The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-23
TNANCIAL REVIEW

NeW torks Aug. zZ-IrahsectiohS averaging well aboev million shares daily is the record in brief of the past week on the stock exchange. Prices of . dozen of the more important Issues receded from i've to fifteen points. The severest declines were recorded by the Hartman Issues. MT. Harriman's state of health being the pivot around which the entire market grated in rather spectacular fashion.
 It cannot be said that the declines bore any relation to the general busi- ness of the country but rather that they followed too rapid discounting of prosperity and proposed financial and railroad deals.
 Just fve issues-Union Pacific. Southern Pacific. New York Central Reading and United States steel--have made up the great bulk of the weeks active operations. Prices now average about i've points lower than . week ago. and to that extent the market Is so much better off. The best vpinion Is that 1t needs to settle down before 1t can absorb and digest stocks of- fered
 The general trade outlook Is most encouraging, the volume of orders in the hands of merchants and manufac- turers being probably greater than at any time since the fall of 1907. There l8 every VEO6RCCI OI A TISink Stu0 HI business and of unprecedented activity this coming winter if not before. The enactment of the neYr tarin has been followed by a release of orders suf- icient to raise total activities 1b to 20 per cent. above the level of July. The transportation companies are bending their energies to meet the coming re- vival of trade and the demand for new cars and engines has led to some x<a. sfw>x.S nrAA fwx AA oaf fortnight. In the last week. contracts for 100000 tons of steel rails were also awarded. Traffic officials of Western roads are assembling cars at all the grain centers and it is their stated Doc lief that October will bring a car fam inc
 Movements of merchandise are stead fly increasing. while railr&ad earnings. after some declines in June and the early part of July. again are rising and now are we'll in advance of last year. The feature of the returns for the fsoai year is the large expansion shown Sn net earnings Tn comparison with the small gross earnings. To cite a case in point the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. with about s800,- 0O0 more revenue than in 1s07-os re- ported surplus Of over s4.44I.ooo as against a deficit. after dividends, In the previous year of S475.0ov.
 Money shows e further tendency to advance. Loans maturing at tho end of ths year, as well as i've and six months. are being made at four per cent, with lenders more careful as 70 the character of collateral. The fea- ture of the market is tho increased mercantile demand. New York ex- change at Chicago has been thirty cents discount. with Western bankers drawing down their balance here, pre- paratory to even greater demand when the crop movement gathers full swing. It is believed. however, that money will not be more than moderately firm at the end of the year. and bond dealers already are figuring on an &C., tive market for investment securities in the coming months on the basis of loan rates
 Gold exports to South America and Canada were a feature. last week.
 Foreign exchange is still subject Go the influence of sales against future exports of grain and cotton ana of the security bills. The July foreign trade statement again was unfavorabIe in that imports exceeded exports by nearly $30.000.000. Europe ia safd to be exhibiting some uneasiness over the amount of American borrowings in London and Paris. These have basn estimated as high as $l00, ,000. 900, which is probably more than double the amount of our obligations.
 Much encouragement is derived from an exhaustive report on American rail. roads. issued by The London Statist The report Is more optimistic and of- fers numerous reasons for believing that this country is on the eve of a period of unexampled prosperify