The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-09-18
MAINE RESULT AWAKENED MARKET
TO THE SURPRISE OF EVERYBODY
Deadly Monoony Relieved Unexpected Being
Entirely Contrary to That Generally ExpecedThe Outlook Leg
slahve and Business Way
suusey PubIcationsI

/ ASBNN--AA
| NEW YORK. Sept IS-Some weeks
ago 1 took occasion to remark that the
stock market in its apathy. like dog
! doing before the fire. might be aroused
/ by a strong note Of encouragement or b.
! a vigorous kick-one could scarcely tell
which.
! Wei, it has come to pass that it need
/ ed the kick to do the work It re-
| quired news Of a character somewhat
! different than anything with which Wall
Street had been dealing-in fact. a po-
| udcaI revolution in Maine-to start the
( speculative ball moving again How
/ ever one may view the chief political In
! cident OF the week-the overthrow Of the
I Republican party In one Of its strong
| holds after an unbroIzen interval Of thir-I
/ " years Of success-it appears quite
{ clear that the event broke the deadlock
( and has impaired two sides 70 the stock
market From an almost complete|
/ estoppage Of business the specuIat tive
! element started TO buy and sell again
/ moderately, and that relieved 10 some
extent the deadly monotony which has
| Dervaded re financial district in recent
weeks.
Wall Streets first response TO the
| Maine election was peculiar. Stocks ad-
I Ns11lCtl- -AS z result LfiETE LDlfOWEu a lot
! OF tortured explanations 10 account for
/ this seeming anomaly To the rank and
I hle in the financial district, holding fast
10 the traditions Of half century. IL
! seemed as impossible to convert the re-
suit from Maine into a bull argument as
/ IL would be 10 extract sUnbeams from
cucumbers.
This is not passing any personal opin-
! ion upon the merits or significance oil
! the upheaval II is stating the simple
| facts Of the case. II is not too much 10
cay that when securities moved I'D on
Tuesday Old timers in the Street. Ike
Alice in Wonderland. pinched them
selves to discover If they were really
awake, and if ali the strange perform
ances were actual or imaginary happen
/ ings. Undoubtedly tie traders demon
straJed this fact acc IrateIy. II not 70
their entire satisfaction, for before the
day was over short covering was a pro
nounced feature Of the trading, indi-
eating that the upturn was a genuine
affair
Maine and tie Stock Market.
In considering the WIDE variety OF the
cries current IN Wall Street TO explain
the advance in the ma rIzet on its bad
news. one is strangely reminded OF the
experiences Of the seven men OF Hin
dostan who went TO view the elephant, /
though al OF them were blind Each.
cropping in the dark. laid hold OF a off
ferent member Of the animal, an ear. a
tusk. the trunk. the TAIL and the like,
and in the exchange Of views and cor
census which followed each held a dis-
ferent opinion as 10 what an elephaEt
is like 50 with the advance OF the
stock market on the remarkable Demo
cratic triumph IN Maine
Concerning the reasons. there were al
most as many opinions as men, but
three different views stood out promi-
nently from among the others One. that
il was a rebuke TO Colonel Roosevelt;
one, that II indicated that the Demo
cratic party IS now the duly recognized
party Of conservative ideas and one,
that il indicated a Democratic ma fority
in the lower House, which would make
fer a CO-nOthing session at Washington
and an absence Of unSettliIlG legislation
when the new Congress meets
Il must be admitted that. however
satisfying these explanations were on
Tuesday. when stocks were advancing.
they were not wholly convincing. and
socks later in the week receded- II
Colonel Roosevelt was rebuked in Maine
he appears to have been indOTsed in
New York city primaries and in the
state of Washington and elsewhere as
q matter Of fact, however. the political
developments are too confused, and too
uncertain al the present time 70 eu70te
any one 10 reach definite conclusions a. .
10 the outcome, or 10 afford the basis I
for confident stock market operations.
No doubt the election Of a Demo I
Representatives would. in consequence +
Ct a Republican Senate ard execJ.- 4
tive. result - a dO-nOthing session: 4
but then the REPRESENTATIVES elected .
now and in November will not meet IN
I'll December, 1911. or fifteen months 4
away. During the interim the present I
much which Wall Street regards as dis 4
tJIrbing, viii convene in a second ses-
sion
The Technical Market
Perhaps the next Congress viii be de-
voted to recTiminations between t7s
divisions of the Republican party, or Z
may be marked by a surrender Of the I
conservatives to the radical wing, for
things seem to be moving in that direc-
ton, and peace at any ptice seems 10
be the order of the day. This may \
ing December next. but II IS conceiVaDle I
that II may result IN something suite
,7ifferent, for II the Democratic party I
81 oUld carry the lower house in Nov
euSer next, there would doubtless be I
a great amount of maneuverinE by the !
Republican ma ority in Congress, in an I
effort to guard against defeat in the
Presidential election OF 1872 It IS, OF .
course entirely too early m 0ra5fcf nm
on such matters, but it really seems as q
though Wall Street drew some hasty I
conclusions from the Maine elections
II IS more simple explanation
though II may not appeal as strongly /
10 the Imagination as the others-but 4
II seems wholly likely that the advance +:
in speculative issues. following the news I
from Maine resulted entirely from the
technical position Of the market itself
In other words, stocks appeared to have /
been sold TO a standstill, and when 4
prices on Tuesday failed to decline on 4
The news from Maine. the speculative Z
element apparently covered extensively,
running the market up on themselves, /
but this very advance brought out some /
moderate selling. broke the deadlock, (