Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-05
LOCAL FINANCIAL NEWS.

The attendance of the public was the
| Only thing that redeemed the session to-
day Of the stock exchange from taking its
place among the embarrassing meetings
| that sometimes happen in the experience of
that organization. The temperature of the
room was not such as to make 1t specially
desirable as place of recreation. and
therefore it Is presumed that the unusually
large representation of the public was due
to some other cause
The fact that the departments of the gov
eminent were closed for the day was sug-
gested as a possible explanation of this
display of interest In the proceedings of the
exchange on the part of those who are not
members. 1t Is presumed that the oppor-
tunities afforded by the securities listed on
the exchange. both for investment and for
speculation, are of such a character as not
10 escape the attention of those employed
In the public service. and therefore they
form considerable percentage Of the in
vestors in local securities.
The chance to see how the quota tons
which are read each day by those interest
ed are made. does not occur very frequent
~, for those whose days are occupied as
cioseiy as Is the case with those IN the gov
eriIinent service and they turned out
today in considerable numbers to watch
the movements OF the local bulls and bears.
The session did not prove to be productive
or much that was of interest. The mem
bers were well represented, but there SEEM
ed to be few orders and in consequence
there was not much trading.
Owing to the investigation in progress at
the government printing office. Mergen-
thaler and Lanston are objects of atten-
ton at the daily meetings. as they are to
some extent looked upon as sort of
barometer, indicating the kind of weather
that may be expected
From this point of view the transac tions
today apparently did not have much sig
niticance. Lanston sold on the same level
as it did at the last meeting of the ex-
change. which was on Monday. Only two
1O0-share lots We're traded in. and 16A was
paid for both. One of these was bought
by the seller of an option. who got 1875
for it.
The dealing In Mergenthaler was confined
to the sale of four shares at 1861. The
stock was to be had at 1864 and 1854 was
bid. On Monday the bid was 1851 and
1862 was asked
The common stock of the Washington
Railway and Electric Company was offered
for sale today at 31B. There was no anX-
iety exhibited to get it al that figure. and
the bid did not rise above 1868. One Or two
fractional lots were disposed of at BIZ. The
stock was to be had eighth less than 1t
was offered on Monday. but no one had
enough curiosity, or perhaps the more cor
rect expression is orders. to find out how
much could be bought at that price.
The preferred stock on the call was pass
ed with perfunctory bid of 80 and an
offering of 81. After the call, however, the
stock was sold to the extent of two hun
dred shares in twenty-five share lots at 901s
and also a ne-hundred-share lot. Then
two OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES lots were taken at
!DA and couple of five hundred share lots
figured in the trading at 81 and 911s.
The upward progress of this stock toward
the higher level reached couple of mont tbs
ago is not very rapid. but that may be said
at this time of the year of the movement
in most any security on the list.
There was no trading in the bond list. and
the changes made in the figures were ap-
parently for the purpose of giving Secretary
Hume something to do while he was act
ing in the absence of the board boy
A bid of ia was made for 5000 or any
part of the bonds of the Norfolk ard
Washington Steamboat Company. an ad-
vance of one and half points over the
bid of Monday. There were no bonds Of
fered at less than 116. AS the broker MAX
ing the bid has not been identified with
this security. his action created some at
tention.
Fifty shares of Firemens insurance
Company stock were offered for sale at %
A bid of % was made for twenty-five
shares, which was taken. The rest oe the
lot was offered at the same price but the
best bid was "a
Ten shares of Potomac Fire Insurance
Company stock sold for 20A
The best that was done in the way of a
bid for Greene Copper was 30. although on
Monday 23h was bid and 235s was asked.
Today the stock offered at 223s, but
nothing was done.
Ten shares of Gas stock sold for CO. and
the stock was still to be had at that figure,
but the best bid was 5934