Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-19
WALL STREET
IS ALARMED
FALL IN PRICES CONTINUES;
OUTLOOK DARK
FEW STOCKS RESIST DEPRESSING
TENDENCY
Total Volume of Business Is About
Half of What Might Be Ex-
pected Under Ordinary
Conditions
~ Associated Press.

tsy Associated Press.
NEW YORK. Oct 1s-The fall in prices In
some stocks today equals that in some OF the
panic periods of the past
The market was at times in condition Dor
dering on Generalization Conditions at no
time. however, slipped into actual panic al
though there was ruthless slaughter Oh
values that bore close resemblance thereto.
AT no time, however, was the whole nst eii
braced in the slump. There were poih.s 49, ~
comparative resistance throughout, put tnese
grew less as the day progressed ana the weak
ness spread throughout the market.
Another feature of the market compared with
slumping periods of the past is the compala-
tive volume of trading, dealings for the day
rising but little over million shares COM
pared with 100000 to over 3,OOO,oo0 shares III
similar periods of past markets.. rms Is .iie INC
result of the retirement from Wall street lor
many months past of some of the big semi
professional speculative pungers, whose manip-
ulative tactics made up much OF the to,al
of great days in the past ihc Aho"ieaSs VI
this fact has fostered suspicion that margin
al holdings of stocks had diminished to unim-
portant proportions.
The experience of the past rev Gays goes ~
correct this impression There was brief ex-
nerience Of cheerfuness after the market opened
when prices advanced slightly and hopes were
entertained that the cut in the d1Vldenu on
Amalgamated Copper had been discounted in
the trading yesterday and that the announced
solyency of the Mercantile National phhk
after investigation by clearing house COM
mittee had removed that subject from the
realm of disturbing factors This shortived
CLEAN of sunshine was the last of 1t seen dur
ing the day. :, g.,
Prices rallied feverishly at times In the
pauses in the liquidation but there was no
feeling of confidence at any time that the purg-
ing process yet completed. The weakness
at first was pretty closely confined to the cop
per stocks The condition OF the copper m
dustry was given responsibility for this for
time and continuance of the decline IN tne
price of copper indicated that the point OIL ell
fective demand had not been reached wet.
with the prospect thus afforded of a possible
complete shutdown of production by the
Amalgamated properties. and the reconection
of the successive erductions which occurred
in the dividend on the stock in 1909 the as
position to get out of holdings seemed to be
general 1t was evident that urgent pressure
on the part of the money lenders was iactor
in the crash in American Smelling and the
forced liquidation in the stock was associated
with the cleaning up process going on amongst
the banks. 1t an inklng OF the tact
that the clearing house authorities were dis
cussing the affairs of some other banks tnat
caused the general weakness in stocks. Inc
knowledge OF this fact deprived reassurins
statements on the subject of their erect
The objective point of the efforts OF the
clearing house authorities becoming more de-
fined however, better impression of the
situation gained some foothold. Restricted as
the field of readjustment sought IN ti the
banking situation, however, the fact that the
banking position was under criticism at all
had its usual grave effect on confidence and
was the sufficient explanation of the disquiet
painted in the record Of the days stock mar
ket,
The grain markets also reflected the scaling
down OF candidates employed in speculation
Some influence was attributed to reports that
Yesterdays Hamburg failure was more I'M
portant than was at first supposed, presenting
so close a parallel to the local situation as to
appeal to sentiment
The German bourses were not seriously dis
turbed The strong return of the Imperial
Bank Of Germany regarded with satisfac-
ton.
Call money loaned at the stock exchange as
high as 10 per cent. but this was regarded as
due TO discrimination between borrowers and
collateral rather than to any greater tightness
in the money market.
Estimates of the current movement of money
showed 1t still away from New York on bal
ance but II did not appear than this would
be more than, If so much, as the gain of SS-
100000 by the banks subtreasury operations.
The closing tone was weak and unsettled in
spite of the considerable rally Of the last
hour Bonds were lower, but were not notably
affected by the liquidation of stocks Total
sales, par value, were $2414,o0o. Government
4s declined Y per cent on call.