Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-02
FINANCE AND TRADE IN
MARKETS OF THE WORLD
BULLS AND BEARS
Special Dispatch to The Star.


NEW YORK. August 1.-These are the
days when the Wall street clerical force is
envious of it's London brethren. for the
very good reason that bank holidays are
now in order in England and the London
stock exchange is closed so often that the
special holidays are a vacation in them
selves. For instance. the exchange is
closed today and will be closed on Mon
day. and during the month there will be
other special holidays, ostensibly given
for the purpose of housekeeping the ex-
change. There is a decided difference Of
opinion between the governors of the ex-
change here and the directing body in the
London stock exchange concerning holi-
days. Until a few years ago holidays
were plentiful enough on the New York
exchange. that is special holidays, but
sentiment has developed that the fewer
holidays that are granted the better it
will be for all concerned. There has been
opposition to the granting of indiscrimi-
nate holidays, for the reason that big
brokerage firms incurred exactly the same
expense whether the exchange was open
or closed but when 1t was closed there
was no chance of offsetting this expense
by actual commissions. and there have
been times in the past two or three years
when commissions have been small
enough.
X X
According to the figures prepared by
those who keep daily watch on the
fluctuations. the average price of twenty
railroad stocks is now at the highest fig
ure that has been established for some
time This is an excellent indication Of
the strength of the market, and the prices
a month hence will be in comparative
degree a measure of the permanence Of
the strength which has been developed.
Although bullishness has been more or
less obvious there has been and there Is
an element continually fighting the adj
vance. or to put it more accurately, per-
haps on account of the fact that they
are in minority. testing the market In
an endeavor to find the top. The prevail
ing tone Of market literature might be
called conservatively bullish, and brokers
are merely following what they judge to
be their customers sentiment.
Every trader in the speculative markets
seems to take it for granted that some
time between now and election there will
be political scare. They figure out that
there will not be sufficient active cam
paigning in August to warrant the devel-
opment of any political fright affecting
prices, but they are quite sure that it
will appear in September, and that there
after the wise ones will have chance to
pick up stocks at lower prices. This Is all
carefully worked out in their minds. and
those who are long of stocks are content
to hold them believing that they will get
higher prices during the current month,
that they will be able to sell at COM
Portable figure, and that, the scare having
arrived and passed. they will be able to
get their stocks back at figure that will
to say that Wall street is absolutely the
worst place in the world for the main
tenance of schedules.
When the Spanish loan was floated in
1898 the bonds were made what is called
a ten-twenty year issue, and If the gov
eminent so desired it could have retired
them today this being the date on which
the optional ten years expired. The
Treasury Department has seen fit not to
retire the bonds. and nothing has been
done in the matter of refunding them, so
presumably the 3 per cents will be per-
mitted to continue outstanding for some
time to come. 1t is figured that they are
likely to be retired within a year, provid-
ing always, OF course, that August 1,
1909, the Treasury will be in position to
pay for the bonds out Of the funds on
hand 1here Is a question of the possible
success of refunding. ? per cent bond
appealing only to institutions needing
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