The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-04-19
BUOYANT NOTE
In STOCK MARKET
Main Influences Are Easily
Ascertained.
Optimistic Trend of Trade Both II
Internal and Export
business.
HENRY oLEws' WEEKLY LETTER

| New York, April ~. Especial y
| Speculation for the rise has been
more active. and at times a decidedly
buoyant feeling was displayed in the
stock market. Easy money, increasing
activity of business and lessened anx-
Iiety regarding tariff legislation were
the main influences at work. OF these
cheap money was of course the most
Important. Idle funds are accumu-
Iating and bankers have extreme DIFF
ficulty in finding satisfactory employ
ment for deposits left in their charge
While such ease has Its encouraging
features, especially as any good
borrower can now secure ample funds
for legitimate purposes. still there
Is the double danger Of either un-
duly stimulating speculation or fos-
|tering an imprudent granting of
credit; two evils that would surely
invite unpleasant consequences later
on. At the moment. however. an
optimistic tone prevails In Wall street
which is being skillfully encouraged
by market leaders. Europe is also
taking part, especially London, where
money Is unusually easy. and the
prevalent disposition seems to favor
speculation In American securities.
On this side of the Atlantic the ease
in money isof course intensified by
our currency system. making Il i'm
possible TO call in a sufficient amount
OF notes in case OF such redundancy
as now exists. Nevertheless. with an
elastic currency system even at this
time money would Inevitably be cheap
that being a universal condition in
all the worlds financial centers be-
cause of the general inactivity of
trade. The demand for monetary
accommodations has declined in all
parts of the world. and this Is the
main reason for low interest rates.
The large Increase in gold supply has
had something TO do with this con-
dition, but IL remains to be seen
whether the present supply OF gold
will be excessive when the worlds
trade regains normal proportions and
the Increased consumption of the arts
are taken into consideration.
business
In business circles there are con-
tinued signs Of revival. This is par
Iticularly true of the building trades in
which there is much activity In the
erection of large buildings resulting
from cheap money. lower raw ma
terials and increased efficiency OF
labor. There is also much activity
In the structural department OF the
steel industry. The RAILROADS are now
placing orders more freely. and Il Is
not improbable that April viii be a
record-breaking month in structural
material orders. or course, prices are
| exceedingly low and in many cases
profit has been reduced to a mini
mum. AS a result economies are be-
| ing enforced In every direction, some
times by lessening the force, some
times by lowering wages. Another
sign of activity is shown in the large
purchases for wool by manufacturers
who see orders ahead. The cotton
Industry is also in satisfactory cOndi-
ton: the retail dry goods trade is
Becoming more active. and on all
sides signs are multiplying that we
have turned the corner and that bet
ter times are ahead IL is not 10 be
supposed that the period of readjust-
ment Is ended-that must go on; be-
cause In many cases prices OF commo-
iities are still upon too high plane.
But the lesson is being taught that
prosperity is possible upon a lower
basis, a condition which Is really
moro desirable because more stable
md also more equitable when the
necessities OF life can be had at more
reasonable cost. The tariff question
now out of the way as a stock
market factor, and cannot even dis
.urb general trade very severely, as
no harmful changes in the schedules
are expected.
Foreign Trade.
Our foreign trade returns forl
March we're not without encouraging
features. The total value Of merch-
andise imports last month was $133,-
700 600, probably the largest March
On record. Importations were some
what stimulated by the desire to anti
cIpate the tariff, though in some in
stances they were checked by expec-
tations Of a lowering Of rates. The
satisfactory feature OF our imports,
however, was the large increase In