The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-16

| cite cCSl securities all went off rather
badly Yesterday, reaching the lowest
prices Ter several days. The selling
of the group was without doubt large
! ~ pre- ssional, but at the same time
there vas some letting go of long stock,
and this was not to be wondered at, per-
| haps. The close was near the bottom.
| Surmises as to the effect of the strike
on the market next week are colored to
| suit the two opposite views of the street
| The stronger belief, however seems to
| be that which expresses itself in the
| axiom that stocks should not be sold on
a strike. The present application of this
seems TO be that If there is a break at
| the opening on Monday, there will be
shrewd people willing to buy these securi-
! ties to the better advantage thus created.
Sugar was one of the weak issues yes
terday. 1t declined TO III and below, and
| apparently there was little support The
| talk of an advance in the price of the re-
| fined sugar was again heard but it had
! no effect. Probably this advance il il is
10 be made. will be utilized to start the
! upward movement in the stock next week.
There was talk yesterday of the aroba-
1 bility of good advance in the price of
corn. It is becoming evident that the crop
may not be as large as that of last year
by several hundred million bushels. Bet
ter weather conditions in the near future
may help the crop TO such an extent that
it will fall short very little, but the
| chance does not seem to be that way.
\ With this shortness Of crop there is a
! greater demand from Europe than ever
\ before and big gap in the Southern corn
| yield that must be filled by the big corn
States Predictions of an advance of
or cents bushel. and even much
larger addition to the price, are numerous.
The disposition at first has been TO
| consider the corn situation bad thing
| for the prospects of the grangers but
some OF the best informed people are con-
WINGED that the advance in price will more
/ than outweigh the shortness Of the crop.
! This would mean that the railways would
probably have a big haul Of general mer-
chandise to make up for the cut in their
corn traffic, for the farmers would be
! prosperous and willing 10 spend their
money. The grangers were weak yester-
/ day with the remainder of the market de-
( clining a point or more on the average
D Rock Island sold as low as I05 St Paul
I to 1l2 and fraction. and Burlington be-
low 1873 Atehison also went off though
I rot so badly as the others of the group
I The entire group made net losses for the
4 week.
Chesapeake and Ohio is enc of the Sc
/ curities that have been attracting a little
attention while the general market has
/ been dead. One OF the bear Wall Street
! papers yesterday published very bullish
article on the stock, showing the fine con-
| dition Of the companys affairs.
The gross earnings of the Big Four for
| the first week of September show de-
crease of $4,000. During the fiscal year
! ,aut,
| gross of s167, 1873.
The steel and iron securities took the
| general downward course yesterday and
at the close showed rather heavy net
| losses for the day and the week. There
was nothing in the news of the day
affecting these securities especially and
holders took the declines philosophicalIy
as due simply to sympathetic weakness.
| The talk regarding the iron trade is most
| hopeful and the outlook undoubtedly good
| for a big business this autumn and winter
! A Tennessee Coal and Iron man is quoted
| as saying that his company has more ex-
port orders than IL can fill. owing to Its
| inability 10 secure transportation across
the Atlantic He adds that his company
is obtaining a higher price on the other
side than is ruling in the home market,
| and that IL has orders that will keep 1t
! busy during the remainder OF the year.
Chicago Gas was one OF the weak securi-
| ties yesterday and II finally sold below 90.
| The record Of the stock for the week was
thus one OF the poorest The beginning of
"gas war; which may be a disastrous
one can be assumed to be the cause OF the
break in the stock. There were rumors of
| settlement OF the war yesterday, but
they were denied by people supposed to be
close 10 inside interests The possibility
that the fight is more or less Of hippo
drOme and that one big interest controls
all of the companies and simply wishes to
squeeze out undesirable people is still
whispered in some quarters. Shrewd peO-
| pie do not feel inclined TO sell the stock
| short
The General Electric Company yesterday
declared dividend Of 2 per cent on its
e(mmon stock an advance OF i-2 per cent
over the last previous disbursement. This
generosity on the part of the electric trust