The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-03
SSTOCK MARKET
 QUIET AND NARROW Bank Statement Is Not Very
 Satisfactory NOT A TRUE REFLECTION
Clearing House Certificates Cut . Figure In the Statement So That the Real Condition of Banks
 Is Not Clearly Given.
BY THOMAS c. sHorwELL.

New York. November 2.-(Special.)- movements of stocks in Wall street to- day were of no importance because there was really no market for any thing, the few transactions-perform being purely formal. The most im- portant thing of the day was the bank statement which, for the first time in years was not published until after the market closed. Loans showed an increase of s6o,741,sO0 in the state lnent. There was a cash loss of $30,- 277 400 and an increase in deposits of only $28,014, 900. And yet the surplus reserve showed a decrease of $37,605.- : 526. The percentage of reserve is now Is. This compares with 20 0 per cent in 1893 which is the only instance when it was worse.
 While the increase in loans repre- sents, of course, a large volume of &C., counts shifted from trust companies to banks, there is no satisfactory ex- planation for the remarkable state ment. An attempt was made to ex- plain it by the clearing house certi- ficate item, but each bank in it's indi- Nioudt otdtCiHCnL uSuuCLtQ lll6 CtIlln- cates issued to itself and added those on hand from other banks. While this would cause violent changes in the in dividual banks the general result should be to eliminate the loan cer- tifcates entirely as a factor in the gen eral average of all the banks. In order to cover up the identity of the banks using clearing house certificates, in dividual reports were withheld from publication.
 The bank statement never does rep resent the true condition of the banks, because it is an average statement. No law requires it's publication, and in the past it's chief use has been to enable speculative c1iques who have been in charge of the banks to manipulate tn @ stock market. Conservative persons in Wall street favor law forbidding the publication each morning of a statement showing the exact condition of the banks and of each individual bank up to the close of business the night before.
 It is probable that law of this kind will be passed by Congress the coming session.
 The result of todays bank statement was to alarm the public. Whether this alarm is justified, the public has no means or knowing, put OH SeHcrdi plih ciples intelligent alarm is less injuri- ous than the other kind. That a mis- take has been mtde by the clearing house and the only way to correct it is to issue statement of the true con- dition of the banks up to the moment of issue.
 ~The number of stocks sold on the New York Stock Exchange today amounted to 1s9,015, against 3s3,937 the same day last year.
 The total par value of bonds sold to- day amounted to s1,3S6,000, against S, 16l,- 900 the same day last year. 4fs
 Jacob Field and other active traders bought Union Pacific, but F. Hutton & Company and other recent sellers had more stock for sale.
 The average loss of all stocks dealt in today was 19 cents. Since December 31, the loss amounted to $4516.
 Union Pacific opened up half point at 1O9 but that was the highest price. By the end of the first hour it was down to 1O71s The great question with the