The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-17
TIE FINANCIAL SITUATION.

HL NANHNNiHL OH - ASN'
The average price Of securities has
once moro returned nearly TO tho high
point that II touched six weeks ago, and the
fact indicates that tho residence OF the
market has broken through oil the efforts
made to restrain It, that the main tendency
Of tho market Is still powerfully upward
and that probably new high records VIII
be attained on the present movement
Last week certainly witnessed genuine
and general revival Of speculative en-
thusasm, and II must be admitted that
good grounds for this feeling existed. II
would be hard TO find a time In the history
Of the past when everything seemed to
be 10 working for our country's financial
and business wen-5eing as at present
To begin with, we are entering the season
with a prospect for a production OF our
leading cereals this year that has never
been equalled. True, We are only at the
beginning Of the crop year, and 1t is reason
able to expect that before the end Of the
season the.altogether brilliant outlook that
now stands will be somewhat impaired
And yet the fact remains that 49,
900 900 hushel winter wheat crop IL loom
ing up and that the spring wheat seed
ing has been two-thirlls completed az
an earlier date and under more favorable
circumstances than has ever been told OF
before in the traditions Of the grain trade
OF course, there Is general realization now
Of the changed position in which the agr-
cultural business IN our country stands
as compared with that OF former years.
Great as our wheat crop possibly may be
this year. we shall export comparatively
little OF IT, We have passed from the class
Of nations which are mere producers and
shippers OF foodstufs and raw material,
into the higher rank Of a commercial, manu-
featuring and trading country whose great
and busy population consumes practically
all the food II produces. We are where
England was eighty or ninety years ago.
at the threshold Of her wonderful career
In the modern business world. Our eI-
ports from now on may be less In bulk,
but they will be greater In value than they
used 70 be. The foodstufs and other
coarse and raw products Of the earth
will be transferred by our industrial genius
into articles Of more elevated grade OF
wealth and in the exports Of these articles
we shall find larger profit than We did In
sending abroad our wheat and com In the
lead at times 70 such speculative move
ments in the price Of raw materials as has
recently been seen here, particularly in the
current attempt 10 cornell the May wheat
option in Chicago. But such purely gam
bling operations cannot check our pros
perty and nature usually sees 10 II that
these deals" bring about their own cure
and punishment Wall Street was inclined
at one time last week to consider the Chi
caEo wheat corner or rather the threatened
collapse Of il as something Of danger
cloud in the general financial situation,
and it seems probable that those who were
conducting this operation did find II adj
visable to sell a good many securities that
they we're carrying for the rise with the idea
Of reinforcing their bank account In case
this was called upon 70 Withstand drain.
But this selling proved 10 be the last and
final test Of the stability Of the security
market itself. Accompanied as II was
by the announcement that +. H. Hartman
had been dropped from the directorate
Of the Northern Securities Company-an
event which under ordinary circumstances
would have caused a 8 or point break
in Union Pacific stock and have dealt the
whole market a heavy blow-it yet only
served to disturb prices in the most trivial
way. The one thing that became most In
evidence when the market began 10 decline
was the eagemess Of people-whether pools.
banking interests or large professional
operators-to buy stocks. In other words
when the market was most weak it showed
the greatest strength. A formidable buy
ing movement Immediately started, and
there are no signs yet that this movement
is over.
Another great general reason for the
advance in values is, Of cour'e, the pros
perity OF the iron and steel trade. This
is a hackneyed subject, but, hackneyed
or not, il is none the less topic Of mar
vel IL is all very well 10 say that the
iron business ia good and so forth. but
how many people actually appreciate what
Is going on In this re,pecti Just now
almost every blast furnace In the United
States Is under full operation. Only here
and there in a scattered instance is there
an iron company having a stack idle. The
official figures Of the production Of iron in
March made public last week. showed
an output Of pig iron accompanied by such
a decrease OF reserve stores Of the COM
modify as to prove a current con ,umption
q, 900, 900 tons a year. Such a va-t use in
our country Of the great product whose
consumption lies at the base OF most Of our
manufacturing business has hitherto been
unheard Of The ore producers and ore
carrying railroads have, il il said, made
arrangement, to ship from the mining
regions this year from 81 900 900 TO 81 900 900
tons Of the orr, as compared with 10000 900
tons in 1902, the year in which the largest
shipment, were previously mado, The
best thing about all this, moreover, is that
il is not coincident with runaway market
in iron and steel prices, as has been the
ca before at such periods Of activity in
the trade Here il where the great in
fuence Of the United States Steel Corpora
ton has successfully exerted itself namely,
10 20 restrain the upward tendency Of iron
and steel prices that consumption would
not he checked and that imports on
any important scale Of iron and steel
from Great Britain and other countries
would not be made. We must not wonder
in view Of these facts that the shares Of all
our industrial companies are very strong