New-York tribune., 1907-01-17
"Cnlisted.
Closing prices of active bonds dealt in. with
STOCK MARKET OPERATIONS.

The stock market at the opening gave no
promise Of the general weakness which was soon
to develop, initial prices being in many instances
above Tuesdays last figures. The decline start
ed with the Southern Railway issues which
were pressed for sale on the circular of the
president, setting forth the needs OF the system
in the way Of improvements to its physical con-
dition; a communication from which the infer
ence was quickly drawn that the Southern was
to be added to the long list OF railways plan
ming to raise in the near future extensive
amounts of fresh capital. The utterance of
President Finley was promptly seized upon by
the bears as justifying lower prices for the
Southern Railway issues, and they sold those
stocks freely. and with them Erie which Is
under the general control. Both yielded
readily, and with them the entire list declined
such extreme losses occurring points in
Southern Railway preferred in Erie 4 In
Great Northern AZ in Reading 31s in Union
Pacific and So in st. Paul The decline was ac-
companied by the circulation Of many bearish
rumors, among them that Mr.. Morgan was serl-
ously I'll. report which was emphatlcaliv de
MED: that the dividend on Southern Railway
preferred to be reduced, which also was
lauthoritativey denied, although credence was
rather generally given It. because OF the down
ward tendency OF this stock during the last few
weeks; that The Amalgamated Copper Company's
directors would to-day not only not increase the
dividend but would also vote in favor of recon-
mending large addition to the present capt.
talization. for the purpose of taking over GER
tain other important copper properties and that
various roads in addition to the Southern
among them the Erie, were getting ready to
raise additional funds. probably by the issue Of
notes
Favorable developments Of the day were ig-
nored such as the lowering to 81 per cent of
bids for time money for all dates up to six
months and the placing Of some ninety day
money at that figure; the greater ease in call
money, per cent being the highest rate of the
day; the continuance OF the gain of cash by the
banks, increasing the likelihood of a good bank
statement this week. and the expectation in
London that the Bank of England rate will to-
day be lowered to 3 per cent. For, whatever
may be the gains in the resources of the banks
the Wall Street public coming more and
more to believe, and the bears are proclaiming
with vehemence, the railroad demands
tain to be great to absorb these gains
The railroads assuredly do need money and IN
vast quantity, for the business OF the country is
| of such enormous volume as to make 1t abso-
| lutely necessary for them TO enlarge tremen-
dously their facilities If they are not to abandon
the effort to handle the traffic pressed upon
them. There is practically no market for bonds
u
| funds are raising them by the issue OF short
| term notes The report, therefore, that the
| Southern Railway would soon offer for sale from
S15 OOO 600 to S2OO00,000 Of notes was generally
| credited in view of the statements Of President
| Finley as to the condition of the property and
the fact that only $5,OOO.O00 Of the company's
| DEVELOPMENT and general mortgage bonds
| be sold in any one year
/ The market rallied little toward the close on
| short covering but final prices showed several
| net losses for the day. among them 2Ss points
in Southern Railway common and 6K in the pre-
| ferred. points in Erie, 21s in Amalgamated,
| 2A I'm Reading in Great Northern, 1as in
| Atchison IL in Canadian Pacific 3 in Delaware
| & Hudson and 3 In Chicago & Northwestern,
| which has been declining for several days.
1 New York Chicago & ST. Louis second pre-
! ferred, the annual dividend which in
creased / per cent yesterday, lost 5k points
The Hartman railway issues advanced rapidly
in the last hour, and closed only fractionally
lower than on the preceding day. Total sales
were nearly 100000 shares. or more than
| twice as large on Tuesday.