The Washington herald., 1907-08-04
OIL FINE DISCUSSED
Traders Indifferent Regard
ing Outcome of the Case.
NO EFFECT ON WALL STREET
stock Not Listed and Penalty Long
Ag1 DiscOunted-Case VIII Go TO
Supreme Court-Anti-railrOad Pol
icies I'm the south of Greater In
terest-States VIII BE the Losers.

New York, Aug. 3.-At the opening to-
day the market was quiet. and its char
acter hardly changed during the session.
II there was any feature to the trading
il was its extreme dullness for while
prices sagged. this tendency was more
the result Of neglect than Of any special
pressure. It would be almost impossible
to pick out a single stock that showed the
effect Of any influence not common TO the
whole list. and al the end fractional
decline was almost general, the only is
sues which showed a loss Of more than
a point or a gain on the day belonging TO
the inactive class, with the single excep-
ton Of American Smelling and Refining.
which, although weak at times, closed at
an advance due to the covering Of traders
shorts
The attendance on the floor of the
stock exchange was very small. and NEST
Of the traders being away, the profess
sional operations were largely reduced,
and the business Of the entire session was
smaller than that OF any other Saturday
this year. with org one exception.
London Market Closed.
The London market being closed there
was practically no business for foreign
account, a fact which helped TO keep the
trading down 10 a small total The ex-
IRENE narrOwneSs Of the market was one
Of its chief features, and It Is rarely in
recent years that such small number of
stocks We're represented in single days
trading even on a Saturday in mldsum-
mer. Not more than One-thiTd of a hun
dred usually active issues were mentioned
in the trading. and of those which con
tributed something 10 the total of 75000
shares that changed hands. a number
were dealt in to the extent Of only one
OF two transactions.
About the only subject discussed on
the floor was the probability that Judge
Lands would impose the greatest fine
authorized by law upon the Standard oil
Company. and although the actual news
Of the judges decision was not received
until after the close. the predictions re-
gardng il were 50 entirely correct that
had il come during the hours Of business
it could not have caused any great sur
prise. The oil company viii. of course.
appeal. and the probability is that the
case viii ultimately find its way up to
the Supreme Getrt Of the United States.
stock Not Listed.
During the week the expectation of just
such fine as Judge Lands has imposed
was regarded by the professional traders
as a reason for selling the market. but it
hardly seems logical that the size Of a
fine imposed upon a company whose
stock is not listed on the exchange. and
Is but little dealt In on the curb. should
yield any great influence of this kind
The only market significance of the
case came when the jury found the COM
pany guilty, for Wall street does not con-
done corporate wrong-doing. and while it
believes In the certainty rather than the
severity of punishment, there was little
reason why it should concern itself great
ly about the size of q fine, from which
the company has the right Of appeal The
fact that so much was made Of this mat
ter and 50 little OF the substantial fac
tors like the Steel statement. the decline
in exchange. and the increase in the
Southern Pacific dividend only served 10
show the entire absence of healthy pub
lie sentiment on the market.
The view taken Of the anti-railrOad
policies pursued in the South is that they
viii work great injury to the business
interests of the States responsible for
them, for It would be difficult under the
sort of conditions that have begun TO
show themselves in North Carolina and
Alabama to enlist capital for any kind of
enterprise there.
The end Of the week shows no improve
ment in the position Of the associated
banks, the bank statement showing a re-
duction Of Sl,7S5, 40 in the item of surplus
reserve, although probably the only real
change Of consequence is the correction
Of the faults Of the average system used
L., Of Na