Evening star., 1906-02-12

\
ket on account Of the anniversary of the
firth OF Ldncuan ala not rsHch - far 80 the
st0cks exchanges In this CITY. and no the
session was held today AZ usuaI-- There
was pretty goed attendauca.. and to al
appearances there was not going to be.
murh busines1 done. for witfie the brokers
were avidAntly In. good humor and there
was q tendency to b. frolfcsome, 80 to
speak. IN making bfds ~ the securities
were called st9H the main idea was not
last sight Of.
Perhaps the most surprising Development:
OF the day. At least from one point Of view,
was the apparent abundance OF Capital
Traction stock that was for sale. and at,
prices somewhat less than those prevailing
for some time past. The figure that has
been pretty stifny maintained has been lat.
but today the stock was offered down. and
one broker capped the climax by offering
100 share lots at 1851. and when there
Was no response to that he offered a SIM
iiar lot for an eighth of a point less.
At the close the stock was to<be had at
point less than was the case on Saturday,
While the bid showed a corresponding re-
auction When the preferred stock OF the
washington Railway and Electric was up.
lower figures were recorded in that case.
although not to the same extent as was.
done In Capital Traction stock.
Ihere seemed to be no explanation of
these changes. and when the common stock
was reached the quotations were, on the
contrary, somewhat higher than those last
recorded. During, the trading something was
said about the scaling down In the figures
which had taken place in the tko first mem
toned stocks and one of the brokers made.
some reference to legislation which SEEM
ed to be offered as an explana ton of the.
railing away in values.
So far known nothing had been done
at Congress thus far this session other
tnan TO get the bills for the required rail-
road legislation before the two houses.
What Is wanted mainly is the authority to
bring the tracks up to the union station
and also cross-town line is asked for by
the Capital Traction Company and some
additional privileges in the eastern section
of the city by the Washington Railway
Company
If a snag has been struck already in the
proceedings such fact is not generally
known, but even IL that was the case 1t
does not seem likely to be of sufficient con-
sequence to effect the market value of the
securities.
The liveliest trading of the day was in
gas stock, for when that stock was called
one of the brokers who Is usually buyer,
not particularly of that stock, but of others
that he may be interested in as distin-
guished from seller. began to hand out
the stock with great liberality at GIN. He
found pretty good buying and quite gen.
eral in character and for time 1t ap-
peared that the, supply on hand was suf1i-
cient to meet all demands, but after a good
deal Of stock had changed hands, the
broker seemed to have reached the bot
tom Of the pile and stopped offering at
that figure and advanced an eight of a
point.
The trading then came to an end, as the
eighth of point appeared to take the edge
off the appetite that was developed for this
stock. 1t would have been interesting to
see how much was behind that final Of
fering of the one-eighth. stock. but no at
tempt was made to do so until after the call.
At close bid was made for Loco shares
of stock at 61ts. but 1t was. not pressed,
and SO another important fact was left
undiscfosed. namely, whether there was
such block for sale.
After call there was still more trading in
gas stock and the volume of the sales
the case during the call. Altogether. some
thousand shares represent the aggregate
Of the trading of the day, and that Is
good days business in that stock.
It will be said now. no doubt that a GER
tain large holder is realizing on his hold
ings as was suggested the last time a con-
siderable block came on the market. At
any rate, in spite of the large aggregate or
the dealing the prices did not go down, but
were stronger after call than was the case
in the earlier portion of the day.
There was some trading In Lanstou at To-
which is a better record than has been
maintained by that stock for some weeks
past.
The announcement of the practical close
of the negotiations by which Mr.. w. b.
Hibbs has purchased the Barton Hotel
property, on 18th street south of H street,
created a good deal of interest among as
sociates, for ore reason. that when he gets
up the building which he proposes to erect
on that site and locates his office there he
will be on the advanced picket line In the.
movement OF the brokerage business IN
that direction.
Today's Government Receipts.