New-York tribune., 1909-07-26
MONEY AND RTSINESS.

| High prices fcr stocks are inducing quiet
! selling by experienced operators who accumu-
lated their lines at bargain levels but there is
| no indication that bull manipuIators are ready
TO change their position on the market. The ar
gument Of easy money and trade revival contin-
ues to attract a certain amount Of public buy
| ing and Just as long as call funds can he
cured at cheap figures stock market bulls doubt
less will find it profitable to operate for higher
| quotations. despite the fact that Improvement in
| the industrial situation has been more than dis
| counted by the appreciation already recorded in
| stock Exchange values. High prices for Sc
curties naturally serve TO strengthen confidence
| in business circles. but the cost Of the larger
| number Of investment issues is too great to IN
| duce an active demand for shares and bonds
| from persons who have idle funds on hand. the
| only buying of Importance at the moment repre-
sentirg wholly speculative transactions, both in
| stocks and mortgage securities The promi-
nent railroad shares sold higher on the average
last week than in any preceding week in the
year, and closed off from that figure at 1870.
against 1850 in the preceding week, while the
industrias ended at 94.50, a gain Of OPS
That the interior will soon begin TO draw upon
New York for currency is reflected in the move
ment Of domestic exchange and in the prepara-
tions being made by the local banks to increase
their cash resources in expectation of large
Withdrawals in connection with the financing of
the harvests and an active autumn trade re-
vival. Banks at this centre have disposed Of
some of their securities purchased at lower
prices and it is probable that the movement viii
continue. as the cash Will be worth more to the
lending institutions in the weeks to come than
investment holdings but the chief strengthening
of their resources must come from the liquida-
ton of loans, which far heavier than they
were at this time last year, and in great part
are against speculative commitments in the
stock market Loans of all national banks in
the country show an increase as compared with
this period year ago of more than $420,O0O0OO,
while in the same time there has been an in
crease in cash Of less than S370OO.00O. with net
gold exports of more than $3.50. 100000. General
conditions governing the money market suggest
much higher rates in the late and
autumn and the possibility of the practical ap-
plication for the first time of the makeshift
emergency currency measure.
Outside of an adverse foreign commerce situa-
ton and labor troubles in certain departments OF
the steel trade the general position of affairs in
the business world is extremely encouraging t.
the theory that the country is gradually enter
ing a period of record breaking Industrial ac-
tivity The long drawn out tariff discussion
acts as a restrictive influence in some branches
of trade but in mercantile circles there Is
disposition to believe bearishly OF the future
because of the slow progress Of affairs In Wash
ington. The railroads continue to show increas-
ing earnings, bank clearings well above the
records of a year ago. further activity is
ported in the metal trades, crop prospects fore
shadow large harvests on the average and speci-
hcations on work to be done at later peSods
promise to tax the capacity of manufacturing
plants. The transportation companies in
the market with larger contracts for equipment
and rails the character of these orders sustain
ing the recent prediction Of the car and locomo-
tive builders and rollers of rails that the rail
ways would soon become active factors in the
work of industrial revival.
Pig iron markets are strong throughout the
country, and higher prices for finished steel
products are expected in the near future. One
Of the most gratifying factors in the country's
industrial situation is the expansion under way
in the iron and steel trade, especially as that
department Of business is accepted as our most