The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-05-23
STOCK MARKET IRREGULAR
AND MOVEMENTS UNCERTAIN,
SPECTATORS NERVOUS AND
IN MUCH DOUBT.
Strike in Coal Region Has Larger
Effect on Wall Street
Money Is Easy.

New York. May 22.-To-day's stock mar
ket was extremely irregular throughout
and closed with that tendency rather en-
phasiZcd. The same stocks changed their
course in some cases and the prevailing
disposition Of the speculation was hard to
distinguish, and was. In fact. much con-
fused and mixed. The anxiety over the coal
strike was rather deeper. on account of the
implied threat Of the engineers. firemen and
pump runners in the anthracite mines 10
come out unless an eight-hour day is
granted them This would bring the strug-
gle to an acute stage. as the safety of the
mines is dependent on this work being done.
Some of the steel stocks were heavy in
tone as a result of the effect OF the coal
strike. which Is beginning to be felt in
that industry. This did not prevent a jump
OF ~ points In Lackawanna and a late
squirt In Delaware and Hudson.
Reaction Has Sympathetic Enect.
me culminat ton of the recent extended
rise in Canadian Pacific and its sharp re-
action naturally had some sympathetic ef-
Iect In influencing the rest of the market.
Ihere was no news to account for the set
back any more than there has been to ac-
count for the rise and the movement
seemed to be due purely to speculative
profit taking. The late break In the stock
to below 1873 helped TO unsettle the close.
A break OF six points In Ann Arbor pfd.
was probably. the result of settlement of
control Of that property. The United
StdteS EuDDeT STOCKS suffered from the poor
financial showing of the company for the
past year. st. Paul offered a strong leader
ship for the grain carriers. but It was not
followed with avidity. and Union Pacific
was rather persistently heavy .ofrsetting tho
effect of st. Paul's advance of 2 SIS. The
news from the crop region was considered
encouraging. Another center of strength
was Amalsamated Copper. The gains in
the American Smelling stocks and in Ma
tional Lead were allied to this. all being
the outgrowth Of the advancing tendency
of raw COpDRr The maeting nj S,Ipflprf
for Silver IS a benefit to the smelling
stocks.
Live Interest in Small Railroad.
The speculative interest in small rail-
roads Keeps alive and was fostered to-day
by the rumors of the acquisition of the
Columbus. & Hooking. in the in
terest of the Wabash. authoritatively de-
MED, and of a new combination of Har-
riman railroads. including a number of
smaller properties. for which no official
sanction could be obtained. The money
market continued quite easy, with call loans
ruling at 4 per cent or lower and with the
sterling exchange market showing no dis
position to advance again. The Bank Of
plethoric condition of capital at that great
money center. which Is now the most i'm
portant source of supply both for London
and New York. New York exchange at
Chicago showed a further reaction to-day
and the movement of currency from that
point to New York is believed to be about
ended. TIL market closed active and ex-
tremely irregular.
Bonds were in fair demand and firm
ed States bonds were unchanged on the
last call