The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-29
REACTION HAS COME
TURN DUE 10 CROP INJURY,
STRIKES AND UNCERTAIN
HONEY MAREEIET
CORN ONLY CEREAL DAMAGED
Is Present Prices Hold, as Much
Money WIZ. &c Realized
This Year ~

Last
Henry Clews weekly letter of the con-
dicious in Well street IS as follows:
A action from the recent unpreceSent-
ed rise in the prices Of securities was II
lie expected With such an eXtraordi-
nary increase in tie earning power Of TIE
railroads, such a marvellous Iun OF ma
uonal prosperity, and such an unrestTain-
able QUO ancy in every business interest
to say nothing Of the excitement &c
Nelcped by the great cooperate deals-tt
Is not at al remarkable that the market
value of railroad investme hts should kaNe
risen 10 such unparalleled figures as We
have lately seen. That tend ncy having
exhausted its force it s not matter
Of sur. rise trat a shaIp rCaction has set
IN from the upward impulse. For, not
few OF the large buyers on the ri.
bought !. IS bcca use they We're convincs d
that the new level Of values would prove
permanent than because they believed
that the new initiating conditions would
produce temporary Uneqlaled enhance
ment in quotations. Their experience an
Ger all sorts Of conditions Of specu.a-
tion had taught them that max mum
values never proved permanent; and thai,
when the top has been rea ned an i'm
pulse Of reaction must nave its sway,
which may as easily as not carry values
as much below the normal IS they had
previously been forced above it. That is
fixed law in the operat ,ons of the
Stock Exchange, which must always
sooner or later assert its sway, and
sometimes in disregard Of conditions that
leSitimately teterm ne TIE yaiUe of in
Vcstmerts. The course of the stock mar
ket during the last TWO weeks has been
a marked veriticatiCn Of this principle.
20 in, n = Ia,9 la. fsr,yN tlf.f1
principally by three very real ana sue
stantial causes, all of which have been
Sudden and unexpected; - the injury 10
the crops, - the great strike of the EN-
ployes Of tie steel corporation; ard 80
the uncertain y Of a money market which
may poss 70. be subjected to unusually
heavy ana u gent demands for movement
Of crops.
AS to the crop situation the injury from
drought appears to have been principally
confined TO corn; although 81 ght damage
10 sprlI wheat IS reported in some sec
tons. Tee most serious harm has fallen
in the states Of Kansas Nebraska, Mis-
souri, and Iowa, where the loss, accord
ing to conservative estimates. will he
not less than 3Oj,O3oCO) bushes. In tire
whole country the entire damage might
figure between 70 $1,000 and 4C0,CCO,lC0
bushels, in which case we should have
total crop Of about !. 100 millions II
remains to lie seen how much of TIE
damage viii be repaired by subsequent
Improvement in the weather. Certainly
the injury thus far incurred seems 10
have been. to a considerable extent, dis
counted in both the grain ana stock mar
kets. The eXtr5.mis Of 10th SIDES have
had their say, and it seems as if both
markets had settled down to the real
facts, which. as usual, lie between the
two extremes. Last Year according To
the department Of agriculture. the money
value Of The corn crop was $,51, GO 600, or
about IS cents Per bushel these pre-
sumably being farm values. Should we
realize 400 million crop it would only
have to sell at an average OF little
over 44c at farms TO bring tie same
amount in value as last year.
This means that an advance of about
Sc per bushcl over last year would am
Ply compensate for this years losses IN
dollars and cents. At New York and
Chicago corn has been selling at 12GJi5c
above last years figures; so that should
these differences continue the crop as a
whole would produce a higher value than
last year. TO sum up, certain sections
have uGIu"stiOnably suffered severe loss
cs, which Will be partly Offset by better
prices 5cne6ting other sections, by the
bringing out Of unexpected reserves of
corn, and by the fact that other crops
promise at least an average, and in case
of wheat a record crop. Moreover the
farmers as class are in good financial
condition and much less in debt than
three or four years ago, consequently
better able to meet temporary misfOr-
tune. The COrn-carrying roads will sus-
fer somewhat in earnings, but only a eew
roads carry more than or Z per cent of
corn in their local traffic. Live stock
has been injured in q few sections, but
not to a caiamitous extent
The stock market has offered excellent
trading opportunities, and this situation
seems likely to continue. A few stocks
which had advanced to Unrea sonably h; Oh
or control prices are still beyond the
reach OF investors, and should be handled
carefully by spectators. There are 9th
erS which have shown declines of Is and
81 points that arc much safer and mora
profitable. Several heavy blows have
been dealt to the market which at tho
present level has displayed excellent re-
s.sting qualities. Liquidation has been
very thorough and stocks have been pass
ing into stronger hands for the last
month or six weeks. The monetary sit
Cation is steadily improving: bank re-
serves seem likely to increase during the
next few weeks; gold is coming in from
the klOndike, and The treasury will
shortly begin TO disburse funds more free
~ consequently there is little chance Of
disturbance IN the money market until
The crop movement begins. No further
untoward Developments have taken place
abroad, and the quantity Of American
securities over there has been so greatly
diminished that our stocks will be less
sensitive to foreign disturbances thar
formerly. Altogether the situation is
one deserving Of a fair degree of coni-
dence. The known bad features have
been for the present. at least, probably
discounted, and the country still contin-
ues its prosperous career. When the Dig
operators again take a hand refreshed
by vacations, we may look for more
active market