Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-02-28

LUlHloH, Dp us uTuSllCdliy CnHnEeU III
its provisions before 1t gets through
Congress as II is drastic in its orig
inal form. and when the sting Is
eradicated 1t will be perfectly harm
less to the stock market, but bene-
fetal to the securities dealt in at the
New York Stock Exchange.
And we are justified also in taxi
ing an equally broad and liberal
view of the result of the litigation
soon to be finally decided by the SUI
preme Court of the United States.
What will be the net result If the
decisions of the lower courts are sus-
tanned? What will be the worst,
If the Standard Oil Company and the,
American, Tobacco Company are in
formed they have been operating on
illegal lines? We already have the
answer in the decision Of the North
ern Securities case, in which the
court merely required that affairs
must be put In proper legal order;
property was not confiscated and
"'lt hoN any
portant degree losers. Affairs were
quickly adjusted in a legal way and
the roads continued to do business
and make money for their many own
ers. There is no logical reason TO
expect a different result in the cases
now pending, even IL as already
noted, the worst happens. On the
other hand, these approaching deci-
sions will in any event have the COM
pensatory benefits that they will pro-
vide an Interpretation by the high
est tribunal Of the land on the high
ly controversial question Of what the
Sherman antitrust law does In fact
forbid. When the decisions that, as
alleged, have been causing such ner-
vousness are finally rendered, other
corporations will in any event know
whether they are controverting the
law, and II so will have ample OPP
portunity in an orderly manner to
effect necessary organization that
shall be perfectly legal. The ulti-
mate result of all this agitation can
not fail to rebound to the soundness
of securities as investments.
IAN agreeable feature of the week
has been the purchase of bonds and
to some extent investment stocks by
Paris, Berlin and to a rather more
restricted degree by London. These
purchases are entirely apart from
the arbitrage dealings on the Stock
Exchange. In the latter the pur-
chases materially outdistapced the
sales and the net aggregate purchases
on both accounts have been sufficient
to materially modify sterling ex-
change rates. Money. both at home
and abroad, seems to have entered a
prolonged period of ease, signifi-
cant indication being the reduction
this week by the governors OF the
Bank Of England Of their minimum
discount to 3 per cent. from 3ls per
cent. while the Imperial Reichsbank
reduced Its minimum to per. cent.
from AZ per cent. Not many weeks
ago we had the abnormal situation
of standard Investments yielding
less than the money market cost Of
carrying them. That was a substan-
tial warning that the price level Of
securities was too high. Today we
have the reverse situation, invest
ment stocks easily carrying them
selves with no reasonable expecta-
lions OF change in these conditions
in the near future. Money is now
returning to this center from the in
terror. having completed its annual
crop function; the declines that have
taken place in cotton as well as in
the stock market have released a
large volume of funds. II requires,
for instance, 20 to 20 per cent. less
money to carry stocks than when
the market was at its recent high
level. Furthermore, trade is not so
active as to at all threaten the money
situation, and II seems fair assump-
ton that the money supply during
the next few months will be quite
ample to comfortably take care OF
the stock market as we'll as of trade.