The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-04-30
COLLAPSE CAUGHT
POOLS UNAWARE
Speculative Plungcrs Have Bad.
Spell During Slump Caused ~
BY Disaster. @5
BEARS NOW " HAVE AVE: INNING 4 NC
Money Situation Potent Factor III
Controlling Movement Of
Stocks.
BEARS NOW HAVE INNING

Especial To Tho Times Dispatch.)
g NEW YORK, April "a flood OF IL
quIdation broke loose In the stock mar
ket the past week. such as has not been
seen In Wall Street for many months.
In the course OF which sharp declines
throughout the entire list were recorded,
particularly IN the gilt-edged Issues or
dinarily classcd on rich mems invest
n1ents. on transactions Of over 1.700.VU
shares such recessions as Is points IN
Great Northern, 10 IL points In North
ern Pacific and 10 points In Anaconda
occurred. prices melting away steadily,
but with comparatively little support IN
evidence.
To the careful observer 1t was plain
that the pools and big speculative puny-
ers who have been operating to unduly
y Initiate market values the past two years.
regardless OF all the dictates Of con-
servatisn1, were al last paying the PEN
atty fos their rashness What the abnor.
4 NAL spring money atrnsency was unable
to accomplish. since, undaunted, they
continued to foster an April boom. the
unexpected In the shape OF the San
Francisco calamity, with its 500, 01,000
property loss has brought about. 1t may
4 not be generally realized that since the
& first OF the year the process OF readjust-
ment has caused such declines In the
higher grade stocks as 81 points In the
Great Northern, 81 points in Northern
Pacific, "a points for New York Central;
34s points for Northwest, 81 points for
Consolidated Gas. and 81 points for st.
Paul In other words, issues which have
been selling on a 8 tn per cent. basis
are being brought more nearly to the
current money quotations.
Bear Party in Again.
After months OF compare tive lack Of
success, the bear party, ably of1lcered, is
at last having It's inning. To all super
ficIal observers It has long been evident
that there would be n reocc,lrrence OF
what happened In 1903, when sellers for
the fall We're able to cffectually squeeze
out the water from issues inflated undor
the rampant speculative craze fostered
by the Gates following. The San Fran
cisco calamity, OF course. preclpitated
the collapse, which otherwise might
have been postponed until the fall.
Much was made OF runors hat,various
intomn companies were y trouble,
though Fortunately these proved sts be
4 eya ggerated. A grain oftscomfortpc can be
found FRI the fact that commission houses
are not extended the public having bean
long a stranger to Wall Street.
If Unquestionahy tho money situation was
the main influence In forcing the throw
Ing over of big speculative accounts
Call money. It lis trne averaged only
per cent? but time loans, the best
criterion, have been very firm. ranging
around 6 per cent, with little prospect
OF any mnterial reduction. The ease OF
call money can be attributed to Inc ac-
cumuation OF funds against require
ments from San Francisco, these funds
being constantly swollen by gold Imports.
sI1 10000 being engaged the past week.
The halvIng OF the Consolidated Gas
Enthusiastically warranted ty the earn
ings-proved Of little assistance to the
bears, being evidently discounted In adj
vance. a
on the other hand the prospects for
continuance OF the deadlock In the an
thracite region is hardly bull card
4 Tho stock market Saturday was a fit
ting close to week OF heavy liquidh-
ton, over 100000 shares being traded
in, new low records resulting throughout
the list Further throwing over OF specu-
lativc accounts took place, though no
1lnfavorable news developed except the
stand taken by the anthracite operators.
Further transfer through tho sub-trea-
sury to San, Francisco OF sl,700, 600 took
place, this being offsett by 100000 gold
secured In Paris. The hank statement.
though better than expected, failed to
stimulate covering. and the market closed
only fractionally above the lowest,
Bank Statement.
The bank statement showed a decrease
in reserve Of s5.099.345. This was due to
heavy increase In loans Of s2l.2lS,C0O,
rejecting syndicate borrowing and the
shifting OF loans by Interior institutions.
Estimates Of the loss In cash were all
astray, the actual reduction being $780,
600 as compared with an indicated de-
crease OF s6650.oco This was doubtless
attributed to the deposits OF funds by the
sub-treasury against gold imports. The
surplus is now slo.sH,4o0, comparing with
jl6GG5, $50 for the similar week Of 1905.