The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-17
l NICHOLAS WALL STREET LETTER Stock Market Goes Through
 Test Period PUBLIC GETS RIDE UP Outside Investors Buy at Low Ebb and Profit by the Recovery of Prices.
 Protected Interests in
 Hands of Friends.
PUBLIC GETS RIDE UP
By W. G. NICHOLAS.

By w. G. NICHOLAS.
 New York, January 16.-The stock market Is going through test period. There has occurred an important reaction which carried most of the active issues well down the grsde. the loss ranging from 6 to 10 points. taking no account of the 40 point slump in Consolidated Gas The last to lose ground were the low priced things but they, too, got into the current and went with the rest of the stocks and sloughed off. Indeed, they developed features of weakness that proved a drag and a weakness. These stocks were the last to feel the buying impulse and when it was discovered that they were out of line there was rush to load up. The public enlisted en masse to put the cheap things on market parity with the fayorites-not on even terms in quotation sense, of course, but "in line" relatively.
 In so doing the public bought enormous ly, being supplied from inside sources. Every office in New York and in every other city was plastered with the stuff and when the reaction set in the market was in heavily overbought condition Technically this IS regarded as weak position for market to get Into and 1t proved to be the case on this occasion, but to the general surprise the decline in prices failed to dlsodge holdings in any, where near the volume anticipated.
 The present problem is whether 1t will be dumped in quantities In the event of further marked recession whether such decline will not encourage new public buying and the replacement of lines for account of sold out bulls
 The public received encouraging and impressive returns from it's heavy and wholesale investments during and after the panic. Reversing the usual order of procedure, it got in at the bottom instead of the top and rode up with the extraor- dinary market boom originated and en- gineered by Messrs. Harriman William Rockefeller, H. H. Rogers, H. c. Prick and their associates and followers
 As a rule the public stuck right by it's investments and whether it bought margin or outright is away ahead of the game. For wonder the public did little pyramiding on the rise, again displaying unusual and almost uncanny wisdom. With this glowing and satisfactory pererce behind it no wonder the public fails to take fright and go into stampede just because of a 5 to 10 point reaction after 20 to 9O point advance. It simply smiles. Later on, if say 40 or 50 per cent of the accumulated profits pass into the limbs of the vanished then the public may take notice and possibly haste to grab off the unconfseated remainder The public has certainly enjoyed a novel and thor oughly delightful experience in its deal ings with Wall street. Consequently 1t is In a position and mood to regard with 8 feeling of mixed contempt and indifference the market juggling attempts to put through one of the old time shake outs" The shaking out thus far has been con- fined largely to the light waisted thin margined fraternity of eleventh-hour bulls. The great army of investor-spec- ulators has been thus far unmoved and apparently deaf to the clamor and the ghost stories of the bears.
 The test is as to whether the market from dead weight will break through the none too thick ice and go splashing to the depths or hold stubbornly around the & present range until the good time arrives 8< for another upward movement. This may sibe soon as it may be delayed until after the tariff revision is completed Wall tstreet. by which is meant the stock mar s aket, has a way of dscounting the future nNith astonishing accuracy. Its reasoning Is not always clear or convincing, but it's ftp)ncusons are right four times out of five. It is more than likely to get the correct line on Congress, action long be- fore the vote is taken on the new tariff bill The business communities may be as alert as Wall street in this tariff mat ter Washington is in closest touch with Wall street; not in an improper way, as have put it many times in these letters, but because one is the political depart ment and the other the financial depart ment of a great business institution-the United States of America. Between them there can be no mystery and few secrets. Neither has exclusive information Each has trained intelligence which quckens apprehension of the bearing and signifi- canoe of current events and developments the one politically and the other iis money way. Hence it would not be sur prsing if the New York stock market did not jump to tariff conclusion before Congress realizes it has made up its mind.
 And bear in mind the vital fact that revision of the tariff is in the hands of republican Congress and administration committed to readjustment along protec- ton lines Judge F. H. Gary, spokes- man for the Steel Corporation, when asked if he was not disturbed over the revision prospect replied with an ex- pression of angelic faith we are in the hands of our friends" It would be diffi- cult to convey in words the sense of rest ful peace reflected in the voice and man. ner of the speaker as he uttered the phrase. Surely tariff revision is in the ''hands of its friends and Wall street has the 'hunch' that no business inter- est will be hurt, if injury can be avoided. Word Is received that the protected n- terests have planned a demonstration against Congress which they calculate