The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-04
1TOCK MARKET IS
 VERY SLUGGISH otal Dealings Fall Below the 100000 Shares Mark ONEQUALEO SINCE 1900 undsrtone Is Quite Heavy But the Drift of Prices Is Almless to a
 Degree, Approaching Inertia. Bonds irregular.
UNEQUALED SINCE 1900

NJaw York. August 3.--The stock market settled down Into an almost immovable r,,t today. Stocks of the first class which traversed range of as much as point might be numbered on the fingers Of one hand. Union Pacific was the most proml- nent of these and was forced down at one time 1h, but was not held there. Ine selling was attributed to professional manipulation for effect on the market. The undertone of the general market was In fact heavy, but the drift of prices was quite aimless and sluggish to degree close to inertia The only significance to be derived from the market is' therefore. a negative one, the extreme apathy of the trading representing the profound doubt in which this speculative outlook is shrouded according to all opinions that one can gather in the Wall street district.
 The total dealings fell below the 100000 share mark. It Is necessary to go back to the summer of 1900. just preceding the last presidential election, to find a level of activity as low as that now prevailing. There were several weeks in August and September of that year when the daily average of transactions was less than 100000 shares and on several days during the summer the dealings for full days session fell to below 100000 shares. The low record for that summer was on Au- gust 22, when only s6,254 shares changed hands. The total dealings for the week ending August 24 of that year were only Bo6,00O shares. The principal puzzle in the csf on ode T4fuc the astonishing maintenance of the volume of loans of associated banks, in the face of thorough liquidation to which the stock market has been subjected. The enormous shrinkage in prices of securities has caus- ed an obvious decrease in the basis of credits and the urgent selling of securities to make good this shrinkage in margins or to pay off loans outright has been potent to all observers for month after month in the stock nlrlzet.
 Conjecture loses itself in the attempt to guess what great sinlkhole can have ab- sorbed the tremendous proceeds of all this liquidation with practically no effect on the loan item of the banks nor of the trust companies. The question of possible over extension of credits outside the se- curities market and the necessity for a flu. ture contraction there similar to that which Wall street has been going through engages a great amount of attention. The action or inaetion of today's market re- fleets the disposition of the speculative world to sit down and await further 0e- velopments
 The improvement of cotton over the pre- vlous month, shown by the government re- port agrees closely with expectations and has tendency to weaken the cotton mar ket The strength in wheat was calculated also to have weakening effect on stocks The weekly statistics of railroad traffic made remarkable and favorable show ing, especially in the matter of the gen eral merchandise market The western agricultural population is reported an eager buyer of all kinds of manufactures and the output of mills and factories s said to be so large as to tax the carrying capacity of the railroads, so that a car famine is threatened.
 The bond market was irregular. Total sales par value, s937 O00.
 United States bonds were all uncbano ed on the closing call.