The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-26
TIE FINANCIAL SITUATION.

3, The most important development IN the
stock market last week, and one that augurs
more favorably than anything else could
regarding it's future was the cessation Of
that coarse and bungling manipulation
which has put the market In such bad light
during the last fortnight This manipu.
lation has not wholly stopped nor will II
ever be absent from a market 80 broad as
the present one; but the tactics have been
abandoned Of doing" an enormous number
OF shares Of stock in one issue In one day
and In another the next, while the price oil
other securities was left, perhaps, to fall
All things taken into consideration, 1t now
hardly looks as II Wall Street would have to
reckon with any high money rates this fall
that Is II the bank loan account can be kept
within bounds. But 1t would seem to
require only moderate amount Of finan-
cial Judgment to convince any one that
this happy result cannot be attained II a
certain sort Of half mad spectators
are to be allowed to dip at their pleas
ure into Wall Streets supply Of ready
cash. The marked weakness in sterling
exchange in the last days Of the week and
the exceedingly strong position OF the
Bank Of England, as disclosed in the Bank 8
weekly return, attest that We can get gold
from England this fall II we need it, That
IL to cay q sustained call money rate In
the New York market Of from to S
per cent. would probably bring gold here
in abundance. And yet there is no depart
ment Of finance in which prophecy is so hope
less or indications so delusive as the foreign
exchange market. Events there are de-
termined, often, by circumstances which
are known to but few people, and by chang
ing conditions about which no one, even
those possessing the best sources OF infor-
nation, can be sure. 1t is obvious that
England will not want to give US any
gold unless it is really necessary for her
to do so, for the war between Russia and
Japan is lasting much longer than was
thought likely, is using up vast sums OF
money daily, carries ever present posi-
bilities Of political and financial complica-
lions affecting other countries and must
result when peace is declared in some huge
national borrowings to repair losses. On
the other hand, the amount OF idle money
that il heaping up in London is very large,
and there is no reason why It should not be
prohtably employed on this side Of the
Atlantic II occasion arises In the course OF
exchange operations which are in fact
wholly incident to the time OF the year.
This year the English and Continental
cotton manufacturers are buying our
cotton more freely than they did last-in-
deed, it Is we'll known that, scared by last
years experience. they invested early in
the year in cotton options whose maturity
they will be compelled to provide for. but
which they will, OF course, provide for most
willingly. There 10 also good reason for
believing that foreign purchases Of our
securities have been in the last eight months
what can really be called heavy, and that
our credit balance on this account on Euro
pean bank ledgers is considerable. 1t should
be said in this relation too. that according
to all Trustworthy advices a better feeling
regarding our securities now exists, not
only in London and Berlin, but in Paris.
than has been the case for a long time.
Partisan Spectators who have never before
dealt in American stocks and bonds are
now trading In them quite extensively.
their operations, OF course,
chiefly in the London market.
Looking over the business world, present
and future, as far as can be seen with reason
able oazeiulness. It must be said that mat
tors are in very satisfactory shape and that
1t looks as il they would be better before
they would be worse, always providing
that the stock market will not overdo its
OF the event so as to bring
about setback. Everybody now under
stands that the business depression that
has existed In the last two years has
been confined, to degree that few people
at the outset OF 1t thought possible, to the
Eastern part OF the country and that the
South and West were never 80 prosperous
as they are now. True, the great problem
must be solved OF accommodating the
people OF the country as Q whole. and par
ticularly those engaged in manufacturing
enterprises. to the high cost Of foodst,Iffs
and OF many raw materials, from whose
sale the peopleof the agricultural and plant
ing sections are now deriving such wealth
But large problems like this take long time
In the working out and care should be taken
In deducting their exact bearing on acute and
immediate propositions in the stock mar
ket There are two compensations which
manifeetly mitigate to no little extent what
ever adverse inf uence this state Of affairs
now exerts or will exert for some time to
como upon business and finance. One Of
them Is the fact that anything that takes
money from bank Golfers and distributes it
among the agricultural population Of the
country Is not bad per &c, since while 1t
takes money from the East for the benefit
Of the West, it takes 1t In large measure
from surplus and unemployed bank funds,
and 30 puts In circulation money that was
before kept in hoard. Again. high prices
for commodities always reduce the con-
sumption of these commodities and by
the use OF substitutes and other devices
enforce a lessened demand for the
articles themselves. This will surely be
the case this year with OUR wheat II
the Chicago spectators, or even the
Western farmers, attempt to practise ex-
tortion. Throughout the country bank
clearings are larger and collections are bet
ter than they we're q year ago. Railroad
earnings, which seemed to reach their
nadir in July, are picking up. Near
~ all the August railway weekly earn
ines statements show increases, and
while on many roads operating expenses
still loom up large. on others, and upon
the greater and older systems as rule,
they are beginning to be cut down. while
gross earnings in nearly all instances are
beginning to swell. More attention is paid,
-..,,~.l % tho raporka 80 10 D>an