The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-21

being the fact beyond doubt it is OF little
use to devote any very serious attention
to the small fluctuations of the market
from day to day. a good deal of energy
has been expended during the past few
days in explaining the good advance that
has taken place in security prices, all OF
which will be shown to have been wasted
If today or tomorrow sees decline, winch
is not in the least unlikely. The profes-
SIGNALS are in control largely ana they
take advantage of the surface news, or
without any news to go on, push prices
up or down much as they see fit. Neither
advances nor declines are of Importance
in any consideration of the market which
is to extend over more than day or TWO
The broad fact remains unchanged. The
corn damage and the strike were more
than discounted in the break that oc-
CURED early in July. Prices. therefore.
according to many careful market people,
are below their fair level and lkeiy 10
advance in the long run. The prosperity
of the country. the financial outlook, the
railway earnings, the dividend prospects
the large probability that the steel strike
will he ended satisfactorily to the trust
in a short time, are ali.lnatters favorable
to higher prices. The summer Is not
good time to make bull movement. how
ever and such movement Is not ex-
pected now Stocks will be bought on
the declines by many. in the expectation
that the investments will prove prohtaoie
before the end of the year.
Yesterdays mark ct movements were not
complicated There was a strong open
ing on buying from London, pool buying
of number of groups, and keene Clique
support of the Steel stocks. This opening
caused surprise to some people that nad
expected to see a break on account OF the
bad news of the strike. AS matter OF
fact the support of these securities mas
been persistent and consistent ana there
was no reason to suppose that II would
be given up yesterday morning. Inc ma
jority of the professional operators nave
cd ma af
market factor because of this support
There was some realizing at the high
opening by the professionals ana by the
few commission house people thaI nau
bought last week or on Monday. frlces
went off fractionally on this, but held eX-
cellently throughout the day, neVeI'he-
less. well above the Monday level Al the
close there wa3another small drop IN the
level the SteeIsecufities leading the re
cession. ThisAdecline was attributed 10
the room traders and IT was thouehi Ina.
selling out some of the stock bought al
lower level The close showed net gains
for the day in the majority of7stocks
The little booms in two or three groups
of securities that have developed in the
past few days are the onfy DreaK IN In, Itie
monotony OF. the traders market: Inc ne
authrecites and the Southern securities
are the most conspicuous or these groups.
Apparently the insiders in these STOCKS
their present prices. that the public VIII
discover this in the course of the next
three or four months, and that, such
being the prospect. 1t is now good t1Ihe
to make hay while the sun SHINES. me
public is not in the market -Ine Dig PEG
pie generally are not much interested.
The professionals have been deV9tihg
most of their time TO the grangers ana the
Steel issues. 1t has been an easy mater
to push up the price of such stocks as
Southern Railway common and Nortoik
and Western.
The latest story regarding the soft coal
deal is about as follows: Mr.. Morgan is
at the head OF the deal as he sls at the
head of the anthracite combination. The
plan is to combine all the soft coal prop
critics and railways in the same way that
the anthracite interests ARE 'compined.
The purposes of the combination Will be
TO secure harmony and prevent competl-
ton. and in addition to obtain foreign
markets for soft coal. Lower cost, based
on harmony, and economical manage
ment vii be one TueanS-toward the end OF
securing the foreign market. Mr.. Nor
gan's purchases of transatlantic steam-
ship lines viii be another. Owning all the
soft coal. all the railways from the fields
to the seaboard, and all the steamship
lines to Europe Mr.. Morgan and his
friends believe it will be possible TO put
down their product ia Great Britain even
at a price to compete with the British
product. Many of the developments OF
the past few months seem to mt into TINS
-
able that it is in the main the true story
of the situation. -t ~ D.
The little boops in Norfolk and Western.
Chesapeake and Ohio. PENNSYLVANIA, and
! the other soft. goal securities recently are
in line with This idea. A soft coal com
bination is oIIly@ another good reason why
! these stocks Should be attractive at their
present prices, 1t may be supposed that
| some of he insiders expecting develop
| rnents along this line are now buying the
81. ali n
nouncement of the plan
| The clique in Southern Railway may
| have something of an especial nature
also. though the excellent outlook for
| the Southern is, of itself, sufficient rea-
| son for buying the stocks of the com
pauy One of the theories yesterday adj
yanced In connection with the movement
| in the stocks. was that the Southern Pa
! cific is to enter an alliance with the
| Southern Railway. The story does not
! harmonic with the. general understand
| ing of the Western railway situation. The
| Union Pacific owns the majority OF the
| Southern Pacific stocks. The Union Pa
| cific is a Hartman property The South
| ern Railway is a Morgan property. The
| Morgan interests and the Hartman in
| terests are understood to have settled
I their late differences arntcably. but there
is no reason to suppose that they are so
| close together now as this story would
| suggest Another. and an old story, is
| that the Southern will buy out the Louis
| present to substantiate this rumor, al
| though inherently, it is much less i'm
| probable than the ether. Still another
! story is that the securities of the South
| ern are to he rearranged. the preferred
| being retired and the common reduced in
| amount. %
| The granger situation is unchanged.
| The news regarding the crop outlook con-
/ Cinues favorable. Director of the Mint
Roberts. after a trip through the West,
has come out with an interview, saying
that the farmers are prosperous and hope
full He says that the big wheat crop
| will make up for the corn shortage In
large measure. and that the big general
business OF the West will do the rest to-
ter relatively. The weekly Government
| report tells Of much improvement in the
| conditions in the corn States, generally
| especially with regard to late corn. 1t is
| said for instance, that, I'm Iowa the
| crop is materially improved, and more
! promising than was deemed possible on
August l." Careful statistfcianS now COR
slider il probable that the figures derived
from the Government report of August
10. will be much improved. The corn
| yield is likely to exceed i,4vD,VJDeo) bush
| els and the wheat yield is very certain
10 be more than 7o0,co0.O0o bushels. The
Northwestern railways, 1t is thought.
should have a most prosperous year. in
all probability excelling in their business
that of the year just completed On the
other hand, while the southwestern and
| Central Western lines, like the Atchison,
the Missouri Pacific, and the Union Pa
! cific will lose heavily in their corn ton
mage, IL is believed that their general
business will be very large. and that their
| outlook is far from gloomy. The Atchi-