The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-09-24


marked the opening OF the stock mar
ket with the majority Of issues showine
fractional gains. Trading was moder-
ately active during the first hour Of the
session After the first few minutes the
Hill shares were raided. Great Nor
them had risen Y point before the at
tack was begun, but, under the heavy
volume of selling orders that made its
appearance. II broke points. while
Northern Pacific dropped 2ss points
They recovered about ] TOint from the
low figures. Reading and Union Pacific
showed slight gains at the beginning OF
trading, but the drive on the Hin shares
unsettled the list, and nearly all stocks
lost their gains which were replaced
with losses
Specialttes were Irregular. Lackawan-
ma was the leader in this group. rising
"a points Consolidated Gas was strong
around 40 while National Lead and
Illinois Central rose frs ctionauy. The
metal shares were also irregular.
Rock Island, preferred. attracted at
tention because Of its strength. Il rose
IL points in the first half hour Of trad
ing. while the common advanced only
fractionally.
In London American shares were
higher because Of short covering.
Boom Market Follows.
Well into the second hour OF the
morning the list started on an advance.
in which Great Northern came in for
a large part of the attention OF the
bears, who in their efforts TO cover.
run the price up from 1865, the low
point Of the morning, 70 I27L. a net
gain over Wednesdays close e L :soint
In this advance Union Pacific, Reading.
Southern Pacific. and even ST. Paul were
prominently TO the fore.
The betterment extended to the in
dustrials. where the evident Increase in
foreign and domestic orders had given
where the bulls were taking orders with
a persistence that soon lesSened the
supply on the market. Copper. Smelter.
Lead. Consolidated Gas. SlOss-SheffieId.
and Republic Steel and Iron made gains
of over point
An Antidote.
AS the day wore on. it was evident
That the leaders on the bull side of
the market had attributed considerable
importance to the political correspond
ence from Washington, considering it
in the nature Of an antidote to the
Bryan scare.
Business was active and we'll dis
tributed throughout the entire list
Erie received, as It had for several
days, and especially during the most
violent breaks Of the market as a
whole, quite as much attention as any
other issue Of the many with which the
name of Mr. Hartman is bracketted.
The theory that the great strength
Of Erie common is due to a compre-
v11o nf "a
cure control of the line remains the
most popular explanation of what
clearly calls for something more than
a routine agent
Again was heard the argument that
when full control had been secured Mr..
Hartman would concentrate upon Erie
q big fraction Of the freight tr3 inc now
distributed from the Hartman lines
smong four or five of the Eastern
roads.
Those who hold to this view pointed
out that the Erie convertible bonds are
sustained relatively as well as the
common stock and that the first and
second preferences display a kindred
strength, as if the whole body of Erie
securities were responding to an effort
10 form voting trust
U. S. Steel.
Operations in Steel We're exceptionally
large, but today the preferred was the
leader in the matter Of strength It
IS likely that the course OF Steel will
be closely watched, as being likely 10
give the first limitations Of what the
leading financial interests really think
of the political campaign.
Regarding the corporations business
during the quarter ending with this
month the chances are that the earn
ings will not be far from the $4,000, 600
mark, insurlng gOud surplus at the
end Of the AGAR after dividends. There
are unmismkable signs Of a radical
Improvement in the rail. construction,
and general miscellaneous orders.
Market Becomes Quiet.
Midday the stock market became
more quiet and there We're some slight
recessiOns in values, amounting III
Steel preferred to q Of a point. although
at los the price was still = point better
than the close yesterday. The common
held its p point advance steadily. There
were only Il point recessiOns in many Of
the rails, while others held 10 their full
advance. 1t was but natural that there