The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-12-20
STOCKS IN A TUMBLE
Declines Range from Two to
Eight Points.
STRENGTH SHOWN AT CLOSE
Position of Vanderbilt Lines and
Presence of Secretary shaw Give
Day-FOreign Holders Not Inclined
TO Let Go of Their Stocks.


part of the stock exchange session to-day
the declining movement in the security
market went on with little less violence
than it did throughout the day yester-
day; and when the selling Of stocks was
most active prices in the market, as
a whole. were lower than they had been
at any time since the elimination of the
rise in values attending the declaration
of the Union Pacific dividends last Au-
gust. There was not the same unrestrain-
ed pressure to sell st. Paul stock to-day,
that was the feature Of the market yes
terday, but the general characteristic Of
the trading was. nevertheless. liquidation
in the high priced and standard railway
shares.
The highest quotations Of the day were
made at the opening of the market. and
these were usually little above yester-
, day afternoons closing figures The
market for a time held the slight gain
thus established, encouragement being
felt over the absence Of any selling by
foreign holders and the general failure
OF yesterdays selling here to induce any
concern among foreign holders Of AnIeri-
can stocks.
Cali Money Advances.
During the first hour of business, in
deed. it seemed doubtful whether TIE de-
cline in the market had not run Its
course. Liquidation started afresh. how
ever. as soon as the opening bid for caH
money was made at the high rate of %
n4r cent. and when bank renewals of call
loans were made at a per cent. as COM
pared with yesterdays rate of Az per
cent. and III per cent Of the day before
This along with the unparalleled scare
itv of time money. destroyed what hopes
were still entertained that further ran
in prices could be aVerted, and, under d
downpour of stocks from speculative
sellers for the fall as well as genuine
holders. prices fell rapidly. Al one uine
such declines We're recorded from yeSter-
DAVIS hnaI figures of "a points in North
ern Pacific rs in Union Pacific, IN
Great Northern preferred. rs in Amalga-
mated Copper. in Delaware and Huc-
son and 6Is in Reading common.
Transactions in St Paul common stock
wore greatly confused owing TO the fact
that The stock sold to-day with the price
of the rights" to subscribe To the new
issue Of common and preferred stock Of
IS the company deducted from its quotation
The highest quotation for these warrants
was 1919. the lowest 321s, and the clos
ing g.
At the lowest price of the day. there
fore. of 147. St. Paul stock, although it
showed a considerable decline from yes
terday, did not evince that hysteria Of
liquidation. among its pOssessOrs which
seemed to prevail yesterday.
In the afternoon the market changed
for the better. the most prominent fac
tor leading to the Improvement in sentt-
ment being. apparently, a fail in rates
for the use OF money. The earliest call
money rates of the day proved TO be the
highest. and from the first price Of funds
thus made the rate gradually declined I'M
til it touched per cent shortly before the
end of business hours.
Vanderbilt Lines Offer Aid.
The gratifying fact became public that
the New York Central and Hudson River
and its allied lines would Immediately an
ticipate the payment of all the bonded
interest of the different companies due on
January /, amounting TO about $4,000. 10
II was realized. too. that the liquidation
in the market that had occurred must
have some effect in contracting the bank
loan account
Optimistic views of the situation were,
however. based more than anything else
upon rumors that the Secretary Of the
Treasury was in town or would shortly
come here for the purpose Of comforting
with bankers regarding the situation, ana
that the visit would lead to further Treas
Ury relief of the money market, this TAX
ing the form, it was believed, of an offer
Of the Treasury Department TO buy an
additional quantity of government 4 per
cent bonds maturing next year. The rally
in the market. although it carried prices
well above their lowest level, was still
such as TO leave closing quotations irTeg-
Ular, with declines pTedominating.
It is obvious that the Treasury relief Of
the money situation granted in the last
fortnight has turned out to be very little
relief. No official statement has been
made as 10 the number of bonds redeemed
by the Secretary under his offer 10 buy
100000 of the 4 per cents of 1907. but it
was said to-day that less than 100000 Of
these bonds had actually been offered to
the Secretary under the terms prescribed
By him-that is to say, at nearly the cur
rent market valuation of the securities.
The Secretary's offer was, as is well
known, limited by his refusal to buy more
than 81 900 COO bonds from any single finan-
cial institution, and the rUmOT to-day was
to the effect that he would remove this re-
strictlon, and, in addition, would increase
the amount Of the government taSings OF
the issue
Not Much Money Released.
According TO the figures Of the daily
condition OF the Treasury, as they have
been published for more than week
past. the amount of money actually dis
bursed by the Treasury since the time
Of the governments recent announce
ment regarding prospective aid TO the
money market has been small. On Mon
day. December 10, when these announce
ments were made the free balance in the
Treasury vault proper was about $50
100000. At the opening Of business this
morning the balance was S,OO0.0 600, so
that the money in circulation in the
country has really been thus far en-
larged in only trifing degree.
The only topics of discussion in the
financial district to-day were the money
situation and the surprising circum-
stances attending the Chicago. MilwaU-
kee and St Paul S1O0.00000O issue. There
was still no official explanation forthcOm-
ing as to reasons for closing the books
OF the company for this stock issue
within forty-eight hours of the time the
issue was decided upon, and the only
suggestion made in Wall street gossip as
accounting for the act was that fear was
entertained that at the approaching ses-
sions of the legislature in several of the
Western States laws might be passed that
would make future increases in railroad
capitalization far more difficult than is
now the case.
The particular reason for the sharp
fall IN Reading common stock to-day
was understood to be doubtful whether
the RaadfDpr dfrac+oTs- Of f+S v,oo+f~,