The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-01
Call Money Sears, but Re-
neWalS Made Under 80.
LOW RECORD IN HILL STOCK
Northern Pacific Docs Not Show De-
cline Equal TO ThatOf Great North
ern-"Empire BriIder" Not Ready
to Lay Down the Sccpter-Bears
Seek Comfort In Size of Earnings.

the market for call money did not open
until fifteen or twenty minutes after the
usual time, and the first inquiry found
lender and borrower very wide apart.
Ten per cent bid, p per cent asked"
was the first report on the subject Of
greatest interest to the market that board
members were able TO make to their firms.
but few minutes later it was possible to
tell OF an actual transaction on a basis
apparently touched by splitting the diff
ference fractions TO the lender" the ini-
tial rate for the day being IS per cent.
After that the rate rose rapidly, finally
getting up TO a per cent. but the bulk of
the demand for the day was satisfied
under 30 per cent, renewals icing made at
about % per cent.
Wall street has now equalized favors by
giving a happy New Year to the bulls, as
the bears had been given a merry Christ
mas. The bears. for the time being. have
taken to the woods. and the question is,
How long viii they stay there?
One reason for the heavy effects Of
loans from foreign bankers to local insti-
tutions in the past week is that the Eng
lish financial institutions in order to make
as good a showing as possible at the end
Of the year are in the habit OF averaging
a large proportion Of their loans on any
stock to mature just a little in advance
of December 81 This enables them 20 do
some effective window dressing. besides
leaving them with plenty OF funds 10 lend
or otherwise use just after January l.
The expectation among the foreign
houses is that the restraints that have
been placed upon dealings in Americans
vii! now be withdrawn and that London
will become more pronounced factor in
the bull side Of our stocks than at any
time In many weeks.
Dividend and interest disbursements az
the beginning Of the new year are quoted
at less than SS0Oo0.000, and possibly as
high as $200co0,03j. The investment Of
this money is expected to give something
of an impetus TO trading on the bull side.
although. as almost invariably happens.
some OF the buying has already been done
before the disbursements have actually
been made.
The subtreasury sent TO San Francisco
to-day 10000. but il was reported that
there was strong indications Of decided
acceleratlon 81 the return movement from
out-of-town toward New York
Great Northern made a new low record
for the year. selling down to 17Sia. from
which, however, il recovered at a bound
10 80, the decline having been more IN the
nature of bear drive, intended to renew
feats Of liquidation than anything else.
q us .lot-J,e th.t Northern Pacific did
not decline equally with Great Northern.
and if any clew could be drawn from the
buying Of both stocks as u :he character
Of the operations IN progress, 1t pointed
10 accumulation. The great strength in
the afternoon made this almost cOnclu-
Sive.
The street has never attached much
Importance to the talk of Mr.. Hills re-
tigement. for the reason that the street
recognizes what an iTTepTessibie worker
the president Of the Great Northern is.
The view most generally taken is that
some day Mr.. Hin may relinquish his
present Officc-vaCate the throne, 20 be
come the power behind-but that he will
never cease TO work and 10 devote his
best efforts To the road with which his
name is inseparably linked as long as
his health permits. Those who have seen
him lately say there is no immediate
danger Of his retirement on the ground
Of III health
The watchers for signs Of a lessening
Of the prosperity Of the railroad seized
upon the statements Of earnings of two
or three roads for November which
showed a decrease in net earnings, not
that gross receipts were
larger than those for the same period a
year ago.
The roads whose returns attracted the
most of this kind Of attention were the
Atlantic Coast Line. which. with an tn
crease Of S143.606 in gross, suffered a loss
Of 1853. SOB in net and Chesapeake and
Ohio. which, with an increase of 81. 1853 in
the FIRST item, suffered to the extent Of
Sl5Gi6 in the other by comparison with
Of last year.
\ similar exhibit was made by the
Georgia Railroad, but beyond these there
was nothing in the character Of the earn
ings to indicate that the higher cost Of
everything used by the railroads, including
labor, was not more than enough 10 use up
the increase in earnings coming from the
expansion Of traffic. The roads which
have shown the greatest tendency toward
reduction in the percentage Of net to
gross earnings have been mostly in the
South, where. perhaps the advance in the
VIZ yes of unskiHcd workers in the past
wear has been relatively heavier than in
other sections. but what they show may
be a fair index Of what others will do
later on.
A great deal Of mischief is sometimes
done in Wall street by the mere mention
of a doubt regarding the solvency of in
dividual houses when the stock market is
passing through a period Of disturbance or
liquidation. Such reports breed uneasi-
ness and often precipitate trouble where
none would otherwise have occurred. 1t
is entirely natural when an operator hears
that another or a particular house is
shaky TO acquaint himself as closely as he
can with the kind Of securities in which the
individual or house that is the subject of
the sinister TumOr Is most largely inter
ested and to sell such quantities of them
as ne may personally own, or even to put
out shorts. thus starting or aiding a sell
ing movement which may exert a wide
spread effect rs disturber of confidence.
As on example of the recklessness with
which rumors rejecting on the credits and
standing Of substantial firms are some
times circulated in Wall street, it is worth
that not long ago a suspicion
fell upon the standing OF a house because
at a time of considerable stress it became
an eager borrower Of money. The only
inference the street could draw for this
was that loans had been
called and the house was between the