The sun., 1909-11-14
GOSSIP OF WALL srREEr.

been predicted before the close Of busi-
| ness Friday. Before that time the Street
had been led % believe that an entire
obliteration OF the slender surplus reported
at the end Of the preceding week would
be shown In yesterdays statement. 1t
would turn out to be q physical inpossi-
bility. IT was asserted. that those stocks
arriving from London and shifted from
London to New York loans could be carried
here without dipping into reserves, espe-
cially at a time when the banks were ship
ping money into the Interior and sending
gold to South America. These predic-
tions were somewhat modified on Friday.
and yesterday were revised entirely on the
news that the banks had greatly contracted
loans and that a s per cent. call money
rate had brought funds from unexpected
places.
The bank statement. ordinarily on the
| tape promptly at noon. was almost hf-
| teen minutes late. Traders in the Offices,
puzzled over the delay. wondered whether
the report was so bad that the exchange
was ashamed TO put it on the tape or so
good that the men In charge Of the tape
couldn't believe the figures. It. turned
out that il was sstonshingiy good. for
the increase OF 81 .72s 900 In reserve in the
average statement was up to sangune
expectation and the increase Of se.ss0. 900
previous forecast.
Both statements showed q loss OF more
than o., 600, 600 cash and each displayed q
statement reporting decrease OF SO, Tji 900
in the loan account and the other a de-
crease of $50. .7s5. 900. The loan contractions
were brought about to an important extent
by the shifting OF loans to Canadian financial
institutions. one of which alone placed
ss. .OO0. 900 in the call money market and was
otherwise explained by the decrease In
stock market activity and the appearance
Of corporate and indiv idusl lending. But
the location OF the stocks. so often reported
sent from London to this city. remalned
as much a mystery as ever. The sugges-
ton was even ventured that the stocks
might not have been sent.
In copper it always has happened that
widely different views Of the statistical
position of the metal. prices and all other
matters of market interest could be found
amonc copper producers great deal
at all times has depended on whether one
selling agency was sold out and another
long of the metal, whether one group was
active in the market for copper stocks and
another indifferent and. very often. ON
whether or not a seller Of the metal had
settled with the producing mine. The
same difference of opinion prevails now
regarding the importance OF the constantly
reported negotiations for an Agreement
among certain copper producers. In some
quarters the negotiations are put ont as the
most important trade development since
the organization OF the United States Steel
Corporation or. at any rate. an occurrence
full of advantageous possibilities. Those
who look at the ne sotiations that way have
latterly been heavy buyers OF the rpccula-
tive copper stocks.
This opposite opinion of the Importance
OF tho negotiations was expressed yester-
day: When the first report was br uited
around Wall Street the negotiations em-
braced all the impo rtant copper producers
here and abroad. It had Phelps. Dodge a
Co. and Calumet and Hecla In IL here and
Rio Tinto and Tanganyika abroad. One by
one these imp ortant companies have been
elimina ted. and the independent lake pro-
ducers and others OF consider t,ble i'm
portsnce have alro dropped out. Now the
situation seems to be that Amslsamated
and the Cole-Ryan companies. which have
long worked together. are perfecting a
new agreement; that the Gus genheims are
drawing their companies closer together.
and that these two may reach some agree-
Tnent on prices and production. Even that
is important. but a. compared with the
early reports IL Is a reminder OF the old
saying. -Tapering down 70 Tim, which
Senator Platt used when candidate after
candidate had declined a nomination and
Mr.. Woodruff name was suggested a
last resort
Whatever the merits of these widely
varying opinions. there was no doubt yester-
day that the speculat tors were buying copper
stocks on. the optimistic view. Amaiga-
mated was the feature OF the Stock Ex-
change speculation. advancing on very