The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-02-15

~ Ia Ni1S
Of the Supreme court sustaining the
lower cou. is by declaring the Stand
ard Oil n American Tooacco CON-
Iany Illegal combinations on the
ground hat they restrain trade. The
absurdity of this undue anxiety has
already been indicated in these ad-
vices. 1t is worth while. however.
to once more look the legislative sit
uation frankly in the IA e, bes.nnln1
with the administrations proposed
new laws. Pest Information from
Washington is that neither the ad-
ministration's railroad regulation bill
nor the federal incorporation bill will
be enacted at this session. The oh
JFct of their Introduction has been to
subject them to the crucial test Of
puF1ic discussion and criticism by
which their unwise or dangerous fea-
lures may be exposed and eliminated
before they are placed upon the stat
ute books. 1t Is q safe assertion that
when the administrations measures
are finally enacted they will spell in
ceased value n solidity for ths
higher class of securities that are
traded in on the New York Stock EX-
change. President Taft's federal in
corporation bill will, in my opinion.
he as drasticallv changed in its pro-
visions before it gets through Con
gress as it is drastic in its original
form. and when the sting is eradicated
II VIZ US ptiICC(lS IihI IiIiSSS 10 liz
stock market. but beneficial to tn.
securities dealt in at the New York
Stock Exchange.
And we are justified also in takin~
an equally broad and liberal view of.
the result Of the litigation soon to be
of the United States. What will be
the net result if the decisions Of tbs
| lower courts are sustained? What
| will be the worst" il 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-
| quired that affairs must be put in
proper legal order; property was not
confscated and stockholders were not
in any impol tant degree losers Al
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
reason to expect q different result in
the cases now pending, even If. as
already noted, the worst" happens.
on the other hand, these approaching
decisions will in any event have the
compensatory benefits that they will
provide an Interpretation by the high
| est tribunal of the and on the highly
controve1s ial question Of what the
III itSI L . '"" "OSS III ASt~N
forbid. When the decisions that, as
alleged. nave been causing such nerv-
| business are finally rendered., other
corporations viii in any event know
whether they are c~OntrOVertlng the
law, and if SO will have ample oppor-
tunity in an orderly manne to effect
a necessary organization that shall be
perfectly legal. The ultimate result of
all this aeitation cannot fail to re-
dound to the soundness of securities as
| Investments.
An 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 re-
stricted degree by London These
purchases are entirely apart from the
arbitrage dealings on the Stock Elk
change. IN the latter the purchases
materially outdistanced the sales n
the net aggregate purchases on both
accounts have been sufficient to ma
terially modify sterling exchange
rates. Money. both at home and
abroad, seems to have entered a pro-
longed period of ease, a significant
Indication being the reduction this
week by the governors Of the Bank
Of England of their minimum dis
count to , per cent from 8 IL per
cent. while the Imperial Reichs bank
reduced its minimum to 4 per cen
from 4 IL per cent. Not many weeks
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standard Investments yielding less
than the money market cost of carry
ing them. That was q substantial
warning that the price level of se"uri-
ties was too hf:h. Today we have
the reverse situation. Investment
stocks easily carrying themselves with
no reasonable expectations Of q
change in these conditions in the near
future. Money is now returning to
his center from the interior. having
completed its annual crop function;
| the declines that Rave taken place in
cotton as well as in the stock mar
tet have released a large volume of
funds. 1t requires, for instance. 20 to
rs per cen less money to carry stocks
than when the market was at It's re-
| cent high level. Furthermore, trade
is not so active as to at all threaten
the money situation. and it seems q
fair assumption that the money sup
ply during the next few months will
he quite ample to comfortably take
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