Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-12
Financial News Letter
pv w g NICHOLAS.

By w. G. NICHOLAS.
Special Dispatch 10 The Star
NEW YORK. July 11.-Manipulation
again became the ruling feature ol lhe
stock market. and prices 1or many ol
The favorites went soaring. Inc assre-
| gate of business jumped In one oaS from
1900 shares to more than opo.eo shares.
and has kept up the Improvement. 10
some extent this burst OF activity on an
advancing scale of quotations was an
open demonstration of Wall street con-
tempt for the Denver convention and its
product The movement may be said to
represent in a degree wall street haDlt OF
discounting the future, which IN TINS case
means the election of Taft and the MAIN
tenance az republican majority in the
National House of Representatives. wall
street is almost childish at times In It's
methods of political reasoning ana con
illusions. The mere tact tnat MI. dI
has seemingly the cntlre approval VI
Wall street is hlindly accepted as tanta-
mount to his election. The need of sew
eral million votes TO confirm this verdict
is not taken into consideration. ne "dii
street favor is enough 10 90 the business
The rest follows as natural sequence
that is, the registration Oh Tic popuidr
Will at the polls
Such a thing never enters the guileless
Wall street political mind that the rad
icals who worship Roosevelt IN tre re-
publican party and Bryan In the demo-
cratic may find Bryan more to their l1k-
ing than Taft-more ROoSeveltfan, as 1t
Were, and more dependable than any can
didate who may happen TO Dask IN the
sunshine of lower Manhattan Island
Wall street is deeply grounded In the
conceit of it's own political infail1blllty.
but it was wise old joe Medill of the
Chicago Tribune who noted once upon
a time that there are more BARRIERS and
butchers and bakers than there are bank
ers. Likewise, these BARRIERS and butch
ers and bakers have numerically thou
sand times more cousins and brothers and
uncles than the bankers have. All of
which leads to the thought that there is
plenty of time for an awakening in the
three and a half months that will elapse
before the ballots go into the boX-time
enough to alternately elect TAFT and
Bryan half a dozen times. The more ex-
perienced element in Wall street look for
at least two or three prediction furrieS
before the first Tuesday in November.
The general business situation continues
disappointing, no matter what the apos-
ties OF cheerfulness and sunshine may
say to the contrary. Railroad earnings
are showing up bad week by week and
month by month Conversatonally things
are looking bright and buoyant in many
quarters, and there are those who take
seriously the joyously intoned declaration
of Gary Of the steel trust on the eve of
his departure for a two months junket
in Europe. One of the judges associates
in the management of the big corpora
tion characteriZes his utterances as hot
air. and makes the statement that it is
fatty contradictory of known facts in
many particulars and misleading as to
present conditions. He added that the
steel corporation is now running only 40
per cent of its capacity against several
points higher a month ago-a situation he
did not consider encouraging, in view of
the fact that we are now entering upon
the last half of the year period not
usually productive of a great amount of
new business.
The papers are full of outbursts every
once in a while of the unemployment
of large numbers of men, railroads being
picked out as conspicuously active in new
work. A few days ago the Illinois Central
was named as having put 5000 new men
at work in its machine and repair shops.
1t actually put $50 men at work. Upon
such material is confidence expected to
be spontaneously restored. Ado is also
made of the fact that the number of idle
cars on the side tracks is now reduced
to almost 100000 and prophecy is made
before the end of the year that there will
not be cars enough to handle the freight.
If this glorious condition could come
about the railroads would certainly have
occasion to rejoice, for they are running
behind normal at a most sickening rate.
and in order to make both ends meet they
are forced to such economiZing as they
have never INDUCED in before for many
gears.