Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-02
Financial News Letter
BY W. G. NICHOLAS.

NEW YORK. August !. 1908.
Outside of a. rich element in New York
there ;s not much of a New York public
in the stock market. There is. however,
an important western public enlisted.
and also a large buying contingent locat
able along the New England seacoast
and at most of the interior resorts or Ne"
England and New York where the rich
people most do congregate. 1t would ap-
pear from information seepms INTO the
commission houses that the tens or thou-
sands Of people in aff1uent circumstances
who meet year after year at the same
hotels and resorts find on talking to one
another this summer that the country
has not gone to eternal bow vows. and
that they have still something left to
invest.
They read the newspapers carefully and
find there daily publication OF returning
prosperity. the information being mead
lined in black type and featured con-
spicuously. The mere fact that reports
of railroad earnings and Of bank clear
ings do not altogether corroborate these
rosy reports makes no impress sion II
they think at all about such proSalc
things, they give the weight OF testimony
to the display matter on the news pages
rather than to the insignificant tables in
small type on the commercial pages. They
have been educated to believe what they
see in the newspapers SO long as 1T is of
sort that meets their approval and hts
in with their hopes and expectations.
Hence, although millions OF men are
still out of employment and the earnings
of railroads and industrial corporations
are % to so per cent below normal, they
are convinced that good times are again
at hand, and that presently the country
will be embarked upon another adult
BOOM 1t is buying from that source
which has been making the market lately
upon which the big gamblers and market
leaders have been partially unloading
stocks bought at the beginning of the
advance which set in nearly three months
ago. and which has been progressing
with few intermissions ever since. 1t
is this kind of support which has set at
naught predictions and expectations OF
the talent" which has been continuously
playing for reactions. In vain do the
experienced people operate for anticipated
setbacks. The few which have occurred
have been sources of loss rather than
profit, for they have been SO insignificant
as to prove snares and delusions
Everybody is talking politics, but In
reality politics plays a small part except
in so far as there is a growing conviction
in Wall street that Mr.. Taft will be
elected, and that while that gentleman is
committed to the Roosevelt policies he
will carry them out in his own way, with
moderation and common sense. No &C
count is taken of the effect of this sort
of impression on the radical mind of the
west, and for that matter nobody cares.
It is enough for Wall street to know that
Wall street has set its approval on Mr..
Taft That to Wall street is the be-
ginning and ending of the whole PROPOSE
ton. Ratification at the polls follows as
foregone conclusion. In THIS respect
Wall street has been right for the last
three presidential elections. Therefore,
why should 1t not be right again: Inc
record is in support OF this PIE pleasing Wan
BILE frame of mind. 1t is only natural that
the sentiment should be complacentiy
bullish in the face OF news dveiopments
for the most part of the opposite com.
plexion Hence the maintenance or
prices at or within an easy speaking
distance of the best yet established on
the recovery, although such conduct on
the part of the market Is most dlsap-
pointing to the professional element and
to those who will not be reconciied TO
any other theory than a severe setback.
\ X
The captains Of industry and their local
followings are the biggest bulls on the
market. They are welded to the pehel
that republican President ana natlonal
House of Representatives will be elected
in November, thus insuring a real iaoy-
like revision of the tariff next winter
and spring. They do not permit them
selves to have the slightest doubt as to
the election result or to subsequent pro-
ceedings. They have schooled them
selves to hear with Indifference the rail-
ings and ragings of the campaign orators
of the Opposition, who will inveigh from
the stump against trust protected indus
tries and who will solemnly demand that
the duties be removed entirely from arti-
cles manufactured by the great corpora
class by itself the. United States Steel
Corporation, which enjoys the benefit OF
40 per cent protection against Foreign
competition. 1t has not thus far entered
into the calculations of the bulls on steel
stock that any human agency can scale
down this protection, or that anything
political can interfere with the operations
or profits of the giant combination. For
strongest kind of bull feeling on the
steel issues, and the buying. which con-
tinues to be good, even at an advance of
nearly 100 per cent not 100 points, from
the low quotations made last winter.
There is an earnest and as influential
buying of steel common at A as there
was at %.
The quarterly report Of the ste-l trust,
made public this week, bears every evil
dence of having been rather highly col
ored and the figures somewhat forced, yet
on the whole the showing may be re-
garded as favorable The trust manage
ment is excusable for scaling down ap-
preparations for various purposes and for
reducing amounts charged against de-
probation. etc. 1t was over generous in
these respects last year and the year be-
fore, and it's treasury Is fat with unex-
pended amounts appearing In these ac-
counts. 1t can draw on its fat without
taxing its strength appreciably. Re-
turns of earnings actually made on bust
| ness done do not altogether harmonic
with the brightly colored statements of
| the management, but that sort of thing is
now the prevailing fashion and there is
no disposition in the street to be extra
critical.
The Dutch are great believers in United
ic