The Washington herald., 1909-03-08
EYES ON THE TARIFF
Wall Street Is Dormant in
the Meantime.
DULL SEASON OF THE YEAR
Market Conditions Recently Have
Given Evidence OF - Determination
90 Await Changing of Schedules
and TO See What Outcome of Steel
Fight VIII Be-Traffic Growing.

New York. March Throughout the
week before last and the early part OF
last week the general impulse OF the stock
market was 10 rally from the sharp de-
preston that IL had previously expert
enced. Toward the end OF the week. how
ever. the market became dull and heavy.
although right at the very close II was
stronger.
There are. % course. many spectators
/ who pay considerable attention 10 the
well-known tendency Of a market TO re-
cover after a drop OF panic character
/ something Ike half OF the decline and
/ then 10 slowly sag back again 10 the low
/ prices before made, and there are un-
doubtedly a good many people in Wall
street al present who are expecting that
/ before a broad upward movement in the
market starts again the average low
prices OF Tuesday. February 2, will once
more be seen
/ On the other hand. It Is not always safe
10 trust implicitly general market princi-
/ pies or supposed principles Of this sort
These are often found to be true, roughly
/ speaking. at times when the market has
really been dominated by panic selling
I but although there was period OF viO-
/ lent liquidation In stocks in February, the
/ market at this time was never thoroughly
/ demoralized. and attempts to deduce the
ories Of action and reaction from ii with
/ in set limits are absurd Admittedly the
! speculative situation OF the moment is
more or less elouded.
Waiting on the Tariff.
Financial ventures are waiting upon the
tarin. the crop prospect. the commodity
| eiause" decision, the settling down OF dis
turbed conditions in steel and iron. the ar
raugement Of affairs IN the anthracite
mining district and upon fuller enlighten-
ment concerning the exact attitude toward
business affairs likely to be pursued by
I the new administration; but from a closer
view, the stock market Is suffering FROM
the inertia OF large money interests. y
may be that these interests are hesitatinS
4 for the general reasons described. lust as
/ ordinary people might reasonably be sup
posed 10 do.
But the fact is they nearly always do
! hesitate for some reason or other at this
7 time Of year They leave the stock mar
ket 10 itself, or largely so. and this means
/ that SPECTATORS for the decline are IN a
/ sense encouraged 10 90 around hunting
\ Tor weak spots" IN the market and 70
I induce as much scattering selling as they
/ can from weak or frightened holders OF
/ securities. Eventually. OF course. the big
men viii cease their attitude OF indirer-
enee and viii once more turn up in the
market as heavy buyers
/ Right at the moment perhaps more in
] 9 FHI- f~- q
/ the teTiE. one week from to-day. as IS
/ expected, the Committee on Vavs and
/ Means of the House OF REPRESENTATIVES.
/ which has been so long maturing a new
tariff bin. VIII make its report Then the
! DEBATE over the biu will begin and the
I revised tariff laws VIII be enacted IN due
I course. II would seem. however. as Il
/ TWO conclusions regarding the matter
4 can b drawn ar the present time. one
! Is that what may be called the worst
about the new tariff VIII be known as
+ soon as the House committee makes its
/ report.
/ It Is altogether improbable IN other
[ words. that any lower tarin schedules
/ viii b adopted than suggested by this
/ committee; and the overwhelming like
hhood is that the rates named by the
| committee VIII be increased. Secondly.
/ there seems 20 be every reasonable
/ ground for hope that the tariff law VIII
be enacted mucu sooner than any sim
ilar statute has been before.
No Trouble Expected.
The House OF antatlves Will I,
IS known, take measures for shortening
the debate on the bill in that BODY: in
/ the Senate. where no rules for limiting
debate prevails. Democratic opposition %
the bill will nevertheless, be OF a formal
character, as many Democrats are As
much interested in seeing that the affairs
OF their constituencies are protected bv
the new bill as Republicans. Trouble i
/ not expected in the Senate over The Mas
ure, except from one or two rnalco1ta1+,
with whom possibilities Of DELAY are I'm
/ tied iii''-
Meantime there are encoraging featryres
/ IN the situation generally. PrimariIy- n
IS 70 be borne in mind that the coun-
/ Try has had its financial and business
/ panic and that an era Of recoverv tbare-
! trom is unmistakably IN progress. II nav
/ be that the discounting process was IN
! dulged in a little too rapidly IN 1908 nar-
/ ueularly after the Presidential election
/ day, and that something Of a stock mar
| ket setback Is natural But the broad
movement Is plainly IN an upward direc-
ton. and nothing resembling a serious
or prolonged decline either in the stock
/ market OF in general business IS 10 be
I looked for
/ For a long time past the Balkan diff
/ Guilty has hung over business and dnsn-
| cial relations everywhere, giving rise
10 fears that in the spring OF this year
/ there would be an outbreak OF war IN
! southeastern Europe. But II now seems
| clear especially through last weeks de-
1 velopments. that chances OF trouble OF
/ this kind have been reduced 70 a mini
num-
/ The crop outlook with Us Is a great deal
! better than II bade fair to be at the end
/ of last year, when the whole northern
I half Of the country was feeling the ef-
/ fects OF a drought There has bee-, since
! that time a fail Of moisture both in the
form OF rain and snow sufficient 10 put
/ winter wheat crop IN good condition and
provide water 10 run the New England
/ mills
Traffic shows Increase.
The railroads have obviously entered
upon a period OF increased revenues:
and that this is not due merely 70
/ economies in their operation Is shown bv
the enlargements Of gross earnings thar
are almost daily reported. IN a large
number OF specific departments Of bust
ness which have been time and again
noted In this column trade Is excellent. no
matter by what standard considered. and
there is small reason TO entertain a pes
simistic view OF the stock market and
business as a whole simply because COP
per and iron and steel are now selling
az low prices
The course Of the stock market itself
shows on its face that reasons for a dif-
| ferentiatinn- here are nnhIicIv annraciaaaa