The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-08-08
WALL STREET IN THE DUMPS

New York. Aug. 5-The hour for clos
inc of today's stock market was halle
with relief by the highly strung member:
of the exchange. The day was one of ex
element and alarm and the fading away
CT the prices. of securities was so rapn
and comprehensive as to arouse grave
fears of the consequences. The announce.
ments of two failures were the only two
distressing DEVELOPMENTS and neither OF
them was surprise. Some of the day
liquidation is supposed to be of collateral
! on the loans of the failed firms al
| though it was officially announced in one
case that the creditors had decided 10
| withhold the collateral from the market
in Its present condition. 1t was very EVIL
/ dent that a very general closing ont OF
| collateral in loans was in progress and
mulch of 1t was allowed to go for what it
! would bring. As the demand for stocks
Is stu exceedingly light, the natural re-
| suit was a demora lizatiOn of the market
and the pressure grew more acute by the
! reactionarv effect of the selling in fore
ing shrinkage of the collateral in other
| loans.
Saved by the Banks.
So far as the news of the day was con-
cerned there was verv slender basis for
the sacrifice OF securities beyond the un-
easv sense that collateral could not BE-
readily realized on and the consequent
desire to convert it into ready money
This is the essence of decentralization in
today. Expectation was at the high pitch
at the opening and decentralization was
prevented only by the most vigorous and
determined support on the part of BANK
ing interests and market managers for
various prominent stocks. The support
was especially notable in the United
States Steel stocks and succeeded in rails
ing the price of common a point and the
preferred ia over last nights level The
sGDport of these stocks was helped BY
the fact that some of the DEVELOPMENTS
which were feared from yesterdays meet
ing of directors did not occur As-the
weakness of these stocks was a patent
factor in the weakness of Yesterdays
market the strong support accorded them
had soothing effect on sentiment The
result was a pretty general recovery from
the opening declines.
First Failure Announced.
Then came the announcement of the
first failure. that of an important house
with commitments in variety of stocks.
From that time until the close the iqui-
dation was internationally pursued with
occasional rallies on short covering. There
was an eager rush to cover among the
there were renewed breaks at other
points. and the closing was extremely
nervous and excited, with very irregular
fluctuations. The United States Steel
stocks suffered comparatively small
losses. but both the common and the
preferred and the sinking fund 5 per cent
bonds touched low record prices during
the dav. Liquidation in Missouri Pacific
was verv latent. and it suffered an ex-
treme loss of 65s Much of the liquida-
ton IN this was attributed to the account
of one of the suspended firms. 1t carried
down Wabash preferred points with it,
Erie was also very heavily sold as the
dav progressed. The Pacifics and grang-
ers were under steady pressure during |
most of the day. The violent declines in
the Colorado e. Southern stocks, the |
Southern Railway stocks and Virginia. |
Carolina Chemical were associated with |
the failures Some of the high-priced |
inactive stocks were severe |
sufferers. American Snuff breaking Is |
and New York Air Brake, Pullman, Com |
Gas, General Electric and Chi |
cago & Eastern Illinois certificates from
to 10 points.
Cau loans were slightly firmer, but
here was nothing in the time money
market to explain the pressure to retire
cans further sharp break in sterling
Exchange caused an approach in the rate
-oward the gold import point. Profit
aklng in the grain markets was a salts
actorv DEVELOPMENT which was offset
however. by the continued speculative |
manipulation in cotton. A cut In price of |
team coal by the Reading and talk of |
Rock Island strike. which was denied.
we're made something of by the bears |
satisfactory reports of railroad earnings.
is per cent increase on gross |
arnngs for July over last wear Inv fhc
New York Central. were without anv in
luence unon sentiment,
Bonds we1e weak I'M sympathy with
LOCKS Total less bar value. 81 640 090 |
United States bonds were all unchanged
N last call