The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-08-07

/ traders particularly those who max
their livelihood By sea lping eighths an,
/ quarters on the floor of the Stock Ex
cFanSS. we're chiefly responsible for IN
market movements Of the week.
The moderate investment bu,ving whfcl
developed with the severe break ire,
dent 10 the eXtrication of the Farguhar
Pearson syndicate from its difficulties
disappeared with the sharp rebound il
prices which ensued. and it was mad.
apparent very early in the interval tina
the bankers. who came TO the relief d
the crippled operators. showed no dis
position To encourage sn active specu
lative movement for the advance. To d,
so would BE- at variance with al tn,
traditions OF a market IN which aCcumu
lative buvinc upon a descending price
scale = ths. feature.
Left 10 the trading element. specuIa-
tive stocks backed and hiled: rapid re.
Coveriss followed quickly upon UEex-
pcCted reCessions. only TO. be succeeded
in turn by dtfuI rallies. end these IN
due course by brief sinking spells. ano
so on daily and almost hourly from
Monday until Saturday, the market n
last closing IN one Of the upward swings
Aside from disclosing the fact tia;
professional SPECULATIVE opinion was
highly mixed. and that the two factions
among the traders were about equally
balanced GS market forces. the perform
aDce OF The week was not illuminating
The actual ND and down movement
bore littIe relation 10 news Developments
prices AT sines advancing in the face Of
uEfavOrabie happenings. and az cther5
declining on what might reasonably b5
REGARDED as good news The most Do
tent Influence OF the week centered
around the market rumOrs Of various
Spectators in trouble haviLE been taken
over by the salvage and wreckinE COTS.
Casting the Life Line"
Wall Street borrowed the title from
the Salvation Army hymn. Casting the
Life Line" and applied it TO the market
movements Practically each break was
attributed 10 some Spectator in trouble
each recovery to some rumored relief
measure The rank and file in the Street
became wholly skepticaI at last over
the many reports Of half-drOwned spec
uIative ma iners. tumbled one upon an
other into & life-bOat. and as later re-
ports Of help" Of the Wall Street va
riety came out, quizzicaI brokers began
20 ask the question: Who's going to
help the he3pers?''
Starting with the extrication Of Mr.
Farquhar snG his associates from their
uncomfortable position, there have been
no fewer than I've reports or assistance
dealing with An important holder OF
anthracite coal properties "a power
ful new factor IN the railway world.
"a Wester IN capitalist" "a Southern
promoter, md "a street car magnate- 20
Il IS not surprising that, in the end,
iCEd VOcfferations Of Help HelpT'
i've times repeated, should cease 70
arouse enthusiasm, and one really won
~ aeaf
IL the rumOrs were true, could become
a bull argument
As mstter OF fact. but one Of the
FIVE new reports Of relief has been veri-
doubt Of the accuracy OF the report,
and. even in this case, important de-
tails are lacking Moreover, what has
become known OF the transaction,
points rather 10 existing credit cOndi-
tons affecting Industrial enterprises
than to the break in the stock market,
or a weakened speculative position, as
the origin Of the difficulty
That 2 large block Of Delaware. lack
aWanna and Western stock, said TO BE
1000 shares. has changed hands, IS
credited in Well-informed banking cir
Cles- The price mentioned, at which
this block OF stock was taken over, has
set banking interests gdspinE. for Il is
placed at so, or 80 points below the
last SALE and 80 points below the high
est price Of 1909, which was $50. Al
though the original owner L. reported
TO have acquired the stock around 40,
not so many years ago, its transference
at $50, which figure is credited. gives a
fairly accurate measure OF what Wall
street help" means to oveTbUrdened
operators in times Of stress
Contracting Commercial Credits.
The transaction served the purpose
OF directing attention to existing
credit conditions in a very unpIeas-
ant manner. and doubtless this had
something to do in combining the stock
market of the week entirely to the
traders This element
does not pay much attention TO the
underlying monetary position, and,
in fact. gives very little concern to
anything aside from transitory fiuc-
-uatiOns- If it gives any attention to
the mOnet7 market at all it goes little
beyond the call money rate, and the
seiu or loss reflected in the surplus
reserve IN the New York bank state
nent- But bankers and investors in
tracing the sale Of the big block OF
-ackawanna stock back to its origin.
assert that II was made necessary not
50 much as a result of an uncom-
portable speculative position Of the
owner, but in consequence Of an i'm
1erauve necessity Of q large manu-
.actur1ng company, with which the
owner was associated, to obtain a
arge amount OF money to meet heavy
obligations incident to some contracts
or very extensive and costly improve
uenCS-
The new securities could not be
'oid without sacrifice. nor could 4
oan be negotiated upon them to ad- 4
-ant2Se. for they are unlisted. nor
,ould the corporation though its (
,redit Is o. me highest. borrow direct
IT sell y paper, because Of the at
1tUoe OF anks IN limiting their loan
operations to their dealers. and in
Withdrawing from the commercial Da-
}eT market Unable to obtain the
needed funds elsewhere, the Lacka- /
wanna stock was sold.
Both IN private banking circles and
-mCng the mercantile community fhe i
Is growing that the local 4
1ankS are carrying the matter of
loosely conserving their resources en-
rely too far, and they point to inc
act that the clearing house fus4f47,
ions reported a surplus reserve of 4
'4S-5ll-SZ0 last week as an evidence
hat the banks should show e-reafeT 1
ibeTaltty toward commercial boT-
overs
But a more careful inspection Of last
weeks bank statement shows that 10
eSs than SS0,001,O0 Of the entire s1Irr,l,l.-
eServe IS confined TO two large HAMS
eaving about SIS, 500 600 to be giis4rif1--tef 4