The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-17
WALL Street IS
NOW HAPPY AGAIN
Action on Big Trust Cases
Postponed for Year
5000
THE BUYING rs STRONG
Conditions Are Exceptionally Fnvora-
BILE In Agricultural Sections-steeI
Common Takes Place as
Market Leader
THE BUYING rs STRONG
ny w. G. NICHOLAS

| New York. April 16.-(Special )-Some-
| thing, was due to happen to shake the
market out of condition of deadlock.
And then came along the decision of the
supreme court postponing action on the
big trust cases for nearly year. Wall
street was as happy as though the re-
prieve which had been granted was full
pardon supplemented by pledge to keep
hands off of all kinds OF Illegal combi-
nations in restraint of trade. For two
or three months the street had been
INDUCING itself In regular Monday chills
It had gotten SO into the habit of dread
ing Mondays that 1t had become almost
disease. Assurance that there would
be no need for these periods of distress
ing expectancy acted as a strong and
positive tonic and traders took the only
means at hand to give expression to the
relief they fet-that was to start In and
buy stocks, which was done on a big
scale and at a rise in prices which lifted
the level Of quotations from to points
the first four days.
Not only were stocks doomed, but there
was also a very gratifying increase in
activity in the bond department. An
other effect of the improved feeling was
a check to the gold export movement. A
direct connection was found between this
phenomenon and the action of the SUI
preme court. Prior to Mondays announce
ment the machinery of the foreign ex-
change market was hard at work on
movement which many thought might
run as high as s50,0o0.000 in gold.
Now 1t Is openly given out by leading
banking interests that there Is no need
for the shipment of any considerable ad-
ditional amount and that really there
was no actual occasion for as much go
ing out as was actually shipped. To
show the suddenness with which the as
pect changed, mention Is made of the
fact that the Mauretania, which sailed
on Wednesday, only took 100000 in
gold, whereas as late as Saturday &c.
o00,0vO was the amount unoffcially ad-
vertised.
1t is now remembered that in FIVE years
out Of six, February and March, and
sometimes January, are dull months In
the stock market; the great masses of
people being willing to wait to see how
the winter wheat comes out from under
the snow and how the spring planting of
other crops eventuates. Ordinarily no
really definite line can be gotten on
spring farm work until about May L
pecially In the northwest, where spring
wheat Is the great crop, and stili farther
south. where corn and oats grow in sur
plus. This year spring wheat Is In the
ground nearly a month ahead OF time,
and the same advanced state OF farm
work is reported in the corn and oats
belt.
| Conditions are exceptionally favorable
everywhere except in parts OF the win
| ter wheat area, and from even these sec
| lions reports come of improvement over
the situation two or three weeks ago.
| This betteTment is reflected In weak
| commodity markets almost everywhere.
| Such being the agricultural outlook, it
is quite natural that the other end of
the see-saw (stocks) should rise stimuli
taneously. As the farm scenery I'm
proves stocks may be expected to con-
tinue to advance unless unforeseen mis-
| fortunes should occur. 1t so happened
that the supreme couN. decision was the
signal for the breaking up of the hard
winter In the stock market. II that had
not happened, something else would, and
very soon.
Absurd as 1t seems. Wall street is be-
| ing flooded with literature from Washing
ton to the effect that 1t has just dis
covered that the government does not
intend to wage war upon the prosperity
|
thing gravely discussed in stock market
circles suggests a degree of childish Gre
dulity which almost passes understand
ing, One would imagine from the tone of
| conversation heard in q number of the
brokerage offices that the principal mis-
sion of the administration and of the su-
preme court was to make as much trou-
| BILE for the people OF the nation as could
possibly be framed up.
or course everybody understands that
the sovereign voters elect presidents and
congressman for the purpose Of causing
popular distress and loss. That Ia the
object of government. Honestly. 1t
makes sensible men groan to listen to a
lot of the drivel voiced by people intel
ligent enough to have money with which
| to gamble in the stock market.
| One effect of the postponement of court
| action in the trust cases may be to defer
until next winter the plans under way
for the big copper merger It was all
arranged to put this deal through some
time during the coming summer, as soon
az the lawyers could know exactly what
tho limitation would be for such a COM
| bine. Meantime the Copper Producers
association goes along solemnly agreeing
sub rosa to curtail production, an agree
ment which is broken by everybody con-
cerned as soon as made.
! Production continues to increase Just
| as though there was no such thing as