The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-13
STOCK MARKET
UNRESP0NSIVE
News Cuts Little Figure With
the Spectators.
OUTSIDERS REMAIN OUTSIDE
GLOOMY PROSPECTS FOR THE
BROKERS.

New York, March I2.-The stock mar
ket developed some activity today and
a rather positive tone Of weakness.
The weakness was largely sympathet-
ie with the pressure upon individual
stocks. especially Metropolitan Street
Railway and Metropolitan Securities.
The liquidation in these two stocks
gave signs of urgency and cost the
former AS points and the latter
Oints. The selling was unexplained
by any news regarding the property
and was thought likely to be due to
settlement of one or two large estates
largely interested in the property.
Pennsylvania was also freely pressed
for sale and broke through the sup
port which has been il evidence above
IL The price touched 111iz, which is
only Il above the low point since the
last stock issue started its long de-
cline. The market hardened on short
covering and the closing was firm.
United states Steel was conspicuous
in the recovery. The decrease in loans
shown by the bank statement was con-
trary to expectations. The bank state
mcnt was of little influence. however,
as the present condition of the money
market gives little occasion for solicit
tude. The steadiness of Northern Sc
curities on the curb had a dissuasive
influence on traders who sold stocks
yesterday to discount a possible deei-
sion in the supreme court on Mon
day. Total sales Of bonds, par value,
S945.OO0.
Review of the Market.
It is a far cry from the S.2O2. 100
oh s,Fr -
stock exchange on April 80, 1901 to
the 1880 shares sold on Thursday OF
last week. 1t is a striking showing
of the vicissitudes in the world of
speculation. and might serve by the
rule Of three to measure the cOndi-
tlons in stock exchange circles then
and now. The market is absolutely un-
responsive TO news developments.
whether favorable or unfavorable. and
lies inert. to the despair of all who look
business in stocks and bonds for their
profits. At the full commission of q
of l per cent on orders, allowed by the
rules of the stock exchange, Thurs
days sales of $4,000 shares would yield
about $1.S25, allowing the commission
both TO the buyer and the seller.
The membership of the exchange
numbers LOO. But the meagre deal
iDgs are largely made up of dealings
among members themselves or of or
derS. given by one member 70 another.
on which the commission is less, rang
ing down to 81 on 100 shares of stock.
The gloom which pervades the circles
in whose hands lie the conduct of the
machinery of the market is thus ap-
preciable. Three years go a suggaes-
ton Of the possibility OF the purchase
of a railroad system by another was
sufficient to throw the market into a
frenzy. At the period when the Bur-
lington purchase was working out. a
mere surmise that the Union Pacific
was to be included in the community
of interest induced transactions in
$3.50 shares Of Union Pacific in one
day, April, "a, 1901. Even as late az
April 10. 1902, the rumor that Louis
Vile. & Nashville was passing to the
control of the Southern Railway caused
transactions of SCI 500 shares in South
ern Railway alone on that date
Demand Was Enormous.
There was scarcely a railroad stock
on the list but what was regarded as
available for absorption by one of the
great systems and no estimate OF the
price to be paid was regarded as too
extravagant- The fact that the pay
ment was to be made in new securi-
ties detraeted not at all from the i'm
portance attached TO the transaction,
as the Unsuitable demand for securities
in the market could be relied upon to
! convert them into cash. The United
! States Steel corporation was confident
] " regarded as an assurance of the
/ future stability il that trade in regu-
lating the production and guarding
against the violent fluctuations in
! prices which had formerly destroyed
| the industry al periodical intervals.
/ The ordinary operator in Wall street
| looked forward TO the early assimi-
! lation of all the, great railroad sys-
! TENS OF the country in one "eommun-
! ity of interest which would do away
would destructive competition. while
the various industries were 70 be con-
/ solidated under centralized control
| which would insure their stability and
! attack the confident investment of the
savings of all grades of. employees for
the peace Of the sharing in the profits
of enterprise. From the present stand
/ point Of cool reflection and experience
the excessive speculative exaltation of
I that time seems a. sufficient warning
in itself of the violent revulsion which
| was TO follow. in accordance with the
/ history Of al similar movements The
! reVulsion of sentiment on the part of
the outside world had been accentu-
I dltu by luE IeNeldllOuS OF the IN
scrupulous methods employed in the
| formation of some of the corpora tions
| whose shares were offered to the pub
lie and the fragrant manipulation by
which the hOtation was furthered.
The Brake Applied.
The assumption that the legal obsta-
cles opposed to the process of COM
| bination We're the direct causes of the
breaking up of the carnivay of specula-
ton sharpens the influence attributed
to the Northern Securities decision
which is awaited with feverish anx-
iety from week 10 week and almost
from day to day. The supposition that
the stock market will promptly find its
bearings when that decision becomes
known, however. takes small account OF
the plentiful signs OF Industrial and
commercial reaction in all quarters. The
declining tendency of railroad earnings
and traffic and-of bank .clearings, the
accumulation of idle reserves in bank
ing centers. the obscure ,outcone of the
coming years crops. the doubt over the
supply of cotton TO be finally disclosed
by the present years crop, the sharp
drop in the value OF the cOuntrys ex-
ports as a consequence of the specula-
| tive level at which prices of cotton and
commodities generally are held. the
problem of the earnings to be achieved
on the heavy expenditures now making
by the railroads. the uncertainties sur