The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-14
NICHOLAS WALL
 STREET LETTER Stock Market Goes Deadly Dull
 In a Night NATIONAL CONVENTIONS Their Near Approach Is Said To Be Responsible Tor Temporary Inac- tion In Wall Street-Auto-
 mobile Trust.
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS
BY w. G. NICHOLAS.

over nlgnt Sales dropped rom l,OUO,OOO q
 day to around 2o0.0o0 shares The differ
 ences represented In large part the strict ly manipulative feature of the trading. When the big leaders drew out and left
 the market alone the volume of business dwlndled into comparative nothingness. Wash tracing and matched orders, which
 have been a disgraeefuI part of the
 manipulation for the last 10 weeks dis
 appeared entirely, greatly to the disap-
 Pointment of the $2 brokers who handle
 the bulk of this sort of decoy business.
 The sharp slump in the aggregate of transactions has produced slight change | in prices, fiuctuation goiylg on about as | before one day up and the next day off | with nothing in the proceedings to indi- | cate trend unless it be that values in- | clined to sag little when left alone. l Apparently the good things in the stu- | ation have been to d large extent dis
 counted, and the market is in a mood to
 await further political and trade develop
 ments before making a decided start up
 or down.
 Unquestionably the near approach of | the national conventions is the chief con- | tributory cause of the present inaction.
 The market masters appear quite willing
 to hold off until they see who is nomi-
 mated at Chicago and have a chance to
 study the platform. The selection of MT | Taft as republican standard bearer is gen. ! orally accepted as foreordained, but there
 are other things to be considered beside 1 that mere fact.
 | It is regarded as of market Importance 1 to ascertain what kind of taste the convention leaves in the mouth of the pub | lie and whether or not irreconcible bitter
 ances are engendered which may weaken | the ticket at the polls in November. It
 is considered of the very highest inn | portance among the great industrial cor
 porations as to the degree of tariff revis-
 ion which may be foreshadowed in the | platform. That there will be revision
 next year or the year following IS gener- | ally conceded, a fact which is already 1 having decided market influence, remote
 though the actual change may be- | It does not follow that even though
 the republicans may retain control of the
 national House of Representatives by small majority that they will be able to prevent sharp revision for among the re- rublicans of both branches of Congress
 there is and probably will be formidable | element likely to work with the democrats | for drastic reduction from the high pro- | tective schedules of today. The New England membership in Congress is ex-
 pected to give material aid Tn this direc- I tion, fact well understood in financial as
 well as political circles. The agitation | incident to anticipated tariff revision can | haI ely fail to exert Q depressing influence | on stock quotations, especially of the iron
 and steel fssues sugar, tobacco, paper
 lead, leather, etc. The great railroad equipment companies and the electric com 1 panies will naturally be benefited by the l cheapened cost of raw material. The
 railroads should also be the gainer from l the increased tonnage. due to enlarged 1 volume of business. This latter point is
 urged strongly by the tariff reformers;
 it is in fact one of the main plaints. l And then comes another intensely dis | turbing factor-disturbing to business and politics alike-the inevitable readjustment ] of wages, which must follow important l tariff reduction. All of these things are already in the minds of men who have
 to look ahead and plan for the manage
 ment of the vast interests entrusted to | them. They are also in the minds of
 those dependent upon corporation earn ! ings for their living-the stockholders anu
 bondholders who now number more than td, ,000,000.
 The revival in business while perceptibls l has not yet assumed anything like the proportions of boom much as the mem-
 bers of the Sunshine club would like to ! have it appear that way. It is probably l true that the shelves of the merchants l throughout the country not over
 stocked and that the warehouses of manu-
 facturers and wholesalers are far from | glutted, yet purchasers of fresh supplies
 are as yet rather sparing.
 In mills and factories and work shops
 and in the building and other trades the ] increased volume of orders finds reflection
 more in the longer hours to employees kept
 on the rolls than to the hiring of addi- 1 tional men. This betokens d general lack | n m 10 wh of | prosperity and in the permanency of the l improvement already observable. The ef- | feet of the cut in steel and iron prices
 and in ore cannot yet be measured 1 There is a difference of opinion as to
 whether the price reduction will stimu- 1 late business or whether intending buyers will hold off for a further concession | The result of the action of the big com
 bine in yielding to the pressure for lower
 1rices Is being awaited with very great | interest.
 [ The aggregate of new corporation capi- ' tai during the first huff of the current
 year has been larger than most people
 dream of. Since January l the railroads and industrial companies have authorized
 the sale of s205,00O,0O0 in stocks and i Sf. ,037 ,00O000 in new bonds against about i O0,0O0,OO0 stocks and $63O, 100000 bonds for
 the corresponding period of last year. The l Jig borrowers have certainly made q
 heroic grab for loar able funds ir sight l For the time being they seem to have | got about all they want, although new 1 fotations for moderate amounts are 1 coming out right along the latest being i S13,000O00 in New York Central Deben-
 lures motes) soon to be distributed by i MT Morgan's houses. The Union Pa 1 cfic made a success of it's $5O,000,000 bond | fiotation her and abroad, and MT. Fl ar riman is again flush with ready cash to
 iquidate the immense Union Pacific float 1 ing indebtedness and continue his pur- i chase of such other properties as he may i take a fancy to-
 It took about four years to bring George | Gould to a realization that he was i amenable to discipline. He has at last | learned his lesson, however, admits the