The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-08

! the country and that assaults on capital are suicidal to labor and to every hhd l of enterprise-suicidal and murderous. To the utter disguset of the street, 1 knowledge is forced upon 1t that most i people regard that especial locality as d l den of thieves that might be entirely 1 eliminated without doing the country any | harm The population of the street knows differently, but that does no make any l difference. Protests and angry arguments
 fall on deaf outside ears to all seeming Heretofore, Wall street has been sheer ingly indifferent 10 any and all hostile
 legislation looking to regulation of it's methods. It has been a law unto itself, even as the stock exchange is. Not only indifferent, but callous to outside eriu- csm Throughout a long series of years the New York stock exchange has re- fused to recognize such a thing as the possibility of legislation which would in- terfere with it's affairs. It is non-ineor- porated association of 1000 men who have their rules for their own government, some of them within the law and some of them being entirely for the personal convenience and comfort of those on the inside and regardless of the rights of the public.
 This has been notably illustrated in the non-enforcement of the requirements calling for reports of corporations whose stocks are dealt ill on the exchange. There are many stocks bought and sold on the New York stock exchange about which the public has no reliable information, and which could and should be thrown off simply because the managemenis scornfully refuse to make public 1helr financial condition as required by law The exchange is in the early stages Of a rude awakening on this and many other points about which they have been will fully neglectful of their duties to the pub lic from whom patronage is asked and obtained.
 The Hepburn bill and other measures in Congress and equally drastic proposi- tions before the New York and other state legislatures, distasteful as they are must be benefcently educational to Wall street.
 The loud proclamation is made that none of these obnoxious measures can be passed. but that is merely whistling against the wind. The great truth Is dawnng upon the oraeles that their mere saving so does not make it so, and the street is in state of genuine alarm lest it be put out of business or seriously embarrassed. Measures are at last be- ing taken by the Stock Exchange to combat hostile legislative action. The wise men of that body are preparing to de- scend upon the ignorant statesmen at Washington and Albany and show them wherein they are weak, deluded victims of grossly ignorant prejudices. What suc- cess these Illuminating efforts will haVe' is a subject of earnest discussion
 One trouble with Wall street is that it does not know anything about what is going on, or thought or talked of, outside of the immediate sphere of New York influence say within radius of 9 miles from the city hall. Anything that will enlighten or quicken the intelligence of the denizens of the street will be distinctly beneficial.
 Some of the literature that Is now coming out on the subject of the Hep burn bill and other measures of kindred temper is laughable It is quite the com mon thing for members of the exchange to describe the Hepburn bill as ''assin- inc" "idiotic" "crazy,' etc., and to at- tempt to dismiss all apprehensions by loftily declaring that not a one of them has the slightest chance on earth of ever becoming a law or if placed upon the statute books to receive the approval of the courts.
 Of course all that sort Of argument will produce a profound impression on the residents of Oklahoma, Mississippi. Minnesota and other states, where the people have their feet on the soil. and who think they know as much about business and what is good for the coun- try as the biggest banker or broker in the metropolis. For the moment Wall street is a debating school on national politics and on legislation affecting cor porations and progressive enterprise of every description. Little else is talked about and what speculation there is in the stock market is largely dependent thereon.
 Meanwhile, railroad earnings are fall ing off, shown in the weekly and monthly reports which are made by most of them. By comparison with a year ago, the exhibits are startlingly depress- ing. The decrease in gross revenues, large though they are, make good show ing as against the net earnings It has thus far been impossible for the trans portation companies to scale down their operating expenses and other expenditure in proportion to the decreased incomes
 To make matters worse, they are seem ingly afraid to enter upon a campaign for a reduction in wages, the attitude of tho national administration deterring them from such action. It is commonly believed that if business continues bad tho railroads will eventually be forced to wholesale wage reduction, and that when such act becomes compulsory they will move in concert.
 It is observed in this connection that the general business of the country as reflected in the bank clearings keeps close pace with the diminution in rail- road earnings. The bank clearings for the month of February show falling off of about 26 per cent compared with Feb ruary, 1907, and about 90 per cent com- pared with 1906. Every industrial and commercial item of favorable sort is made the most of, but the fact remains unsatisfactory. On every hand we hear of dividends and of the application of rigid economies.
 As the volume of business contracts and less employment is found for live money capital continues to pile up in the financial centers Solvent borrowers are holding aloof because they cannot find safe employment for borrowed funds at a profit The banks are looking about for customers, but are obliged to dis crimnate. The mere fact that man or an institution or a corporation wants to borrow at this period of general un- certainty of itself arouses suspicion as to the solvency or good judgment of the applicant.
 Hence it is that railroads that are obliged to do any financing must pay al most usurous rates for accommodations. The bond houses and the banks are load ed with bonds, for which there is no market, and in no quarter can it be truthfully said that there are signs of substantial revival. This is a gloomy picture but an accurate one.