The Washington herald., 1906-12-08

Its great underlying strength and /
residence by checking a. severe break |
in market valuation. and in rallying /
briskly when the pressure of the /
money stringency was in a moderate /
way relieved.
Bank renewals on stock exchange !
call loans were made to-day at 80 per |
cent. as against yesterdays rate of % 4
per cent and a rate the day before Of /
IS per cent. and there was virtual /
disappearance Of time money from the /
market, these funds being held at so 4
high a figure as to result in a cessa-
tion of transactions IN this branch of 1
the money market
The term of call loans made to-day 1
lasts. of course, until the first day of /
next week, and borrowers apparently 4
supplied themselves with morning /
hours Of business, forcing the call rate, [
however, as high as &c per cent in SO
doing. After these necessities were /
met, a fall of rates was followed /
successfully by further rise and an
other fall, money representing Un-
used brokers' balances was, in fact,
offered at purely nominal figures in the
late afternoon.
The stock market that had been
heavy in the earlier part Of the day
recovered brtslSIy- as soon as the money
rate began to display easier tend
ency. so that prices of the active stocks
in nearly all instances made, finally,
good net gains For two or three days
past the market has been declining,
and retirement of speculative contracts
for the fail, no doubt played a con-
siderable part in to-day's advance.
Sterling Exchange Falls.
Another influence helping to bring
about a more cheerful feeling was a
notable fail during the day in sterling
exchange, which declined at one time
over half a cent in the pound and
brought sterling to a point at which
under normal circumstances, gold i'm
ports might be considered near at
hand But among the larger bankers
the advance invariably given was that
there should be no illusions on the
subject Of prospective gold engage
ments for our account in London at
this time.
1t was said that it was knot impos-
sible that agents of financial interests
might secure gold in the London
market for export to this country. if
they wished to do so, but that these
I
power really existed, at their peril,
since the operations would inevitably
result either in a further advance in
the Bank OF England's discount rate
or in materially allowing any more
kindly determinations that in recent /
years might come about in London
banking houses as regarded renewal |
Of American loans maturing in Lon
don on January 1.
4 market factor az soma fr7porraroo in [
the early trading to-day was the news
that the Interstate Commerce Commission
had finally decided 10 begin an invesuga-
ton Of the INTERPRETATION OF the Union Pa /
cifc and Southern Pacific Railway sys-
TENS with the idea OF discovering wheth-
er these were such as 10 justify a legal ac- h
tion against the companies in restraint of
trade II was that not only the joint rela-
tions of the Union Pacific and Southern
Pacific companies We're to be looked into,
but the general conduct of both organiza-
tiOns, particularly as regards the supposed
wrongful occupancy Of government coal
lands and other properties.
VIII Attack Hartman Lines.
As Investigations of this kind by the IN
terstate Commerce Commission have al
most invariably. in the past. resulted in a
formal government prosecution, it was
Union Pacifc-Southern Pacific combina-
tion would at nc very distant date be the
subject of Federal attack: and while no
great selling Of Hartman stocks occurred
they were yet the weakest features of the
market. These stocks rallied. however. as
quickly as did any others in the recover
ing in the general market in the after
noon Tie strongest stock of the day was
Canadian Pacific, which advanced upon
rumors of a further distribution OF inter
est to stockholders, and talk of discoveries
of mineral deposits in the lands owned by
the Canadian Pacific Company.
There appears, too, as there has for
several days past, rather especial buying
Of Steel common shares, and a story was
current in speculative circles that al
though an advance Of a full 1 per cent
might not be made early next year in the
semi-annual dividend Uoon the stock, an
advance of y per cent might be ordered;
thus 3 per cent would be made.
The indications for to-morrows bank
statement were admittedly discouraging
as the estimates were that the banks had
lost in cash between SSOCOO00 and So
eO0,00o. The presumption is that the bank
loans have not increased during the week l,
and may have decreased; but the sus-
picion was justified by the losses in cash
LnaJ are known 20 have occurred that a
deficit might be exhibited tomorrow in
the bank surplus reserve.
The chief stimulus testhe market to-day
was as II was yesterday. the belief that
before long the Secretary Of the Treas
ury would act favOrably to dissipate the J
money stringency. one rUmOr having il
that the members of the Cabinet at :
Washington were to-day considering a !
plan Of redemption within a short time ,
OF the $10,0000o0 per cent bonds due on ]
July I next Some plan of this sort ]
might, Of course, be arranged before the
bonds mature. and, as there are many
holders Of the securities who viii not be ,
willing TO take low inteTest-bearing bonds
in their place and win demand a cash
payment, provision must be made for ]
paying of a considerable portion of the
per cent issue.
II should be remembered on the other
hand, that such a scheme as this will re- I
quire the use by the government Of a }
large part OF the cash balance in the I
Treasury. and If IL Is TO be carried out !
the government viii neither before that
time nor for a longer period thereafter
have any cash to spare to deposit with
the national banks for the purposes Of
money market relief :