Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-17
TAKE REPRlEVE AS PARDON
Trust Decisions so Far in Future a.
to Lose Terrors.
BETTER FEELING ALL ROUND
Stoppage of Gold Exports Will Give
More Money for Stock
Gambling.
By w. G. Nicholas.
NJ vhn S,.r


NEW YORK, April 16. 1910.
Something was due to happen to shake
the market out Of condition of dead
lock 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
reprieve which had been granted was full
pardon supplemented by pledge to keep
hands off of all kinds of illegal combina-
tions In restraint Of trade.
For two or three months the street had
been INDUCING itself in regular Monday
chflls. 1t had gotten so into the habit of
dreading Mondays that it had become al
most disease. Assurance that there
would be no need for these periods of dis
tressing expectancy acted as strong and
positive tonic. and traders took the only
means al hand to give expression to the
relief they felt--that was to start in and
buy stocks. which was done on a big
scale and al rise in prices which lifted
the level OF quotations from to Z points
the first four days. Not only were stocks
doomed but there was also a very graft
flying increase in activity in the bond de-
partment.
Another effect of the improved feeling
was a check to the gold export move
tween this phenomenon and the action of
the Supreme Court Prior to Monday .
announcement the machinery of the for
eign exchange market was hard at work
on movement which many thought
might run as high as SO. 600 in gold.
Shipments Were Unnecessary
Now 1t is openly given out by leading
banking interests that there is no need
h a6
ditional amount, and that really there
was no actual occasion for as much going
out as was shipped. To show the sud-
mention is made of the fact that the
Mauretania, which sailed Wednesday,
only took S4,O00.OU in gold. whereas as
late as Saturday S1O.OOOOOU was the
amount unofficially advertised.
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
real definite line can be got on spring
farm work until about the first OF May.
This year the season Is very early, es-
pecially in the northwest, where spring
wheat is the great crop, and still farther
south, where corn and oats grow in sur
plus.
This year spring wheat is in the ground
nearly month ahead of time, and the
same advanced state of farm work is re-
ported in the corn and oats belt. COndi-
tons are exceptionally favorable everR
where except in parts OF the winter wheS
area, and from even these sections re-
ports come of improvement over the sit
nation two or three weeks ago. THIS
betterment is reflected in weak commod-
ity markets almost everywhere Such
moi fhn
natural that the other end Of the seesaw
tstocks) should rise simultaneously. AS
the farm scenery improves, stocks may
be expected to continue TO advance un-
less unforeseen misfortuneS should occur.
1t so happened that the Supreme Court
decision was the signal for the breaking
up of the hard winter in the stock mar
ket. II that hadn't happened. something
else would, and very sOon
Monday Panics Suspended.
Absurd as it seems. Wall street is being
flooded with literature from Washington
to the effect that 1t has just been dis
covered that the government does not in
tend to wage war upon the prosperity Of
the country. To hear this sort of thing
gravely discussed in stock market circles
suggests a degree of childish credulity
which almost passes understanding. One
would imagine from the tone OF CONVEX
sation heard in a number of the broker
age Offices that the principal mission Of
the administration and of the Supreme
Court was to make much trouble for
the people Of the nation as could possibly
be framed up. OF course. everybody UNI
derstands that the sovereign voters elect
Presidents and congressman for the pur-
pose Of causing popular distress and loss.
That is the object Of government Hon
estly. it makes sensible men srOan to
listen to a lot of the drivel voiced by peo-
pie intelligent enough to have money with
which to gamble in the stock market
One effect of the pOStpOnement or court
action in the trust cases may be to defer
until next winter the plans under way for
the big copper merger. 1t was all ar
ranged to put this deal through some
time during the coming summer. as soon
as the lawyers could know exactly what
the limitation would be for such 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 con-
tinues to increase. just as though there
was no such thing as gentlemen agree
ments among the members OF the assoc
citation, and the price of the metal seems
unable to lift it's head above - cents.
Amalgamated Well Handled.
strange feature OF the copper situa-
ton is the strength of Amalgamated In
the stock market. There is a 2 per cent
mining stock, which is selling at around
S75 a share. and the bear contingent
which specializes in that issue complains
II cannot make a dollar on the short side.
AmaIRamated is one OF the most cleveriy
MANIPULATED clique stocks on the list.
Those who have it in control endeavor
to make dividends in the stock market
which they are unable to do In actual
mining operations.
By the way, the most effective combi-
nation for the maintenance OF prices
which the world has seen for q good
while IL found In the iron and steel trade
out. Only last year the combination
went to pieces and 1t became necessary
for the steel trust to smash prices to
smithereens in order to demonstrate that
It would not go on indefinitely holding
the umbrella over independents.
The steel trust management Indignantly
denied that the design of this wholesale
raid on prices was for disciplinary ef-
feet. but whether 1t was or not the in
|dependents came back on the reservation
under solemn promise to sin no more.
Wickersham appears never to have heard
Of this combination. which IL still In force,
although possibly intangible to the grip
of the law Possibly the law depart
meut at Washington holds that such a
examination in restraint Of trade is not
,,nIaw-fuI II it Is subject to failures such
as occurred last year, as mentioned. To
he a conspiracy the conspirators must
always win
Satisfied With High Stocks.
t.,l,Sor fntn.n.x-