The Washington herald., 1907-09-11
WALL STREET NOTES
Bids for New York City
Bonds Affect the Market,
SURPRISE At LOW FIGURES
Cereal Crop Estimate
Disregnrded by the Spectators.
Street Takes Notice OF Reduction
in Calumet and HecIa Dividends.
Harriman's Interview Discussed.

| New York, Sept 10.-The city bonds and
the crop report. the reduction in Calumet
/ and Hecla dividend-these and many
other factors affected the stock market
to-day. but the most influential of all was
the bond sale. In the morning expecta-
tion OF. success OF the city's financing was
raised to a high pitch by an advance in
/ quotations for the bonds on the curb ct
1031k; but the enthusiasm was chilled
soon after by a drop from the new high
record to 103, the price at last nights
close Thereafter the stock market set
tied down to a waiting attitude, In which
It remained until the last hour of bust
ness.
Shortly after o'clock the news iekers
began TO record bids, and, while at first
the effect was reassuring on account Of
the Unexpectedly large number Of bids
submitted, disappointment was felt after
ward that the prices offered by the larg-
est bidders were so low, II was inpossi-
bic for any broker selling stocks on "the
disappointing outcome of the bond sale,
20 figure out what would be the average
price realized by the city. for. at the time
the market closed, only $50 OF the bids,
or less than one-siXth of the total, had
been opened. The price In the bids opened
OF that time ranged from par 80 l03, and
the quotations on the curb dropped from
the mornings high record OF 1884. TO 102.
AS the city is now In a position TO get
the means Of paying of its temporary
loans. considerable money VIII be restored
to Wall street for the ordinary purposes
of the financial community. and sales Of
the bonds abroad viii tend 10 make the
local money situation and our position In
the exchange markets more cOmfortable
After all. the price realized by the city
is not the only important consideration
in the transaction from the Wall street
point Of ivew.
A small failure occurred 20 add an
other incident to a day fun of interesting
occurrences, but IT was Of 10 particular
Importance and exeTted nc effect Of con-
sequence on the general trading The
suspension had be@n talked about hours
before the announcement OF II was ac-
tually made on the floor Of the exchange
It IS rarely that an important crop re-
port IS so completely disregarded as was
the one issued at noon showing the con
ditions on September I. Depreciation was
shown by all cereals during the month.
but the decline was not so great as to
constitute a serious factor.
Mr.. Z. H. Hartman made something OF
a reputation for himself yesterday as
Jobs comforter for giving in an inter
view the results Of his observations in
the West he began with an assurance
that there is no sign Of q panic out
there" The traders did not know what
TO make Of this. They wanted 10 know
If Mr. Hartman thought he could see
signs Of a panic anywhere-in New York.
for instance-oT If he had expected to
find a panic in the West before he went
out there and was so much surprised at
not finding one that the fact was upper
most in his mind. and IN his opinion,
most worthy Of mention. Finding no in
formation on these points many came to
the conclusion that probably Mr. Harri-
man himself did not know Just what he
meant, and that he merely talked for the
sake Of sustaining his reputation as the
friend Of the interviewer.
OF course, nobody supposed that there
We're no signs Of a panic in the West, for
the testimony OF everybody qualified 10
speak on the subject is that business in
that section Of the country continues
highly prosperous, and that a degree of
confidence in the future exists there that
cannot be matched in any other portion
Of the United States.
That the people Of the West have been
holding on to their money more tightly
tnan those of other sections Of the coun-
try has not, however. been the belief Of
well-informed interests here, nor will
these accept any such conclusion, not
witAstanding the intimation thrown out
by Mr. Hartman, for there has been quite
q little evidence for several weeks past
that the West, with its great prosperity
and its rosy optimism, has been buying
securities, believing that the East has be-
come unduly scared by political and other
considerations.
Calumet and Hecla, which is generally
one Of the first OF the important copper
companies 10 reduce the price of the metal
in accordance with a falling demand. re-
duced its first quarterly dividend from so
to SIS a share, and Wall street was forced
to sit up and take notice. It was anx-
iOusly asked whether it was not quite
probable that a company that generally
showed great foresight IN changing its
prices for the metal was not likely to be
the first Of the big companies to accept
the inevitable in the matter Of reducing
its dividend. In this connection there is
the important consideration that a fur
ther reduction in the price of the metal
VIII mean a great saving in costs by
bringing the rate Of miners wages down
from ST to $3.50 a day.
MINING STOCKS.