The Cairo bulletin., 1910-02-14

the result OF the litigation soon to be
finally decided by the supreme court
of the United States. What will hc
the net result if the decisions of the
lower courts are sustained? What
will be the worst. If the Standard
Oil Company and the American TO
bacco Company are informed they
have been operating on illegal lines .
We already have the answer in the
decision Of the Northern Securities
case. in which the court merely re.
CURED that affairs must be put in
proper legal order; property was not
in any important degree losers. At
fairs were quickly adjusted in a LEGAL
way and the roads continued to do
business and make money for their
many owners. There is no logical rea.
son to expect a different result in the
cases now pending, even if. as al.
ready noted, the worst" happens, On
the other hand, these approaching de.
cisions will in any event have the
compensatory benefits that they will
provide al Interpretation by the high
est tribunal of the land on the highly
controversial question of what the
Sherman antitrust law does in fact
forbid. When the decisions that as
alleged, have been causing such ner
-,
corporations will in any event know
whether they are controverting the
law. and if so they will have ample
opportunity in an orderly manner to
effect a necessary organization that
shall be perfectly legal. The ultimate
result of all this agitation cannot fail
to rebound to the soundness of securi-
ties as investments.
Agreeable Features.
An agreeable feature of the week
has been the purchase of bonds and
to some extent investments stocks BY
Paris, Berlin and to "a rather more re-
.stricted degree by London. These
purchases are entirely apart from the
afbitrage dealings on the stock ex-
change. In the latter the purchases
materially outdistanced the sales and
the net aggregate purchases on both
accounts have been sufficient to ma
terially modify sterling exchange
rates. Money, botn at home and
abroad, seems to have entered a pro
longed period of ease, significant in,
dication being the reduction this week
by the governors of the Bank of Eng.
land Of their minimum discount to 8
per cent from ~ per cent, while the
Imperial Reichs bank reduced its
minimum to per cent from Az per
cent. Not many weeks ago we had
the abnormal situation of standard in
vestments Welding less than the
money market cost o; carrying them.
That was a substantial warning that
the price level Of securities was too
high. Today we nave the reverse
situation, Investment stocks easily
carrying themselves with no reason
able expectations Of a change in these
conditions TN the near future. Money
Is now returning to this center from
the interior, having completed its an
Inual crop frnction; the declines that
have taken place in cotton as well as
in the stock mar6et have released a
large volume Of funds 1t requires, for
instance, 20 to Is per cent less money
to carry stocks than when the market
was at its recent high leFot. Further.
more, trade is not so active as to at
iall threaten tho money situation, and
it seems fair assumption that the
money supply during the next few
months will be quite ample to com
fortably take care of the stock market
as we'll as of trade. Meanwhile il is
of interest to note that there is no
longer present disposition on tho
nart Of some leaders ae shown during
recent periods Of stress to withdraw
funds frru circulation as matter OF
individual prudence and propagation
for possible disaster in tho MARKET as
a whole
HENRY CLltNs.