The Cairo bulletin., 1909-11-29

lsonally would propose any radical
measures. yet he fully understands
the strong public opinion throughout
the country which is hostile to such
combinations. and recognizes that il
he Aoes not satisfy the public desire
for action. MIR Roosevelt may he
hence. As to the attitrde Of Congress
nothing can yet be ascertainej owing
to the conflict OF various issues. The
legislature. however is likely to be
more unfriendly than otherwise to
eornorate interests. and there = no
doubt that amendment of the Sher-
man law will be attended with ditII
Guilty this season. Another depressing
Influence has been the firnlness OF
money. No particular stringencG Is
anticipated but good interest rate
must be expected for some weeks to
come, which is not helpful to bulliish
operations when the market is al
ready upon a high level. fhe business
situation, however is not without It's
encouraging features. Railroad trat-
fic Is increasing, and practically all
of the roads report satisfactory gross
earnings Mills and factories in near
~ all parts of the country are running
full time. The steel and building
trades still maintain their phenomenal
activity. In a few quarters there is
slight slacEening Of the pace as the
rush Of the fall trade is over but this
is not general. In the wholesale ami
retail trade there is a decided feel
of conservatism among merchants
who often hesitate to enter into ,tu-
ture contracts becajse Of present h'gA
costs of production and high prices of
raw materials. There is also an IN
easy feeling regarding the manipula'
ton, and whie-the general situation
is hopeful, ii is not without its serious
perplexities. chief of which is the gen
orally high scale of prices
The British Budget.
i One other element of uncertainty
is the situation abroad arising out Of
the British Budget proposal which is
not only revolutionary in some of its
proposals. bnt also disturbing to for
eign financial and commercial inter
ests. 1t is possible that the British
Government will be obliged to enter
the money market on considerable
scale to meet deficiencies which will
occur if the House of Lords rejects
the present bill. This has caused
! feeling of uneasiness. not only in Lon
! don, hut ut The uropean finanCia! cen
ters, which has since been further de-
yeloped by the Standard Dol decision,
American copper combination Will
| have to be either abandoned or else
very materially modified, possibly on
! the lines of community interests. The
present outlook, therefore is not en-
tirely an encouraging one con Sidering
! the high level of security values and
the indications points to hesitatlng
market for some time to come. US
chief support still comes from a few
enormously wealthy holders who
/ forced the market when money was
Icheap to an abnormally high level,
/ This group Of men have already lost
1.-TWO of the ablest leaders, ana 1t re
mains to be seen how long they will
lie able to successfully resist natural
tendencies which favor a lower and
lmore stable range ., values. fhc re
cent demolition of merger and segre-
cation plans has deprived the specu
Iative leaders OF two Of their most
powerful means of manipulation. !
therefore advise caution in buying the
IstoCks that are organized as holding
companies. especially those that have
contemplated segregating their assets
under new carrying schemes. The re-
cent Standard Oil decision knocks out
all such devices; and corporations OF
this kind winch now exist aud those
hereafter . organized are and will be
law breakers and are likely to be
made to dissolve.
HENRY CLEWS