Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-02-24
VIEWS OF HENRY CLEWS.

NEW YORK, February 23.-Owing to
a variety of causes, the drift OF the
stock market during the past week has
been reactionary. Last Saturdays
statement of the associated banks was
so Unexpectedly unfavorable that it
produced a cautionary effect,-the more
so because the mood of the stock mar
ket was not sanguine enough to make
speculative holders Indifferent to the
aspects of the money market. The
constituencies of money was also ag-
gravated by the uncertainty as to
whether some considerable loans might
not be needed for concentrating the
billion-dollar steel and iron combina-
ton.
Also, the market has showed plain in
dications of ~tiredness in the specula-
tive department. Experienced opera
tors have been on the lookout for this
symptom of a coming yielding in the
high tension to which the market has
SO long been subject; and the more
cautious holders have been free sellers
on the appearance of this sign of COM
ing reaction. The market is so much
under the influence of conflicting cur
rents and uncertain factors, that the
cliques are becoming less aggressive
and are putting themselves on the re-
fensive. The vacillation in prices of
certain stocks which have been under
vigorous manipulation plainly indi-
Gates a growing disposition to take in
sail, at least temporarily.
The very exceptionally low condition
of the bank reserves for this season Of
the year. with no positive assurance of
an early increase of cash funds, while
it nay not produce any general or very
positive Encouragement, does hold
bull operations in check and induce
postponements of buying. Among GER
tain cliques, there is still a strong I'M
dertone of expectancy, more qualified
by moderation, however, than has been
the case in the earlier stages of the
boom. Indeed, it is doubtful whether
the larger professional operators are
calculating upon any further material
advance in prices for the present. The
more prudent would probably be fully
satisfied with a market that would en-
able them to get out of their very large
AiOtoIh5o a. III &c, Al
it will not be surprising if they are
found to be now quietly acting on that
policy. They cannot afford to stand
still in presence of successive lapses in
prices and spells of comparative dull
ness, and must either diminish their
load by selling, or increase it in the
face of uncertain conditions and when
prices are already unprecedentedly
high. And yet it is no easy matter to
realize on any liberal amounts of stocks
without producing a nervous condition
OF the market and raising a rush to
sell thai might play havoc with bull"
interests. That, however, is not a
course Of affairs that the managers of
deals" desire; they may need money
for concentrating their plans and
above all desire the maintenance of a
general %buoyancy in the ranks of spec
ulation.
This is not a very hopeful situation;
it is at least one that calls for great tact
and skill of management. On the one
side immense speculative holdings of
stocks. for which holders would be
glad to get current prices, and yet dis
u uStluS OuSlI dUllIly W UO SO. On Cl0
other side, there are deals in prices
involving transfers of hundreds of mil
lions of securities, the success of which
is largely dependent on the ability of
the spectators to carry their loads or
to get rid of them without a severe
break in prices. These two sets of inter-
ests are mutually dependent on each
others ~forbearance and support: and
yet it is to the manifest interest of
each large Spectator or clique to slip
u of the market and leave everybody
else to look after his own affairs in his
own way. All this too in the face of
an unpropitious money market and
with the banks by no means DESTROYS
of encouraging the existing imitation
and general over-strain in the market
for securities. The longer such a situa-
ton exists and is looked at, the more
certain it is to create a nervous mar
ket and to encourage realizing. 1t is
undoubtedly true that, between the stu
pendous deals" and the magnitude of
the speculative boom, Wall street is
overburdened with inflated commit
ments, and any unforeseen spark of
alarm from any quarter might easily
excite caution among money lenders.
with very unwelcome consequences.
HENRY CLEWS.