The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-19
rHE rINANcrAL s1rUArIoN.

entire lack Of public participation in specu-
lation coinoiding with a decided diminution
Of interest in the market on the part OF
habitual apd professional operators. Dur
ing most Of the week the market seemed
pretty nearly in a state Of equilibrium, the
Volume Of Stock Exchange cuisines at times
Icing approximately az small al any that
has been witnessed in the preceding twelve
months. There are. Of course, a certain
class OF spectators who feel that the day
ia wasted with them unless they buy or sell
something during the Stock Exchange ses-
sion, and had 1t not been for the operations
Of these people the stock market last week
would have been practically inanimate'
While every sensible person recognizes that
it Is a hazardous business to draw de-
auctions from such premises az stated, COM
mon sense and experience alike suggest
that dulness after a long decline in values
Ia a much more favorable factor, at any
rate, than dulness after al equally long
advance. The natural though by no
means inevitable inference in the one case
is that pressing liquidation in the market
has been completed, while in the other in
stance the conclusion is just az instructive,
even II it often proves faulty. that the i'm
pulse to buy stocks has ceased. Conserva-
tive observers in the financial district were,
therefore. inclined to view the market last
week more favorably than they did pre-
viously, basing their judgment not only
upon the heavy decline in prices that had
taken place and the length Of time that the
down swing had run-events which in them
selves must have served to heavily eurtail
the volume of outstanding speculative
liabilities but upon the well nigh universal
testimony of the large Wall Street COM
mission houses as to the relatively small
quantity of stocks they were carrying.
The caution and prudence displayed
by these self same commission houses in
their advice to customers this year and
the abundant supplies Of time money with
which many, il not most of them. had forti-
fed themselves are. also elements making
for optimism regarding the general out
look. Pretti strong testimony regard
ing the healthy condition of the market
was the way in which it withstood the
depressing influence Of various develop
ments during the week which were not
a little unwelcome from the point Of view
OF spectators for the rise. A further severe
break occurred in Consolidated Gas stock
and in the debenture bonds Of the Con-
solidated Gas Company. Liquidation in
these securities was in progress through
out the entire week. leading to the sus-
picion that the directors -of the gas COM
pany intended to not only cut the divi-
dends on their c%ompany's stock TO Q per
cent. because of the reduction ordered
in the price of gas by the State authorities,
but that they might ever establish a divi-
dend rate on q still lower level. Last FRI
day quotations OF the Consolidated Gas
Company shares we're not far from ninety
lower than those at which they sold in the
not far distant past, and appreciation OF
what all this means may only be had when
due thought is taken OF the large number
of individual investors pocketbooks that
are affected by the decline in the stock.
So, too, the decisions of the Supreme Court
of the United States in the Paper and To-
bacco trust cases and in final settlement
Of the long litigation between the city OF
Chicago and the Chicago Union Traction
Company were manlfestly Of unsettling
nature. The stand taken by the
in the ca ses first named certainly makes
easier than before all prosecutions
undertaken by the Government under
the Antitrust law. On the face OF things
the decision in the Chicago suits rem
ders invalid many street railway franchises
there, some of them of long standing. The
stock market & estimate Of the harm done
was, at any rate, hat the securities repre-
senting these franchises are worth about
$50 900 900 less than they were before the
pronouncement of the court was made,
1t is commonly said that as the result of
this the estate Of one great millionaire
ately deceased has been cut iu two, and it
ia obvious that financial losses because
OF the matter have been widely distributed
and have been severe. Toward the end
of the week came the publication Of the
annual report Of the Missouri Pacific Rail
way Company, showing that the company
last year did not earn the 5 per cent. divi-
dend paid upon it's stock, and although
this announcement did not exactly take
Wall Street by surprise, inasmuch as the
peculiar adversiti les suffered by the Missouri
Pacihc during the last year had been by
no means u%nconcea led, it yet caused a
yiolen. break in the price Of Missouri Pacific
stock. In spite OF all these Incidents, how
ever, and the general adverse influence
of the agitation against corporations now
in progress at all Legislative centres, the
stock market as a whole was firm. Atten-
ton was attracted by the continual abb
~sorption of Union Pacific stock; and there
were certain stocks, such as Louisville and
Nashville and South bern Railway which
we're notably strong. The liquidation and
short selling in the stocks that have been
named and a few others did not bring about
any general decline in prices, and the
fact gives confederation to the opinion
of those who maintain that the stock mar
ket at present is in a sold out condition.
The general situation at the end OF the
week seemed to be confronted with the
same problems as those which have been
several weeks set before il. A market
securities which ought to advance on
account OF every reason drawn from the
Of business throughout the country,
and because also Of the immense improve
ment in strictly speculative conditions that
has occurred, yet hesitates, although further
in it appears to be stayed. The
o question. which has engaged so much
attention recently, and which ia, Of course,
at all times the greatest question that can
affect the market, developed last week
rather curious phases. Sterling exchange,