The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-08
THE STOCK MARKET HAS GOOD ADVANCE Coed Time for Bulls and Would Be Bulls to HoldsBack CURRENCY STILL SCARCE Though There Is Much Better Feeling and the Acute Stage of the
 Scare Is Now Well
 Passed.
BY w. c. NICHOLAS.

oi W. 0s tNfOiiS-H0'
 New York, December This is a good time for bulls and would-be bulls to re- strain themselves. The stock market has had a very good advance from inside quotations and during the later stages of the recovery this week there have been many evidences of rank manipulation. An imitation bull movement has been conducted largely by people who have stocks and bonds for sale and largely also at the expense of the short sellers Conditions do not justify reasonable ex- pectations of continued rise in prices at this time. Ten days and two weeks ago the best that was hoped for was a market which would hold at about the then current range until the clouds rolled by. Since then some of the leaders advanced to 10 points with every surface ap- pearance of enthusiastic outside support.
 There has unquestionably been substan- tal buying of securities for investment account by people with money in every part of the country. This buying has been on sufficiently large scale to ab- sorb good amounts of securities, but there yet remain unsold in the hands of banks and people who have been obliged to buy to sustain prices very large quantities of the goods and this stuff will be showed out market is made to take them.
 The kind of a boom which has been witnessed during the last week is a god send for the bank and commission houses which have been luggng along a mass of stuff by the eyebrows and they well come joyfully the opportunity to tighten their loads.
 It is no time, however to look for sus tained improvement and broadening speculation with money conditions as they J,rttn ta nh af is over and people are getting back their quota of common sense and courage. The test of endurance has brought about partial restoration of confidence in the stability of banks and trust companies and has put stop to the foolish hoard ing of funds and their withdrawal from channels of business.
 The fact remains, nevertheless, that there is still a scarcity of currency, that there is no money available for specu- lation, that merchants from one end of the land to the other are scared half to death and sacrificing goods to get money with which 10 meet obligations and that there is ahead of us a well defined period of industrial depression and inactivity. These signs of the times are not broadly encouraging and do not give support to any theory of great bull movement In the stock market. For this and numer- ous other reasons the bullshly inclined will be likely to save themselves money and retain their peace of mind by sleep ing over any impulse that may seize them to jump into the market and buy. The market will be here tomorrow, next day, next week and next spring and there will still be bargains to be had for many long day to come. Meantime there will be periods of depression, and those with patience need have no fear of getting left
 December is always a period of tight ened money. This year ordinary condi- tions leading to stringency have been em- phaszed immensely and the things which make ordinarily for December stringency will be operative during January and well up into February. The November and December movement of farm products has been showed ahead for month or six weeks. owing to the inability of the fron- tier buyers to get the cash with which to take stuff from the hands of farmers and planters. There was almost complete stoppage of traffic in many parts of the country-a condition almost of paralysis existing. This unfortunate and uncom- fortable situation is being gradually re- 1ieved, and relaxation is noticeable.
 Wall street feels this very keenly. ana it is largely on account thereof that the stock market has experienced a season of buoyancy and an accompanying uplift in prices. That fact. however does not blind us to the actualities of the Wall street situation. Before tnefe can De any lnl- portant surplus for employment in spec ulative channels premium on currency must be entirely obliterated, T5,00O,000 to 00,000000 in New York clearing house certificates and much more issued by other communities must be retired, great masses of securities held unwillingly as collateral must come into the market and be absorbed and provision made for the obligations incurred in the importation of approximately 800 900. 900 in gold. Then on top of this will be the need of putting back into the federal treasury a very considerable sum. The government has virtually exhausted itself in helping out and in avertng panic. This money will be required in the payment of govern mental expenses. and the banks will be drawn upon heavily to meet their require ments. All this will be a drain upon the banking communities, and will delay the time of the accumulation of a surplus where people can see it and feel it. Therefore. while the market is undoubt- edly full of splendid barganis. there is no immediate danger of a famine of stocks and bonds.
 Strange as it may seem, a great many people were found willing to sell stocks at the lower range of prices and when 1t was notorious to all observers that evil conditions had been very thoroughly dis counted in the years decline in quota tions. This being the case, the market be- came heavily oversod-that is to say, the short sellers entered into commitments by the wholesale at the sacrifice level. and 1t was not q difficult matter to put the prices up on them. The advance of the past ten days has been to a very large ex- tent at the expense of this half-crazed element. It was their misfortune that they could only begin to appreciate the bearish conditions after the decline had taken place. They were in the position witty republican stump speaker once de- scribed the democratic party: "As view ing the landscape from the rear platform of an express train-always seeing things after they had happened It might req sonably be assumed that the decline in security prices representing a cut in half would be the discOunting of a good deal of bad luck, hard times. and calamity.
 The assembling of Congress and the developments incident thereto did not have a disquieting effect, although many an- ticipated that such would be the case. There was nothing in Mr. Roosevelt's message to signally affect prices one way or the other. The novelty had been ex- tracted from most of the departures he recommended and then again came the reassuring consciousness that Congress stood between him and many of the experimental propositions in the legisla- ton proposed. The speeches made by MT. Cannon, speaker of the House of Representatives and word from leaders in both branches of Congress had more