The sun., 1906-02-04
eosSyp or WALL STREET.

as,,,n,e ~. in Yesterdays market, although IN
~ quarters view was TAKEN Oh 'he s"o"-
son. @ rhlcb made It look By no means nope
tpH In these circles 1t was argued that as
,;re was inopportnne FOR striRe the
,a,s !ne ~ the union might have suflcient
,ses,s.isht to avoid struggle which II en-
io'eeI1, IN n,us, eventually end In their defeat,
gsseo gssrn,,rneut ~ when applied to the anthracite
lhie any.arad stronger than when
u'h, IN hear upon conditions In the bltumi-
pio' .,o,ch Of tho industry. The main
nou' connection with the question In the
'L,,c,te rrld is that under the present
sD'h's sDa,, tba men are bound to remain at
,t until April BY that time the demand
.nhord coal " III have fallen on very materially
'o' - ,,ch so that for years past the coal COM
,.,ss have granted discount of 80 cents
,on on supplies ordered at that time OF the
For many months mined coal has
ye. stored in quantity. the stock piles Of
oven 2" .se ,arse companies being probably larger
III W" W., ,ban ever before. These conditions.
os.,,,oly In favor of the operr- RS, may yet
~ ~ ,hs opinion Of many In Wall street. prove
III nia,isntlv influential factor to restrain the
...I.n from rsking contest which might
,nnOivs un cur,ailment Of the very favorable
..,r,. under which the men have worked
for the last three years
.rbourh the reasons for disregs riding the
,,reats OF a strike of bituminous miners did
.o, attract a. much attention as those re-
,.,t,o 10 anthracite, they were still sufr-
s,.n,jv strong to find acceptance In not a
,.v nlaces They concerned the fact that
ha unon by no means controls the miners
.nsased in soft coal mining. Some districts
40 veil organized, others have no organiza-
, ,lon whatever while in great many mines
N. working forces are made up of union and
.nn.rnion miners in varying proportions.
.,d the latter could not Of course be counted
unon TO strike for principles which they have
heretofore refused to accept. In west VIZ
,nia the organization Is especially weak, ana
many operators in that State would be glad
10 see the union proclaim strike. as IL would
rive them an opportunity to extend the
market for their product. II cannot be
,,d that prosperity has 81 Nne upon the
unanimous industry, which has only just
berln TO recover from A condition border
hs on utter demoraliaation due to over
nroduction and the extension of operations
into new fields As a striky& could not be
more than partial ii Is questioned whether
me effect would be otherwise than benef-
oIsl influence on the trade as whole, through
the closing Of some OF the least profitable
working. and the survival Of the fittest.
Scattered selling of United States Steel
resulted from the fears Of coal strike. as 1t
vas argyed that this company might suffer
more from such a contingency than any other
which could be named. This argument,
Of course, was founded on the fact that
complete tieup of the btumnous coal mines
would leave the company without coke for
lis furnaces, but among we'll informed people.
the danger of such condition was regarded
Is very remote. United States Steel now
draw. good deal OF coke from the Pocahon-
tss field, where the loyalty Of the miners
can be confidently counted upon. while
strikes elsewhere could not wholly cut on
supplies from markets sufficiently accessible
10 be avai,ed Of
The sharp break in Reading was accepted
n most quarters as q strong indication Of
the probability of a strike in the anthracite
region Based on this apparent indication.
there was considerable selling Of the general
Us. by traders and spectators. but the strong
support which Reading received after the
trst hour of trading contained n suggestion
thst the situation was not 80 acute as had
been supposed. few argued that the
Early break was not so much the result Of
really disturbing situation with regard to
the labor matter as of manipulation designed
10 exert an unfavorable influence on ;ne
Int generally. Assuming the correctness
. Il this theory. there is little doubt that IL
vas highly successful. and in connection
With anticipations of bad bank statement
WhMthe effect of forcing decline az the end
9th. Arst hour to level which for practi-
esily al active stocks was the lowest OF the
day.
Expectation OF gold exports In the coming
week ranked next to fears OF coal strike as
IN uniayoreble market factor. and in come
circles the belief was expressed that tho e1-
ports would in the next month reach large
proportions The approval by the Chamber
oiDeputies Of the measure to permit the Rank
ciFrance to raise the limit Of its note circula-
ton from 5.oOO, ONO. 900 to 5, 500. .0oO0Oo francs
was step toward the removal Of the prn-
cipal obstacle which has stood in the way
o!heayy purchases of gold by Paris for some
time past Should this obstacle be removed
In the near future. many brokers would eH-
peet to see a heavy movement Of gold toward
the French metropolis.
twas runored that some Western interests
had been warned by bankers that aggressive
bullishness would not be tolerated and that
unless this notification was needed there
might be calling Of loans at rather awkward
times
bad bank statement had been gene rally
expected. SO that when it came it was found
: That il had been fully discounted by the
' early decline Its appearance WAS made
The OCCASION for considerable short covering.
d The report that at their meeting this week
Union Pacific directors would settle the
dividend question by the declaration OF n
tper cent seu.annual distribution was more
generally accepted than on previous occasions
IN which il had been heard. and as many
sRculators had clung to expectation Of
sonethng better than this the stock was
aeavv all day on liquidation of speculative
holdings
Northwest dropped on points on two
transactions Of 100 shares each. The stock
aao been advanced earlier in the week by
He Western contingent.
Oood support was met with on the decline
10 Amalgamated Copper. and the traders
we're undecided as to whether accumulation
" distribution was under way. If anything
,ne weight of opinion leaned toward the
la''er conclusion, although reports Of a great
conolnaor of copper mining and smelling
concerns found sufficient acceptance to
furnish tar argument in favor Of tho other
~ on Tie preceding day. transactions we're
w an ehnrm"us scale. Anaconda showed
.lau'eY greater strength and decidedly
less activity.
!he decline IN Colorado Fuel was re aarded
uo'e IN The llght OF a shakeout of sofne West
.,u spFula'"rS han Of abandonment OF the
p's"s which Uer" responsible for the heavy