The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-05-17
Losses Of from One to Three
Points Are Quite General.
WAS NO SUPPORTING DEMAND
liquidation Was Not Heavy. but Cen
eral-Coal Strike AttributaI Cause
ofDecne. but Coaiers Suffered
No More Than the Others.
III, Associated rress.I

NEW YORK, May 36.-The conspicuous
feature OF to-day's weak stock nNaif.el
was entire lack OF any supporting oe-
Inand at any stage of the decline. Even
The room shorts. who almost ihNal ia ~
cover short contracts NJ the ehd OF "a uas
OF declining prices, snSwea no ri,et seemed
entirely 10 lack Tesilliency. Inc liquiua-
ZION was not heavy, but II was Sehei : d.
While the decision Oil inc aii en,aS.e ,,,s,
ers for a strike was the ostenslbie cause
of the weak ncSs. the depression was Hot
confined 10 the Coaiers. nor was ~ paI5ie
cularly conspicuous there. heaaihg earl. ai
led the list in point OF acuSltV, out al
lowing FOR its half shares, the sales We're
but little in excess of those Oh onion
Pacific The 3 point decline IN ReauinE
MAS fairly attributable to the fact that it
has been selected as the representative OF
tho central speculation confidence IN the
coal trade outlook The other Coalers
shared about equally with the weakness
Of the general market, which is reported
by quite uniform, losses of from l13 points.
The undertaking assurance that here
would be no strike which has been ex-
pressed through the period since a strike
was threatened by ali representatives OF
the controlling interests In the CoaierS,
leaves no room for doubt that the final
decision to strike was g surprise. Conf
tence in a favorable outcome OF the
struggle to the benefit of the coal OPERA
tors continued to be expressed In Wall
Street. But this could not alter the gen
eral Impression that a prolonged and serI-
9us struggle is in prospect 1t did not
need the formal announcement by l'resl-
dent Mitchell of the purpose of the miners
to make the strike a national mining
strike to awaken anxiety over the pos
sible extension OF the labor trouble by
sympathy into the other fields and es-
pecialIy into the bituninous coal fields.
The collateral effects of such an extern
sion are easy TO understand, but difficult
To estimate The effect upon the iron and
steel industries. already struggling with
Fcarcity Of material of all kinds. would be
most notable The Iron and Steel stocks
shared in the general weakness. Reports
Of an advance of 81 a ton in the price of
Southern iron rather strangely added TO
The depression. as Il rs felt that the main
flamenco of the high level of the consump--
lion is dependent upon The sustained
steadness of the price. Attention was
given also 10 the estimate of the Iron
Age that the producing capacity of pig
iron for the country would be increased
100000 tons this year and 100000 tons by
the end of 1903. The wet weather in the
northwest. retarding the seeding of the
crops may have been a depressing in
Huence although the weakness In the
corn market should have been fair Off
set The market closed inanimate at
about the lowest
Bonds We're dull and irregular. Total
sales. par value. S2Sso.ooo. United States
bonds were all unchanged on the last call.
The total sales Of stocks for the day
were 100000 shares.
MONEY AND ExHcANGB-Money on call