New-York tribune., 1907-11-25
THE WEEK IN WALL STREET.

corded IN the greater number of instances new
low levels for the year in the last week, weak
ness being due to further forced liquidation and
professional pressure rather than TO new dis
turbing factors in the general financial situation
The necessities of individuals and some corpo-
rations IN the matter of cash resources can only
be met through liquidation the Stock EX-
change, and it is quite probable the selling move
ment viii run materially further before there
can be a re-establishment of normal conditions
or anything like the development of permanent
Improvement in prices. Abnormal conditions
prevail among the banks, among individuals,
among the railroads and among industrial cor
porations but the danger point apparently is in
the rear, though it may require the passing OF
many months before the effects of the current
financial upheaval Will disappear, particularly
the countrys trade already is giving signs
of the reaction incident to all financial panics.
Reaction in business is the natural consequence
Of restricted credit facilities. Financial panics
always are followed by disturbance i'll the in
dustrial world but III the present the
foundations of business are so strong and the
natural resources of the country great
that it is safe to predict a speedier recovery
than in past periods of disturbance At the mo-
ment Wall Street attaches too little weight to
the factors just named, owing to the aggravated
case of depression from which it is suffering;
it refuses to way out Of its troubles, and
il continues to place the blame for present
settled conditions upon the Washington admin
istration. which in no way is responsible for the
pies funds through the methods of high
finance for the loss of confidence on the part
of bank depositors, for the overeXtension Of
credit and for the San Francisco earthquake,
which started the stringency in money. "Roose-
welt did it." is the popular slogan of a certain
unthnkng element, and every wise measure
suggested by the President and his Cabinet
for the best interests of the whole people is met
with unreasonable and unpatriotic criticism
from sources where common sense is at a low
ebb.
Bankers who have something better to do
than to make senseless attacks upon the govern
ment for the financial stringency working
to effect restoration of better conditions, and
they believe that with the increase in the
amount of money in the country through gold
imports. gold production and a gain I'm
national bank note circulation the situation soon
will improve to an extent that Will encourage
the redeposit of boarded funds in the banks and
break down the barriers that surround
credit facilities They believe at remote
period there will be actual plethora of money
at the leading financial centres and that this
will be followed by active investment move
ment in the securities markets, which in turn
will be followed by healthful expansion in the
paton's industries. The issue of Panama bonds
and government certificates of Indebtedness will
serve to increase the circulation Of banknotes,
and Congress probably will enact laws by which
redundant circulation can be retired in greater
amounts at given time than can be accom-
plished under the national bank act it now
stands. Currency reform undoubtedly will he
undertaken by law makers and the fact that
various plans now being discussed and men
of all shades of political opinion are awakening
10 the necessity of laws which will prevent con-
stantly recurring periods of monetary stringency
is an encouraging sign of probable cooperation
by all parties in working for the enactment OF
legislation on lines that will help the business in
terests of the country. Even Mr. Bryan Is out
with q plan, though his beneficent ideas on
government guarantee for about everything are
not likely TO become popular.
The future of the countrys industries is not
nenaced. The railroads and industrial con
Germs are not going out of business; but weak
snots will he eliminated, better methods of
finance and management will be introduced,
law breakers will find it less easy to ply their
trade and al things will work toward basis
that will give greater security to money invest
ed in corporate enterprises. 1t Will be found
that top conditions have been weakened but
that the foundations have not been undermined.
Railroad earnings will be lighter for time, eX-
travagant dividends will be reduced, retrench
ment will be introduced in the affairs of the
corporation and the individual, stock gambling
that hurts genuine investors will not have the
free hand that it has had in the past and the
juggling Of corporation finances for the enrich
ment Of insiders will be net with laws that Will
protect the public and establish business on a
higher neral plane. Railroads will expand
cording TO the needs Of the growing population.
Expansion by the railroads safe and sound
and more profitable commercial movements than
ever before reported and currency reform will
supply the necessities of business with volume
of money adequate to meet all requirements at
reasonable rates for accommodation The great
amount of actual capital destroyed by the San
Francisco earthquake and by commissions of
nature in other parts of the world has been an
important factor in the development of the cur
rent financial crisis, but this eventually will be
more than Offset by the fat of the land, the
Tho and fbo Of 1,afp
In the mean time business may be slow and
dull; the rich and the poor who have lost money
will have to bear their burdens with patience,
but with every reason for confidence in the be-
lief of returning years of plenty Pessimism
is not so general throughout the country as it
is in the district classed as Wall Street, and it
may be we'll to note that the country's agri-
cultural and manufacturing centres are in bet
ter condition to handle adversely than at any
preceding time in the history of the nation.
Stocks which are being liquidated as the re-
suit of personal necessities, as the consequence
of speculative excesses and owing to several
years of private and public extravaganza. are
finding buyers. Prices are moving within the
reach of the people Of moderate means who, in
the last two years, have not been identified with
Wall Street operations owing to the inflated
level at which most securities have been quoted.
Bearing in mind the certainty of a return of
normal and more healthfuT conditions than
Gently have prevailed, the advicesto buy the Sc
curities OF properties of recognized merit may
be freely given. The average price of the lead
ing issues is at the lowest level Of the year and
in many cases lower than at any time in many
preceding years, and even granting there will
be dividend reductions current quotations are
attractive for investors who happen to have idle
money on their hands. A large amount of
stock has passed from the hands of the recently
rich to the safe deposit boxes of small in
vestors, and a general thing the control of
our large railroad and industrial corporations is
more widely scattered than known in decade