statement shows a decrease
| in surplus reserve. but it is far from
| showing such decrease as many looked
| for. The reserve is still $4,000, coo mora
| than the legal requirement. The figures
are as follows:
Reserves decreased. 9Ij
Loans decreased. Observation-Disclosures. 1856, i0J
Specie decreased Observation-Disclosures. 3, la gD
Legal tenders decreased. 2. 53s 600
Deposits decreased. ,b22. leu
Circulation Increased. li2,Sl1
1t would seem, therefore. that the mar
| ket leaders have no reason to fear tight
money as an impedment to their bull
campaign this winter. AS has been pointed
cut heretofore, there is nothing in the
miners strike that should be considered
more than temporary bear argument.
Supposing that the miners secure all that
they ask, and this is perhaps an extreme
view, it cannot be doubted that the coal
companies will get back from the public
all they concede to the miners. This Will
| be true whether the strike is settled now
| CT not for q month or even longer. Ii may
| be suggested that the present apathy in
| the street regarding the strike shows that
| the people interested have come to this
conclusion. In other directions throughout
| the business world it may be stated conf
IDENTIFY that the conditions are favorable to
| q permanent advance in security prices.
| The trade reviews are optimistic in their
| talk, rejecting steady, if, perhaps, slow
| increase of activity and strength. The
| September foreign trade of the country
was the largest on record again, despite
the falling off in the export of grain. The
| railway earnings are excellen:, although
| in some instances there are decreases
when compared with the tremendous fig
ures OF last year.
Railway earnings should not be expected
TO pile up Unfortunately and without in
| terruption. If such a thing were to hap
| pen there would soon be nothing left for
the remainder of the world. They have
| grown larger in an amazing way for five
| years now so that bankrupt systems have
| been rehabilitated. and Improbable sys-
| TENS have begun to pay big dividends, and
small dividend payers have increased their
dividends and piled up great SURPRISES
over all dividend disbursements. and all
| systems have been enabled TO expend i'm
| mense sums on reconstruction and better
| ments. During the past month or more
| the increase in gross and net earnings has
| been less than at any time before, though
| 1t still continues. This is due largely 10
| the shortage of the grain crops, on the one
| hand. and to the high prices that the rail-
| ways have paid for their rails and other
materials for operating expenses and bet
| terments, on the other. 1t is not impos-
sible that before the end of the year there
may be temporary halt in the increases.
| This will mean at the worst. however,
! that the railway companies may not in
crease their dividends further. Their abil-
| ity to continue dividends on the present
| basis and 10 continue their big improve
ments cannot be doubted. But the chances
even now favor bigger rather than smaller
| earnings.
| The record of gross earnings for the frs:
1 week of October as far as 1t has been made
| up cannot be regarded in any other way
than as satisfactory. The total earnings OF
forty-three lines for the week was 1864,
3d. OF this number thirty-seven lines
showed increases of s544,03 and six lines
| decreases of s202, 565 leaving q balance OF
increases of s341.47 or 467 per cent. The
| St. Paul furnished two-thirds of the entire
loss in earnings the other five lines show
| ing decreases comparatively unimportant.
| The fact that the Improvement in prices
during the past few days has been largely
in the speciaEies, which are most easily
MANIPULATED, is one Of the convincing indi-
cations Of the purely professional charac-
ter of the surface market. Chicago Gas
has had big squirt, entirely due to ma
nipulation. Brooklyn Rapid Transit and
Manhattan have been buoyant at times ant
strong always. Sugar yesterday was ad-
vanced rapidly. American Tobacco ha.
been one Of the favorites. On the Other
hand, the coalers, in which interest NIGH
have been expected to centre have beer
extremely dull, and the railway securitie.
generally have done little If anything NOR,
than hold their own.
The speculation in Peoples Gas has beer
most interesting. The talk of the dire wal
in the Chicago Gas field, and of the deter
mined efforts of nearly everybody in Chi
cago to force the trust to come down II
prices or go to the wall, had created ire.
mendous short interest in the stock. One
day in the week it sold at the lowest pric,
for several years. 1t was on this day tha
the bull clique began its operations for al
advance in earnest. The bears were soor
panic-stricken. They have been on the
run ever since. The price of the stock ha.
advanced from 81 and a fraction to SO ant
a fraction. The high yesterday was SO l.:
and the close SO Ia. The outlook for the
stock is, of course, most uncertain as fal
as any immediate movement is concerned
but as has been pointed out, 1t would seen
entirely probable that 1t will SELL at Z
much higher price than the present love
before many months have passed,
The statement of the Baltimore and Ohio
for the month of September was one of tht
most important given out during the week
II is the first of the September statement.
and as II shows a decrease In net earnings
has been taken up by the bears as a warn.
ing That earnings are on the down grade
The figures OF the statement are as fol-
| lows.