The Washington herald., 1909-02-14
MARKET Is WAITING
Forces Indicating Activity in
Stocks Developing.
OUTLOOK GIVES CONFIDENCE
More Disposition to Make Purchases
shown During Last Week-hOre or
Present, hut Future Seems Bright
Throughout the Entire Country.

Throughout the Entire COUNTY,
New York. Feb. 1.-THE transactions
and movements In the stock market last
week we're for the most part Of the same
inconseQuential sort as they have been
now for q long period, but nevertheless
Il seemed clear that the market was
making progress in an upward direction
In the week before last, although dull
ness was no less intensified than It had
been previously, there were plain signs
Of & more encouraged feeling and OF 8
greater disposition on the part OF people
70 make purchases
Last week these indications were more
pronounced, and while It Is always diff
cult to form definite judgments on such
things. yet the opinion OF Wall street
seems to be moving toward a consensus
that stagnant as affairs may be in the
financial district, for longer time still
in the future. the potential forces Of so-
t;vity are gathering there. and in The
business life OF the country as well
Confident as 10 Future.
The truth Is. as has been reiterated in
this column IN recent weeks, that the
aniEaating conviction OF the American
public at this time is one Of hope and
confidence regarding the business future
Views differ widely as 70 the time when
a decided business revival may be ex-
pected TO set IL
The greater number Of those expressing
look for any great picking Up in trade
until after the new tariff laws are passed,
the time Of waiting here exercising an
additional influence along the lire OF
hesitation and caution by reason OF the
fact that the time IS coincident with the
period Of uncertainty regarding the sea
sons crops.
It is the general anticipation. however.
that next year VIII be a very much bet
ter business year than the present and
II Is doubtless q more or less common
anticipation that marked preliminary il
oicauons Of this development VIII be
seen not later than the coming fall
There are, moreover, not a few intelligent
and sagaciOus men who believe that even
IN SO short tine removed as next month
business viii begin 10 give promise OF
better things than i now does.
Recovery Began Slowly.
What appears to have taken place IN
these matters is. broadly speaking, this:
Following the sudden and almost abso-
lutte paralysis Of business that occurred
IN the panic months OF 1907, an almost in
fnitesimaI process Of recover. began 70
exhibit itself. starting Immediately upon
the discovery that the foundations Of
business in the country were still strong
and sound and that there were elements
in the situation warranting optimistic
views that never prevailed before in any
similar crisis IN the C0untTy's history.
The recovery went on, gradually IN
cTeasing its pace throughout the year
1905 hating, however, IN the month Just
previous 10 the Presidential election on
account of natural apprehension as 10 the
outcome Of the great struggle.
When this event was happily decided
the held up" orders for goods rushed
into the market and business started I'd
IN lively and jerky way that could not
in the nature Of things be permanent and
which chiefly represented, as Is now seen
the inevitable quick upward recon from
the repression and anxiety Of weeks Just
ended
Thus upward squirt both in business and
IN the stock market eliminated about the
beginning OF last December, and since
that time business affairs proper, taken
as q whole. have been experiencing some
thing OF reaction from the November
fever.
Setback Not Expected.
What, now, should be the course Of
these matters n the months near at
hand? The reasonable judgment seems to
10 hot NJ ~ 9--
expected other than that which should
carry affairs back TO the point which thcy
would naturally have reached had not the
political vicissitudes centering in point
OF tine upon November 3 last entered
into the case as an especial and excep-
tional financial factor. and il is the
judgment Of many conservative observers
that the point referred 70 has indeed a.
ready been touched
What we should IOol- TO see now Is. for
business TO 60 on developing and advanc-
ing in the same slow and steady manner
= that il has in the last eighteen months.
and acquiring greater momentum as the
months pass
Although the remark IS commonly
heard that business at the moment is
fat, the truth is that, taken in the mass.
IL is pretty good, and that its recovery
since November, 1907, has been frst-rate
Wholesalers Sold Out.
An element here that has been often
spoken Of, but whose force still does not
seem TO be thoroughly appreciated, is the
exhaustion OF stocks IN many lines Of
business, which has compelled replenish-
ment on the part Of wholesale dealers
and BY the large consumers
This has been, perhaps, most notable
in the dry goods and textile trades. an
instance thereof being the sales as re-
ported by the American WOOlsn Companv
Of over S1S,o00000 worth Of goods IN the
last ten days. being the largest business
ever done by the company IN a similar
length Of time In facr. Of all the leading
industries IN the land there are only three
at the moment that seem to be really
particularly depressed, and these are the
coal mining business and the iron and
steel and copper trades
The open winter and the lessened con
sumption Of bituminous coal by manu-
facturers IN the Eastern part OF the coun-
try are responsible for the smaller sales
81 fuel.
The prime reasons for the dullness in
the metal trades are that the railroad
companies Of the land are still sparse
with their orders for new equipment and
materials. and that, as the boom IN the
electrical business was the especial feat
ure Of the industrial development OF the
country IN the decade ending with 1896
rather notable quiet IN this line now is
only 10 be expected.
pEANTTT CUnYEP VTTTC