New-York tribune., 1909-04-30
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
HEAVY TONE IN STOCKS.
Local fractions Strong Exceptions
-Erie's ImwoUed Position.

After a moderate exhibition of strength in the
carly dealings the general market became ex-
tremev irregular and in the last hour decluedN
weak though the downward movement was not
accompanied by important selling or oy IlqHlda-
tion in any volume The greater part OF the
sales represented operations by the professional
element while the same thing may be said OF
the buying especially in a number OF shares
which closed at net gains in spite OF the losses
made in the majority of prominent issues Inc
railway equipment shares the local traction Sc
curties Southern Railway, Atchison and the
Erie stocks moved to a higher level under the
influence OF a good sort of speculative ouylhs'
but elsewhere as n rule final prices showed net
declines. with the heaviest losses in 81 Paul
Northern Pacific, Southern Paclhc, Union fa-
cifc and United States Steel common, the
last named being sold on the theory that tl@
recent advance in it had been overdone and that
overoptimism regarding the Improvement In the
steel trade prevailed in speculative quarters
Wall Street generally bases its opinion of the
future on we'll defined and trustworthy ind1c3-
tions-at least. that section OF the street Whlch
does not operate mere fancies, and IN the
case of the position of the steel trade the real
banking community feels assured that the in
dustry has turned the corner and gradually VIII
move toward a condition of great prosperity
This however is reason for reckless bun
operations in the securities markets. The fall
ure of the heavy gains in earnings by the Union
Pacific and the Southern Pacific TO bring about
shares was effective in encouraging some aG-
gressiveness on the part of bear traders while
the absence of any important commission house
demand for the account of the public also was q
factor In creating a bear market in the after
noon ira nsactions: Furthermore there was
some selling on adverse weather reports from
the crop section Of the country. which naturally
induced uneasiness among operators for the
rise The movement in Reading contrary to the
general list suggested manipulation in that is
faciii nf ell n n
of the market Most stocks closed at about the
lowest of the day.
The improving financial condition Of the Erie
from actual operations suggests the advance
ment of the property to more favorable posi-
tIon among the high grade railroads as the year
goes on. while the acceptance by the company
Of the bond issue terms OF the Public Service
Commission means that it will secure mate
rial amount Of money for the financing OF Sc
curity obligations and for expenditures upon the
road. all OF which will tend to strengthen con-
fdence In the future Of the Erie issues For
the month of March, the earnings OF which were
published yesterday, there is shown eXpan-
sion both in gross and net Of noteworthy pro-
portion the gain in the latter bringing the
increase in that item for the nine months Of the
fiscal year to S3.955.530. The Erie has been
through strenuous times but 1t has good back
ing, the behind ii having such d knowledge
of practical railroading and railroad financing
that they have been convinced the future OF the
property will bear out their faith in IT, With
the return of the countrys business to a
NAL basis the Erie will be able through recent
and current expenditures the road to handle
a larger volume Of traffic, and it runs
through a productive section of the country its
freight tonnage in the prosperous years ahead
ought to be enormous. The improvement in the
financial and physical position of the Erie is
oniv one evidence of what is going among
all the railroads of the country the tendency Of
heavier expenditures on new construction, ex-
tensions. grade reductions the elimination OF
expensive curves and rolling stock promising
to become more marked. owing to the prospect
of a long period of favorable conditions for the
financing of new securities issues. There is an
active demand for bonds that put out for
reflnding purposes and for the raising Of new
working capital, and roads that have note issues
nearing maturity will have difficulty In sub
stituting for them long time obligations. It
was only a short time ago that the railroads OF
the. country were compelled TO put out notes at
a high cost because there market for
their bonds The bond market yesterday was
more active than that for shares. with good
speculative and investment inquiry
Local foreign exchange rates firm yes
terdav. while the market at Paris and Berlin
continued to move against London. The local
exchange situation is especially interesting, in
view of the position Of the market abroad and
the ease in money at this centre, the latter
promising to be a factor for many weeks TO
come The demand for funds Yesterday was
light The Bank Of England in its weekly re
turn showed z remarkably strong position for
this period of the year, and while change
was made in its minimum rate Of discount the
exhibit indicated a reduction in the future.
The extreme ease OF money in London naturally
is an influential argument in favor OF the Con-
tinent securing further amounts OF gold at the
British capital