The Washington herald., 1907-05-13

way earnings, mostly covering the month
Of March, that were then reported.
The particular heaviness Of certain
stocks, such as the Delaware and Hud-
son and New York Central shares, was
attributable In part to these official adj
missions Of reduced revenues, and In part.
but not altogether. they helped to re-
strain trading, and to a more or less ex-
tent to depress prices.
There were strong indications after the
Union Pacific stock had touched q price
Of $50, as a result Of thinly disguised
manipulative efforts. that announcements
Of interest concerning the affairs Of the
company were impending. and. made wise
by recent experience. people in the finan-
cial district were generally anxious 10
know just what these announcements
were before further extending their mar
l<et commitments
Finally there was no let-up. or none to
speak Of. in the substantially verified
stories Of damage to the crops over the
entire Western and Southern part Of the
country by the prevailing unreasonable
weather conditions, and IL was admitted
that the government crop report 70 be
published on May 10 compiled from OBJ
seryati0ns taken at the first Of the month,
would make a poor showing as compared
with that of the month preceding.
Crop Report Is Gloomy.
The report. when it appeared. put the
statistical condition Of the winter wheat
at SO per cent. as against S9.9 per cent
on April and 81 per cent on May /. 1906,
and these figures indicated, in connection
with a reduction in the area planted TO
the crop Of 3.532.009 acres since the be-
ginning OF the season, a total yield OF
but 405.G000e0 bushels as compared with
an actual harvest last year Of 1890 ,000
bushels II IS estimated. in other words.
that decline Of about Is per cent is
likely in this years winter wheat yield.
which is. it Is needless 10 say. a large
falling of. Prospects for the years cot
ton crop too, have become impaired.
The Union Pacifc-SoutheTn Pacific
financial arrangements. when they were
finally announced. were not at all well re-
ceived in the financial district. partly be
cause speculative hopes Of valuable rights
accruing from the formation of holding
com; ;anies and the like were dispelled, but
chiefly because popular condemnation is
justly strong Of the Hartman policy OF
turning railroad companies into banking
and speculative organizations 1t is ar
gued in the case of Union Pacific that its
new convertible bonds at their issue
price Of 80 yield about 4So per cent tC
maturity. and that as they are ISSUED
below par they are convertible into the
10 per cent dividend paying Union Pacific
common stock at a price Of about l57l2
or not such very great way above the
present price level of the stock. II seem
ed. however. at the close Of the week Z
matter Of very great doubt II the UnioT
Pacisc would get its money from it!
stockholders on this basis, and that th'
great majority Of the new bonds would
have 10 be taken by an underwriting
syndicate. and this raises a very peril
nent question as TO the price at which
such an underwriting syndicate will b
allowed to secure the bonds
Labor Troubles Spreading.
A great deal Of pleasure was felt il
business circles a few days ago that th'
1st of May was passing without an,
outbreak Of labor troubles such as hav
not been infrequently incident to the tim
OF the year. but JOY of this sort has beer
short lived. grsat struggle has arisei
H. San Francisco between the labor unioni
ana the street railway interests there
and the government Of affairs Of tn
whole city. il seems. has been PRACTICAL.
surrendered TO the labor agitators.
1t is a very hard thing to say. but il 4
nevertheless a Just conclusion that at tn
present time investment in any San Fran
cisco enterprise has become unsafe. &C
cording to the conservative standard il
such matters commonly accepted in IN
East: and should there not be an abate
ment in the situation in San FTancisc
withdrawal Of Eastern capital len, il
the city is practically bound TO come /
Is not at all improbable that the Uniol
Iron Works. the great shlpbuildIni
plant in San Francisco. will be abandone,
by its owners to those vino viii take
and agree TO liquidate the mortgage in
debtedness upon it; and similar state o
hopelessness concerning matters there &
felt by all people having property right
at stake.
In New York the longshoremen's strik
has not up to the present time fig
ured in any way as a stock market il
fluence, although If it continues it canno
help doing so, since the railways canno
long keep up delivering goods at IN
steamship docks that cannot be unlOaded
and the steamships cannot long kee
coming into port with cargoes that cannO
be taken from them.
There Is a current influence upon tn
financial and business situation in thi
country to which altogether insufficien
attention has been paid in printed dis
cussion of the subject. and that is tn
effect. upon business of the unQuestione
reduction that has taken place in ou
land during the last two or three year
In the standard of a days work.
TOO Much Luxury.
1t seems to be the old story over agai
that where wealth accumulates men de
cay. For a few years. after the distres
and penury Of the years from 1882 TO lSs
the iaboring men of the country were will
ing to work gladly when they could &c
work: and when later their wages wer
increased as the enlarging prosperit
of the country began to make itself fel
they did not at all abate their cheerful
ness nor was the efficiency Of their wor
diminished. But as all this prosperit
| became more pronounced, as men at wor
in every department of great industr
began 10 taste the pleasures of large
ray and lower hours OF labor and bega
to realize that all over the country ther
were practically two jobs offering 70
every man that could be found to fl
them, their discomfort with their lot az
| peared TO be heightened instead of be
| ing allayed. and they began to wori
when they did work In more lazy an
| less eff1cacious manner.
/ For all this it must be admitted there
only one true remedy, and It is because {
a clear even If unwilling recognition ths
such state of affairs has come to pas
| that the heads of more than one gres
business establishment in our land hay
been looking for several months back at
prospect of some relaxation in bushes
/ -