The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-08
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.
TUESDAY, Feb.

TUESDAY. Feb. 7.
There was small trace in the stock mar
ket to-day Of tho irTegularity and to some
extent henvlneas that prevailed yesterday,
and the numerous class Of speculative
traders who mako business of following
the market from day to day, trying merely
In their operations to keep track OF the
tendency OF the moment, and who yester-
day were inclined to sell stocks simply
because the upward movement showed a
disposition 20 pause. were to-day regrettin &
that they had not awaited more substantial
grounds for action. Tho course OF the
market yesterday was. In fact. directly
contrary TO the tenor Of the days news.
All Trustworthy advices from Washington
were that there was absolutely no chance
Of any legislation on the railway freight
rate question at this session Of Congress
weakening tendency was visible in the
foreign exchange market and prospects
for gold exports essened. There was
recurrence OF peace news regarding the
Russo-Japanese contest. Reports OF rail-
road earnings as they came TO hand gen.
orally showed increases, while extremely
gratifying statements were authoritatively
made as to the profits Of very many OF the
industrial trades To-day all these indica-
tons were confirmed and emphasized. 1t
must be now clear to every ono that II for
no other reason than those Of mere space
and time no bill regarding the railway
freight rate matter can get through the
United States Senate before the end OF the
current session OF Congress with 30 much
Of the time Of the Senate arbitrarily taken
up as II is with tho Swayne impeachment
case and other matters having prior claims
upon the consideration Of the upper house.
Quite aside from this it Is preposterous to
suppose that the members OF the Senate
will be willing TO rush hastily through.
after the manner 30 unfortunately adopted
In the House OF Representatives Of late.
measure as important and complicated as
any bill dealing Complementary with the
railroad freight subject must necessarily
be- From oil over the country and from
voices which should command the most at
tention are arising the gravest protests.
not simply against the proposed grant Of
power to the Interstate Commerce Com
mission to establish railway freight rates,
but against the scanty consideration which
the House OF Representatives has seen fit
10 give TO the subject. That as the 7ohot
OF it all the only possible steps taken will
be the appointment Of a committee OF the
United States Senate, or perhaps of joint
Congress committee. 70 investigate the
matter and report its conclusion at the next
Congress must now be apparent TO every
one. So. too. to-day there was moro peace
talk than ever in financial circles abroad
bonds in the foreign markets were higher
Sterling In Paris rose, while here 1t fell
between 4 and !. OF a cent These events
in the foreign exchange market naturally
worked against gold exports from this side.
and while our Government, in order to save
drafts upon our supply of gold coin, has pro-
vided large additional quantity Of gold
bars In case they are needed for shipment,
tho impression was to-day among foreign
exchange houses that metal remittances
during the week would not be nearly as
large as IL was thought last week they
would be. Other developments during the
day were all favorable to values The few
OF railroad earnings that were re-
ceived made an excellent showing, and the
OF the production OF anthracite
Last month Of 4, 4o8, 52s tons against 4.i34, 245
tons in January last year. afforded convinc-
ing testimony Of the prosperity OF the hard
coal trade. The Census Bureaus report,
issued to-day. stating the quantity Of cotton
ginned up TO Jan 10 as l2,el2 1882 running
bales, indicated oonoiusively that the sea
sons crop will be considerably In excess Of
10, 900. 900 bales.
1t may be that speculative sentiment
paid very little attention to these matters
to-day, but was more impressed blythe fact,
which was made very evident yesterday.
that when prices began to fall of NJ liquidat-
Ing mo vement worth speaking of WIS started
and that the supply of stocks in the market
Immediately contracted For whatever
reason, the market was governed to-day
by broad and general buying movement.
In the local transportation shares which
were yesterday notably strong there was
much profit taking. but throughout the
rest OF the list there were general advances.
The favorites rather seemed to be the
shares OF the industrial properties. and
occurred In the common and pre-
ferred stocks of many of these companies.
varying from to 3h points But the
railroad stocks were by no means neglected.
On much larger transactions in the issue
than have been seen for d long time Atchi-
son common stock rose nearly 2 points.
Great strength was manifested In Norfolk
and Western and the entire group OF Penn
sylvania stocks, while Union Pacific also
rose decidedly Developments tomorrow
at the directors meeting OF the Atchison
company will doubtless explain
{ he movement in the Atchison and the
Union Pacific shares to-day; while 1t is
now practically admitted that advances
in the dividend rates upon Chesapeake
and Ohio stock and the common stocks of
the Norfolk and Western and Baltimore
and Ohio railroad companies are impend-
ing The chief gamer by these enlarged
as we'll as by the rise in the
value OF the equities concerned, will be, OF
course. the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany.
Eorl. : opk