The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-20
BACKSET IN PRICES
REAcTIoNARY FORCES DEvEL.-
 oPED IN THE DAYS MARKET.
London was Seller of Stocks on Large scale-Rejection of Canal Treaty
 Had Its Weight.

NEW YORK, Aug. Io.-The reactionary forces developed in yesterdays late stock mar ket became prepondevant in todays market and caused sharp backset in prices. It was evident that the underlying cause of the re- action was that the rebound had been too fast and had gone too far. So far as could be vanced to account for the decline were tie effect rather than the cause of 1t. The domi- nant influences on prices were in the market Itself Yesterdays heavy profit taking left The concerted selling ali through the list caused the belief that Q large bear party had been organized among the professional traders to contest the advance. In some quarters 1t was suspected that the choice of well recog- nized bear operators to conduct the selling was rise to cover profit taking sales of those long of stocks. as the appearance of bear selling is the most likely to invite sup port of stocks by their market managers The kind of support and protection for prices which have been in evidence since the trend definitely turned upwards was not seen today and the fall in prices was uncontested. The speculative public at large was left to con- lecture whether the powerful capitalists whose leadership they have supposed they were following had sold out their stocks and re- tired from the market, or whether they had become dissatisfied with the rapidity of the advance and the character of their following and had determined to continue a reaction for the purpose of shaking oil weak and upde- sirable following of weak traders. The reac- ton did. in fact uncover large numbers of stop ioss oroers ana wiped out narrow margins of smaller specuiators who have been at- tracted by the rebound. London was a seller Of stocks on large scale. evidently in the nature of profit taking. That there were large additions to the short interest as a consequence of the days selling, is fair conjecture. As for the news developments that were influences an important place must be given to the ques- tion raised whether the rejection of the Panama Canal treaty by the Colombian Senate is to be regarded as final Yesterdays news of the rejection was made much of by the bulls as relieving the exchange market of the need for supplying means for remittance on the canal payments and leaving the Treasury Depart ment free to use measures of relief for the money market. Buyers on this factor were naturally disappointed by today's revived view of the canal treaty outlook. Much attention was devoted to a circumstantial report that the legislative leaders who are looked to to frame financial legislation have been unable to agree and that any currency reform meas ure at the coming extra session or regular session of Congress Is improbable. The selling was much concentrated. a single commission house dsposing of many thousand shares dur ing the day. The personality of the firm and its past employment by one of the great finan- cial groups caused considerable significance sto be attached to this selling. The further duction in prices of Southern pig iron had its greatest effect on Tennessee coal, but the iron and steel stocks all sharted in the days weak ness. The concentrated selling referred to largely converged on Amalgamated Copper and Rock Island was a leader in the reaction. The low temperatures in the corn belt and the necessity of early warm weather to insure the crop from frost were considerably dwelt upon and there was a considerable covering move ment at the beginning of the last hour, but the bears made a fresh onslaught and forced weak closing at the lowest of the day. De clines in the active list ran from l to points.
 Some early strength in the bond market gave way to heaviness in sympathy weth stocks. Total sales (par valuel. Sl,s52.ooo. United States bonds were unchanged.