The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-30
TIE WEEK IN STOCKS
MARKET CAME PRACTICALLY
 TO A sTANDSTILL.
It Has, However, Come to a Point of Stable Equilibrium-Bank State ment Not Up to Ex-
 pectations.

NEW YORK. Aug 2s.-No significance can
 De attached to today's small dedalings in
 stocks by handful of professional room trad
 CTS. very few prominent stocks covered
 extreme range of as much as a point and the
 market huctuated uncertainty in the interval.
 Inere were few advances at the opening,
 Wnicn may have been due to the contradiction
 or the first reports that the United States
 vice-Consul at Beirut had been murdered.
 NO outside response came to this movement
 ana the traders. sold the market of on an
 early depression that the bank statement would
 not be as good the forecasts indicated. As
 a consequence the poor bank statement was
 Followed by hardening in the market due to
 covering by early short sellers and the market
 closed firm but practically lifeless and at a
 level slightly higher than last night. The
 banks snow an increase in cash of only SI.-
 POS 100. where a gain of upwards of S2 ooo,-
 900 was expected and the loan account was
 again expanded to the extent of upwards of
 S5.oooo0O. This loan increase is in reality
 measure of the inactivity of the money mar
 ket as 1t Is supposed to be due to putting out
 at remunerative call loan rates by the banks
 of funds deposited by the trust companies to
 take advantage of the rate paid by the banks
 on deposits. Besides this sentiment on the
 money market outlook has taken on a tone of
 assurance since the announcement of the Sec
 feary or the Treasury's plan to increase Gov
 ernment deposits with the banks to the extent
 Of $40. o.ooo. 900 if necessary. This plan comes
 in Tor good deal of discussion in Wall Street
 oy reason of the new contention involved that
 internal revenue receipts if distinguished in
 the bookkeeping, may be transferred to the
 banks even though they have been received by
 the treasury. Hitherto internal revenue re-
 ceipts have been considered available for de-
 posits in the banks only as the payments were
 made. But the knowledge of resources in re-
 serve for the money market overrides other The stock market has come practically to a standstiil this week and towards the latter part of the week the daily aggregate dealings nave falien to lower figure than any full days trading since the Summer of 1900 This IS in some part due to the interest among members of the exchange being diverted to the yacht races and to the large number of belated vacations among the members. The usual Summer outings have been prevented hitherto by the troubled state of the stock market and more than once there has been a nasty recall to the street to face a crisis With the completion of the long process of liquidation and the closing up of the result ing speculative accounts the short side, the l market has come to state of stable equili- bIium and is left to the devices of a set of small traders the floor. Daily fluctuations which reach as much a point in only few stocks reflect the effort of this element to prove prices and the profit they reap the losses they suffer are at each others expense. The offerings down of prices fails to induce any | fresh liquidation and meeting sufficient sup | porting orders to arrest the decline and in- | timidate the bears Buying of few lots of
 stocks resulted in the rise of prices, but there | Is no outside demand to take them off the hands of the spectators and. prices slip back l when they attempt to realize profits. The news | of the market consists of gossip and surmise as to what large capitalists doing in- tend to do in the market and the small amount of traders dependent on their agility to operating at the expense of their fellow play CTS. The small volume of business warrants the assumption that the important banking | and financial interests are doing nothing in | the market. Pending the outcome of the fall demads upon the money market a quiet cendi- tion of the stock market is satisfactory to the | financial and business world in general. In
 the last week of August last year. the drain | upon New York bank reserves had al eady set I in and by the middle of September they had | fallen to below the level requirement so that | the banks had to report deficit of upwards of | a million dollars in spite of sudden and
 drastic loan contraction The precedent of l last years severe experience has been con- | stantly in mind this year and has been the | motive for a cautious and conservative force | which Is beginning to form the basis for hope l fulness that the coming demand will ee com | fortably met. The usual talk is heard in some
 quarters that the Western banking institu- | tions are so well fortified that the needs for | currency to move the crops may be met out of l their own desires without calling upon Eastern
 banks. It is pointed out that some Western | banks, even in the heart of the wheat belt, | are now lending money at this centre and are | freer buyers of mercantile paper here than the | New York banks themselves. But experience | shows that whether resources of Western banks loaned here directly or by local | banks which have them deposit, the result
 of the Fall demand for cash is the same. | When loans here by Western banks are re- called conditional demapds for credits are thrown upon the local banks and the net re- | suits are the same as if the Western banks | were to withdraw their deposits from New York. The lateness of the corn and cotton | crops expected to cause possible delay | in the interior demand, but its proportions are | generally expected to equal those of former years In other respects conditions ma | terially altered from those of last year. Then | credits were inflated to sustain prices of se- | curities at an unstable height.
 | During the past week exchange bills have made their appearance in the market in an-
 tcipation for the coming supply from the movement and foreign banking houses have also been lenders of money on time to an inn portant extent in this market. The firm tone | of the time money market and the high rates | paid on prime mercantile paper are sufficient 1 evidence that money is not in abundant sup ply and that care and conservatism is exer- cised in lending 1t. But confidence Is expressed l among bankers that legitimate requirements for trade and commerce may be met without | trouble. Meanwhile capital holds aloof of con- mitments to fixed form as indicated by the | failure of the bond subscription plan of the l Consolidated Lake Superior Company. Reports are numerous Of efforts by various industrial | corporations to obtain temporary loans. There | is residue of apprehension lest pinch in | the money market should uncover weak spots | due to over-extension in the country at large. l This feeling prompts the halt in the stock market pending the outcome of the Fall money l requirements The market has ignored other Idevelopments of whatever character. ble | railroad earnings, including Fries strong an- | nual report, large current railroad traffic. a | decidedly more cheerful tone in the iron and | steel trade, favorable crop news, rise in sli- | yer and copper and some foreign demand for l stocks on the one hand and the threatened em- | broilment over the supposed murder of United States Vice-Consul in Turkey, on the other l hand have been equally without effect.
 | Bonds have shared in the dullness and slug gishness of the stock market United states | old As advanced k and the As registered | declined h per cent. as compared with the
 closing call of last week.