The sun., 1907-04-14
rENANeIAE avn cOMMERcT2L,
sAruRpAY. April 70.

oAIuhDAAs hBIh
20 For the sixth successive business. day
recently save one. and that occasion tint
when the net change 10 prices for the day
yss exceedingly tFiAing. the stock marke
has declined. and the fall i'm the market
to-day was larger than il was on any othel
day during the week. Reasons for to-day'S
acute weakness. as generally offered. were
IN addition 20 the more or less discouraged
feeling which has no doubt been sngen-
dered in speculative circles by the con.
tinued heaviness OF prices. renewed doub'
as 10 the state OF the copper market, more
stories Of unfavorable crop conditions in
the West, and the publication OF a bank
statement that was admittedly poor. No
more could really be said to-day regarding
the copper market than has been for some
time past. and the true state Of trade in this
respect was generally looked upon a. some
thing that could only be revealed by future
Developments. While the price OF copper
IN this country is now high, and is materially
below the European parity, the copper
manufacturing business il as prosperous
ae ever and consumers Of the commodity
have, a. IL believed. covered only in small
degree their wants for the metal for period
later than the end of June. There is no
question but that reserve stocks Of copper
are very small some Of the leading pro-
ducers having entirely retired from the
mRrket as sellers. II can hardly be thought
Z likely. therefore. that any decline In copper
even II one occurs. can be more than mode
rare, and II this turns ont TO be the
case IL would seem as II il had been
- more than discounted in the recent
fall in the price Of copper stocks. The
grain market again evinced to-day, as il
did yesterday, the force Of reports as to
nnfavorable crop conditions. these having
= reference chiefly TO dry weatherin the south
western portion Of the winter wheat belt
aud to indications of possible damage
TO the crop later on from insect pests
SO far. however IL appears to be very
questionable II these reports have any
more significance than that pertaining
10 an effort to foster speculation for the
rise IN the Chicago wheat pit. To-day's
bank statement was not good In that
Il disclosed a surprising increase in the
bank loan account OF nearly 81. .OOO. 900.
The cash held by the banks increased
t7.e4e. 900, or much more than was yestsr-
day estimated, this representing what was
pretty well known to be the understate-
Tuent Of cash reserves in the bank returns
of the last two weeks; but the great In
crease in loans ofsetthis and brought about
a 1fminution IN the bank surplus Of %, ,SoO,- =
600 The total surplus. however. still
stands at high figure for this time Of the
year. The explanation commonly made
of this astonishing increase in loans was
the familiar one that the late violent de-
cline in call and time money rates has
caused q transfer to the Clearing House
institutions Of loans formerly shouldered
by private and out OF town lenders; but no
doubt the payment into the banks during
the week Of t24,O00.OOO on account Of the
Great Northern Railways stock issue had
something to do with the matter. The
stock market itself was weak continuously
throughout the session, the selling Of stocks
being decidedly accentuAted after the bank
statement was published. There was q.
closing rally in the last few minutes Of the
trading, but II still left prices Of the stand
ard shares at such declines for the day "a
pa In Amalgamated Copper, So in Ameri-
can Smelling and Refining common, az
in Union Pacific, az in Reading. ~ in
Great Northern preferred. and from to
points generally elsewhere.
Tho reduction in the Bank Of EnKIand's
discount rate from S to ~ per cent. was the
leading event OF the week In financial
circles, and this did not serve to avert q
declining tendency in values that was
almost a. notable in the foreign markets
a. tt was In this country. Considering,
however, the ease in money that has de-
Neiopsd IN London, it seems more than
probable that further reduction Of the
Bank Of England's discount rate cannot be
long postponed, and IL this action is taken
a fair presumption Is that It will produce
a better market for investment securities
in London and on the continent OF Europe
There were one or two other Developments
right at the close Of the week to which
due attention was hardly paid in Wall
Street. The first Of these was the appear
ance Of the Government figures Of our
staple exports during the month Of March,
which made a splendid showing Although
exports OF -breadstuffs and dairy products
10 the month fell on little thegs was an
increase Of over Sle. 500, 900 in shipments
II cotton; which resulted In an increase
of $4,000. 900 in the value Of total exports
for the month as compared with that of
March last year and made the value OF
exports for the period very considerably
greater than that OF any corresponding
time since 1897. Ifh Shall not be discovered
later ON that this Increase In our sales Of
agricultural products abroad Is Offset by
falling OF m exports OF manufactures and
an Increase In general imports IL will truly
testify 70 q very encouraging condition
os the ooIntry's business. On the other
hand the figures Of the national bank
returns to the Comptroller Of the Currency
under his call Of March % that were made
ptiblio yesterday were not quite such pleas
ing reading Although the cash held bv
the national banks decreased in the month
ss9, ,O0O, 900. tho loans Of the banks increased
S72 .OO0. 900, and az compared with a year
ago there was an Increase Of 1soI. .OOO. 900
in loans and an Increase Of but SIS, 900 900
in cash. The proof gathered from this
exhibit seems 90 be that the credit situation
"a the country is Stll in an expanded state.
n also nttests. Of course. that general busi-
ness throughout the country Is still very
active and hourishing.
49, No.ar m0nnas u.r1,,s,.x. e.