The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-29
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.

~ WnACu CNeN IolA Oh mug. ., wAACu "oAO
then the lowest Of the year. To-day prices
fell very considerably below those Of Sat-
urday. and the market presented tho same
| spectacle Of heavy selling for both accounts
which has been witnessed 70 often recently.
To-dsy's market, indeed. was but . repeti-
! ton of the markets OF last week. There were
; the same mystery ~ TO the cause Of the sell
! ing, the same fear OH The part OF speculat ors
tina, some bad piece Of news was about
to he announced, the same circulation
OF hackneyed rumors to account for the
liquidation in this stock or that, the same
utter failure OF any Of these rlmors to
prove true and the same vigorous assertion
by the most powerful and sagXcious finsn-
cial interests in the city-and. for that mat
Ter, in the entire country-that there was
nothing Of evil nature impending At many
times in the past. il IL true, such assevera-
tions as these on the part OF banking in
terests have been regarded As merely dip
lomatic. This, il may be most stoutly
affirmed, is not the case on the present
occasion There are bankers and capitalists
in Wall Street who have An established
reputation throughout the country for a
conservatism that presses to the verge
Of actual timidity Among these men are
those who have been very outspcken in
their hostility TO the reckless speculation
which eliminated in the present liquidation,
and there is no reason why they should
as to the state Of affairs at the present
jllncture They state unanimously ~ their
unhesitating judgment. after tho most care
full efforts to discover II there il any weak
spot" in the present situation. in the sense,
that is, in which Wall Street fears. that no
such weakness exists. or course, = stock
market that has declined so steadily ~
has he present one brings financial harass-
ments to many people, and. especially in
view Of the large party Of -bear' specu-
lators that exists, adverse rumors AZ to
the credit Or sovency Of this or that firm
or individual are to he expected. Those
who have taken the trouble 10 investigate
these rumors recently ind that in almost
every instance the stories are totally I'M
founded The testimony OF the heads OF
banks and trust companies, Al well a. that
OF other large money lenders, Ia that COM
mission houses in Wall Street, large and
small are protecting their loans with most
ample margins. in almost all cases volun-
tarilv. Indeed, for almost eight months
back. the intense desire on The part OF all
these houses has been 10 make themselves
financially strong. aud it ID undoubtedly
fact that these firms are to-day, as q whole.
possessed of cash resources three or four
times greater than IL usually the case
Decentralization OF the details OF to-day's
rkaf hA vis nd anHl loss
American stocks In London were slightly
lower al the close Of the market there.
English consols were down ~ their record
low figure for many years hack, and weak
aud unsettled tone was reported in the
London Stock Exchange. Prices opened
here below Saturdays closing. rallied and
then fell and rallied again alternately
throughout the day, closing in most in
stances nearly at the lowest. All the
Steel stocks made new low records Anal
ganatsd Copper fell SO points. Sugar
~, Brooklyn Rapid Transit 21a, st. Paul
~. Consolidated Gas ?. General Electric .,
Elevated ~, Missouri Pacific ~, Reading
~. Denver and Rio Grands preferred 5k,
Rock Island preferred ~, Union Pacific
common ~ and Wabash preferred 2. Ex-
trene declines in the inactive railroad
and industrial stocks were $ points In
Chicago and Northwestern preferred. "
points in Long Island. in Pacific Coast.
o., in ST. Louis and San Francisco GER
tlficates and II in Westinghouse Manu-
featuring. The salss in the group last
named were. as usual. made upon a very
small volume OF transactions. The very
heavy selling OF the Pennsylvania shares
In the last half hour OF tho market attracted
great attention and was generally ascribed
10 liquidation for the account OF people in
Philadelphia who had been hurt by the
recent crash in the industrial stocks In
that market. The explanation Is title,
but may, perhaps, suffice Another feature
OF the trading which, WAS Of mere ayorable
character WAS decline Of only 4 in the
Erie common shares, although transactions
in the stock were large. The Erie'S earning
statement for August, published in Wall
Street this afternoon. showed an increase
in gross OF $7S4, 1856. Of which 3224 $40 was
retained In net.
Despite the extreme depre sSion Of the
market to-day, 1t must here he recorded
6s b IdCl tNdI luNest Lucut DuyluR LII IL was
on larger scale than has at any time pre-
viously been witnessed. There is, Of
course. not the slightest doubt that there
are ut least dozen stocks actively dealt
in in the security market which are unuues-
tionably and by any standard Of estina-
ton that may be set up perfectly sure to
pay their dividends for an indefinite time
to come and are now selling away below
their value These stocks have been bought
throughout the summer for investment
by people who had cash funds at their
command, and they will continue to be
bought in this way and OH larger scale AZ
the market declines. There seems to be
little confusion in the minds Of BUYERS OF
this char acter as to the exact facts OF mat
tsrs at pre- sent in Wall Street They under
.. stand that huge speculation for the rise OF
stocks having reached its zenith year ago
is now approaching its nadir They know
that the prices at which the stocks In
question are now selling represent simply
the nece ssities Of the sellers and are by no
means a critical test Of merit. They are
! buying not for speculation, but for DELHI
! crate purposes of inves st nent and on such
| u scale that If by any chance stocks OF he
! high grade they desire are offered TO them
! at lower prices still they will be in posi-
! ion to take advaNA age of larger and hap
! pier opportunity than hat which Offers
! now. No one can. of course, attsnpt to
J set nlptes and bounds 10 he movements In