Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-23
LOCAL FINANCIAL NEWS.

There was not much Of q market at the
meeting today Of the Stock Exchange.
and even such a stock al the common Of
the Warrington Railway and Electric
Company. which has been an active
trader during the past week. seemed to
be without any buyers at all. In fact.
there was very little interest taken sn It,
entirely to the principal dealer In the
security. As there were no buyers. neither
on the other hand were there any sellers.
The lowest figure reached In the sales
when a sale was made at 40x. Some idea
of the course taken In this stock DURING
the past week may DO obtained from the
fact that ON Friday Of last week. the day
before the active trading In 1t began, It
was offered for 30. At the close OF today
the asking price was 40A.
During the week which has elapsed. or
nearly SO. since the upward movement In
the common railway stock began the best
ngnre reached was ~. The explanation
one Of the brokers had an order to buy
about 1900 shares, and he filed that or
der and with II went the market. that 10.
on the higher level that had been reached
There was also lack OF Interest in the
other securities on the list. A somewhat
better figure was paid for Mergenthaler. as
several lots went for 206. while In the case
of the stock Of the Washington Loan and
Trust Company a broker filled an order
for one hundred shares at PIT. and then
the bid advanced a quarter Of q point and
the asking price was 20.
There is still heard complaint about the
difficulty Of getting loans on collateral Sc
bankers that they have no money for such
purposes is accepted as true. still. 1t u
the opinion Of brokers there would be
moro money available for local customers
q curY NAV Inf
New York. where, OF course, higher rates
Of interest are secured. and even II the
latter Is not done. still the loans there are
call loans. while those here are not. which
Is recognized as quite an essential differ
ence in banking.
On the other hand. bankers deny that the
custom Of loaning money in New York Is
allowed to restrict the use Of 1t for local
purposes and that the customers here are
always cared for and only the surplus
funds are used In that way. It Is quite
evident there is a decided difference Of
opinion on this subject.
The recent enormous expansion OF credit
In Wall street IL credited by the Wall
Street Journal in part to the direct call
loans made there by banks and trust COM
panies from out Of town. In the fall Of
1902 1t was estimated that there were over
800 600 900 Of these loans In Wall street.
1t Is believed that the amount outstanding
now Is three or four times this sum.
It Is stated that bankers regard this de-
velopment Of the New York money mar
ket as one that Is most unsatisfactory and
under certain conditions dangerous. When
ever the loans are called the borrowers
must protect themselves by getting some
local institution to take over the loans or
else throw the securities on the market.
1t Is also pointed out that the present
system Of fixing the interest rate for call
loans by competitive bidding on the stock
exchange is neither sensible nor safe. It
results in q condition which at Il oclock
makes the rate 20 per cent and at 3
o'clock on the same day 1t is per cent. It
is suggested that remedy lies in united
action of the stock exchange people and
the banks by which the clearing house
should appoint a committee. that might be
changed every month. to meet every day
and establish an equitable rate of call
money. .+..-