New-York tribune., 1901-07-08
THE FINANCIAL MARKETS.
LIGHT WEEK IN WALL STREET
EFFECT OF THE THREE HOLIDAYS
RAILROAD EARNINGS.

Three days Of extreme dulness and three days
OF holiday made up the sum Of the stock mar
ket's activities" for the week just ended The
transactions, which only two months ago eX-
panded TO the enormous figure Of more than
100000 shares a day on Tuesday Of last week
had shrunk TO less than 100000 shares. princi-
pally as a consequence of the excessive heat
which drove operators and spectators from
the city and made the brokers strongly averse
TO the effort involved in the practice of their
vociferous calling It was the continuance and
the severity Of the heat, too which caused the
governing committee advised TO this course by
the banks to rescind their action of the pre-
ceding week and vote Wednesday TO grant
the petition Of the members for two holidays in
addition TO the Fourth. Some criticism has
been heard upon the Exchange management for
allowing triple holiday. especially since that
action was apparently the cause of the sharp
advance in the call money rate on Wednesday
to % per cent. the highest figure since Novem-
Der. But speculation was at the very lowest
ebb point. the Weather Bureau held out no pros
pect Of near relief from the prevailing torridity.
and another consideration which weighed with
the governing committee was that the closing
movement found favor among the other eX-
changes also The banks desired the Exchange
TO close and the banks put UP the money rate
as safeguard against contingencies which
might occur between wednesday hls>lI anu
Monday morning Nothing serious has oc-
Cured and. now that the July disbursements
for interest and dividends have found their way
70 the bondholders and stockholders, continued
gtringency in the money market is not looked
for. The bank statement in its decrease Of
s4796900 cash and S3,272,615 in surplus re
serve reflected the recent demand on the part OF
institutions and corporations for funds with
which 10 effect the July settlements; these de-
creases also probably representing in part, to-
gether with the heavy decrease in deposits.
Withdrawals for account Of summer outings Of
the wealthy. A favorable circumstance was the
decrease of loans by 50. 100.
A dull market is normally a tagging market,
and II was natural that prices should have de-
clned to some extent in the early part of the
week although the recessions were as a rule
not serious. Money ruled as high as 10 per cent
on Monday and S per cent Tuesday, while
on Wednesday. as already noted, it touched p
per cent. This is the season of crop damage
rumors. and some made their appearance early
i'm the week raising the price of the
Produce Exchange and causing selling of the
"grangers" on the Stock Exchange But later
advices are that the outlook for a satisfactory
corn harvest is very promising, despite the heat
In Nebraska needed rains have fallen, and else
where the crop has not yet come nearly TO the
stage Of imminent disaster Winter wheat is
virtually beyond the possibility of failure, and
the spring wheat crop is still doing we'll.
The United States Steel Corporation figured
prominently in the stock market last week. On
Tuesday the directors declared the regular Ia
per cent quarterly dividend the preferred
stock and dividend of / per cent on the COM
mon. both issues selling off the announce
rnent. 1t was argued by some that the directors
had been alarmed by the strike in the works
of the American Sheet Steel Company and the
American Steel fioop Company, and, fearing
that it would spread to other constituent com
panies and cause material curtailment of the
United States Steel Corporations earnings. had
therefore refused TO declare regular the divi-
dend on the common. Mr. Morgan was at that
time on the ocean He reached New-York on
Thursday and at his office on Friday, and
on Friday night the official announcement was
made that the dividends on both classes Of the
stock were intended TO be quarterly dividends
covering the quarter ending June 30 This
assurance should have the effect Of strengthen
ing the prices Of the steel stocks this week. but
the Street feels that a supplementary statement
should be made in order to fortify the corpora
ton in the confidence of investors; that state
rnent TO give the amount which the directors at
their meeting set aside for sinking fund pur-
poses. and also 10 amplify into definite figures
this sentence of Fridays announcement: The
reported earnings Of subsidiary companies for
this quarter, of course, are in excess Of the
amount of these dividends"
In other words if the United States Steel
Corporation aims 70 establish its securities on
the plane of the standard railway shares,
solid and safe investments, it should give the
investing public the same measure of informa-
ton as to its condition and earning power as
10 given by the high class railways of the
United States. AS 10 the strike of employees Of
the United States Steel Corporation who
members of the Analgamated Association of
Steel Iron and Tin Plate Workers. there is a
general feeling of confidence that Mr.. Morgan
will find way of achieving its speedy and
satisfactory adjustment For the present, at
least, there is nothing alarming in the situation,
for at this time Of the year large number of
steel workers are accustomed TO lay off,; and
reports from Pittsburg to the effect that
conferences between officers of the steel COM
panies involved and representatives of the
Arnalgamated Association are in progress, with
every indication OF an early settlement Of the
differences The bank troubles at Buffalo and
Niagara Falls. if they had any influence on SEN
tinent here had an unfavorable influence; but
the fact was recognized that these suspensions
like the failure of the Seventh National Bank
and Henry Marquand Co here in the pre-
ceding week, were referable to local causes and
were very far from signifying that the pendu-
lrm of business had yet touched the ultimate
point Of prosperity and had begun to swing
back toward hard times.
The bank exchanges are perhaps as trust
worthy indexes of the course and prospects of
business as can be found For June the ag-
gregate clearings OF the banks OF the United
States as compiled by The Financial Chron-
icle" exceeded by sic per cent those for June
1909 For the six months ended June 30 they
were asa per cent greater than for the first