The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-17
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.
MONDAY, March 10.

MONDAY, March 10.
Prices throughout most OF to-days
session Of the Stock Exchange were under
heavy pressure by professional operators
Il must be admitted that the efforts OF these
worthless were fairly successful. for quo
tations were at one time forced 70 level
as low as that reached last Tuesday, which,
II will be remembered. was the lowest
touched by them for twelvemontn.
The fact was naturally declared by the
bearish element to afford corroborative
evidence that the liquidation in the market
was not yet over. The influence OF the
matter would, however, be more profound
II IL were generally felt that to-day's move
ment was In truth a liquidating one, and
did not consist almost wholly OF successive
raids by operators for the fall. Union
Pacific, Consolidated Gas, Canadian Pacific
and New York Central we're the stocks
singled out to bear the brunt OF these
attacks, the first named because OF the
dispute over the Union Pacif1c's manage
ment OF the Southern Pacific Company;
New York Central because Of the fear that
the New York Central and Boston
and Albany railroads may become
involved or have their business seri-
ously hampered by possible strike OF
the employees OF the New York and New
Haven railroad, and Consolidated Gas
because Of the sudden activity Of the city
authorities on the subject OF municipal
ownership OF gas-lighting plants. 1t will
be years before a municipal undertaking
OF this sort can be completed. even as
suming that the project receives the sp-
proval Of the Legislature and Ii further
hr
theless. there is no great desire at this time
on the part Of investors to buy unguaran-
teed stocks yielding only per cent. and
from this feeling Consolidated Gas. along
with many other stocks, suffers. Pro-
fessional operators also believed. appar-
emily, that because Of the recent great
decline in the Dominion Iron and Steel
shares In the Boston and Montreal markets
they could by well-timed assaults, uncover
stop-loss orders In Canadian Pacific. The
campaign against Canadian Pacific was
not. however. very fruitful. In the last
hour a good share Of the losses previously
suffered were regained under the leadership
Of a sharp upward movement In Southern
Pacific. The controversy now waged over
Southern Pacific is peculiar in that, that
both parties to 1t admit and emphasize their
belief in the substantial value Of the prop
erty, and declare that the lawsuits that have
been begun do not impair in the slightest
degree the oompany's earning power.
Both majority and minority interests are
now striving to control as large a number
Of Southern Pacific shares as they can for
voting purposes at the approaching annual
meeting Of the company. Naturally. all
this tends to reduce the floating supply Of
Southern Pacific In the market and makes
short selling Of the stock technically dan
eerous. II Is understood that sales OF the
stock on arbitrage transactions have. In
fact, already ceased. Southern Pacific
thus rallies easily. whenever the market
turns upward. A feature Of the trading
to-day was the strength Of the American
Smelling and Refining issues. The COM
mon shares advanced nearly points when
the general market was weakest and retained
most Of the gain. All the Reading stocks
aso offered pronounced resistance to the
declining tendency OF the market. and
Amalgamated Copper received good sup
port.
Sterling exchange was stronger to-day.
and II IL said that the recent weakness OF
sterling in this market has been due TO
heavy sales of English consos by investors
here who were large subscribers to the
last issue brought out by the British Gov
eminent The strength of sterling may
OF may not indicate that these sales have
ceased and that there has also been a pause
in the negotiations for loans by bankers
on sterling bills. In all the domestic mar
kets. however. exchange has moved heavily
in favor Of New York, in most OF these
,narkets New York exchange now standing
at a premium. The banks have gained a
little over a quarter Of a million dollars
this week in their transactions with the
Sub-Teasury Reflection over Sunday.
however. concerning last Saturdays bank
statement engendered a feeling of disap-
pointment that the large reduction OF
S2s 600 900 in bank loans in the last two
weeks still left the surplus reserve Of the
banks so low. This feeling had sonnet hing
TO do with the market = weakness to-day.