The Washington times., 1910-08-14

( II nildly-hais prevailed. The volume
I Of business was not large and the con-
1 centrati0n Of activity upon a mere
I handful OF issues pointed unmistak-
ably to the professional character of
! the dealings. Leading commission
houses reported that public interest in
I the market was at its lowest ebb and
stated quite frankly that they were do
I ing practically no business. The same
/ view was taken by money brokers.
} who asserted that there was no demand
for time money, and no IoanIng bust
ness aside from d few renewals. while
/ the bond market Ianguished both on
/ the exchange AMI in the Offices of the
investment bankers
Despite this 81 -Uation. stock prices
advanced, showing a material improve
ment on the weeks operations Ap-
: parently short covering played a. i'm
/ portant part in working the general
/ list higher, but toward the net result
both the scaled buying orders, recently
] reported in the market. and some
/ favorable developments, contributed a
( share. There were TO be sure a num-
/ Der Of features such as the copper
/ producers report. disclosing increased
/ supplies Of metal despite some curtaiI-
[ ment Of output the showing Of the
.
/ ing a further reduction IN untitled
! orders. the bank cIearances. and the
/ statistics on DuiIC5ug operations. both
/ showing decreases. All Of which pointed
Enthusiastically 20 a further curtaiIment
/ Of business activity; but onsetting
/ these was the Government crop report
indicating fair average aggregate har-
! vests; and later IN the week came
some really fine annual reports by such
/ corporations as the Lehigh Valley and
/ the Union and Southern Pacific roads
{ which showed earnings sufficient TO
maintain the present scale of dividends
/ even though railway rates may be re-
duced aad business should fan of very
much more than at present These
statements gave an impetus 10 specu-
/ lative buying and accelerated tne short
! covering movement
Money and Credit Situation
Wall street was disposed to attach
: considerable significance also 20 the re-
appearance as a lender Of call money of
an important banking firm which. for a
Z Ions time past has held aIoof from the
time and call money markets, and also
TO the action OF a large bank In re-
Stunning purchases Of choice short-term
commercial paper, whereas until the
. present week me institution though
holding large surplus, has employed
none Of its funds in this way How
ever. the abnormal conditions in the
money and credit situation TO which at
tention was directed last week-that IS
a very low call rate ruling around o
IL per cent coincident with a time rate
Of five per cent for the January matUr-
ity. and a rate TO commercial borrowers
S1UTt-teTn money showed relaxing ten
denotes and the transactions above Re-
fcrrcd 10 are well calculated 10 break
the ice and relieve the situation some
NOV ed with somewhat more freedom
during the week than OF late, paTliCu-
larry such as natures within TIE year
Rates elsewhere however. were 1ruliE
maintained, and bank officers generally
expressed the opinion that substantially
8 pr cent for commercial borrowers
IS likely 10 prevail for the balance or
the year New York does not stand
alone IN this matter, for- according 20
. the advices reaching Wan street ire
attitude Of the local banks II ltlTl-
credit Of corporations and commercial
borrowers Is extending 70 the interior
cities and particularly IN the West and
s disposition to criticise the banks for
their excessive conservatism in the
matter Of mercantile borrowing IS more
general even han II was last wees
. 4 4
dav saws Of The situation New YORK
banks are apt TO either act too caUti-
o-lsIv. or the reverse. OF late they have
adopted an uncOmpronllSllnS aLJltuues
refusing TO grant reasonable facilities
even to borrowers Of the highest re-
pute Because financial institutions
themselves to drift into congested
state Eastern n eTc3ntile interests are
made to suffer in that they cannot nave
their paper discOu. ted on fair terms
T 10
CHRONICLE saws. NO satisfactory eX-
PLANTATION IS proffered Tor the extreme
conservatism nanifesIed- lhueed SUE
ceSriOuS that further disturbances from
the stock market are apparently eN-
pected meet with en- phat1C CenlaS dLO
with assurances that all the d>inGeT
spots have been removed, HeI CllS -. -
remains that loans 70 carry over Ihe
yeer are not usually prOcUrabie under
: uer cent. while very few commercial
bills even OF unimpeaChable QualltyI
circumstance in TO IL per cent
money market
Maintaining Strong Position.
In banking circles it is admitted that
something strongly suggestive Of hoard
ing money IS now in progress upon the
mart OF some Of the banks In other
words. arising out of the wholly COM
mendabIe desire upon their part to hold
themselves strong to provide for the
harvest movement, many OF the inst1tu-
lions throughout the country are carry
ing the matter to a degree where il IS
actually disturbing to mercantile Dor
rowers and where j. IS exerting q harm
full influence on business inasmUch as
fl is accentuatinC she contraction Incl
dent to an unsettled situation. That an
overloaned condition prevails among the
Western banks is true enough. but that
has been known for months. and, ac-
corlfng TO the institutions in the large
interior cities every precauuOnS has
been taken TO safeguard that situation.
and among the best Informed bankers
there seems now to be no one who looks
for unusual stringency this fall. If acute
strfDCency should develop New York
and numerous other cities have formed
national currency associations for the
Issuance Of emergency currency Such
F,eiDc- the case il really seems to many
DersOns as though the banks were over
doing The matter in applying such q Sc
we're curb to commercial borrowers, and
If this attitude is persisted in some per
sons express the fear that the banks,
through overcautiOn. may bring to pass
the very situation that they are seeking
to avoid
In iustiica ton of their present atti-