The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-24


 Washington, Feb. -24-"Fight" was the watchword of railroad representa- tives here, today, following their crushing defeat in the great rate bat tie at the hands of the Interstate Commerce Commission, yesterday. They will fight they declared, as long as there is possibility of appeal.
 They hope that the decision of the commission, preventing them from in- creasing rates on single commodity will be reversed by higher body but at the least, they said. they will in- yoke the law with such effect that reductions will be postponed, perhaps for several years.
 The first move probably will be talk en within the next few days when the railroads will apply to the new commerce court for an injunction re- versing the decisions. This appeal will unquestionably be made before March 10 when the commission declared that, unless new and lower schedules have years.
 Whether the commerce court will grant the injunction practically tying the hands of the commission is a question on which authorities radically differ
 eff the commerce court fails us," declared the railroad attorneys, i've
  Court of the United States. There we will apply for an injunction against the commission or the court of commerce or both. We will produce evidence to prove that these rate in- creases are necessary in order to en- able us to conduct our business prop erly."
 Government officials familiar with legal proceedings said, today, that the legal obstacles which attorneys for the carriers can put in the way of the effectiveness of the decisions may de- lay them indefinitely. Alleged trusts, they said, have held up final action
 SLUMP IN STOCKS.
 New York. Feb. 2+Just how little it takes to start a slump in the stock market was shown during the first 15 minutes of trading today. The bear element. which has been in the ma- jority for some time. gnashing it's teeth from the decision of the Inter State Commerce Commission refusing to permit the railroads to increase rates, raided the London market. Speculative stocks like Reading. St. Paul. Lehigh Valley and the Harri- man shares yielded. carrying the en- tire list downward. The result was an avalanche of selling orders at the opening here with losses in everything
 
 six points. The dealings were ac- conpanied by intense excitement. but it was plain from the attitude of the biggest brokers that the demoraliza- tion was not to be permitted to last.
 The railroad equipment stocks and the trunk line systems. of course, suf- fered the most and. as has been the case in every furry for the past year Reading. an unduIy inflated stock. was off nearly seven points. This was on sales of only 10000 shares. and after the first few minutes Reading recovered two points of the loss. while recoveries of from one to two points were evident in most of the list.
 The market experts admitted the outlook was not dark despite the eff fort of the disappointed railroad mag mates to make the public think 1t was. It was pointed out that the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion showed that everyone of the big railway systems is in an excellent financial condition. Far from being compelled to reduce dividends or de- fault on bond obligation examination of the balance sheets of the roads shows that not only can present divi- dends be continued on present earn ings. but that some of the roads could actually increase dividends on present earnings.
 It was generally accepted that. after the first furry is over. which will be in a day or so at the outside, the railroads will go ahead with contem- plated improvements and will find way to finance them. Wall Street believes that now the commission has vetoed wholesale blanket increases, the various roads will consider cer- tain commodities on which the rate is admittedly. low and will ask for per mission to make increases. By this means earnings will be increased at least in part.
 After the first hour the entire list took a strong tone and recoveries were manifest in every stock on the list. The sentiment throughout the room was then bullish and it was free ly predicted that the losses caused on margin account and by the bear raid would be made up before the week ends. At 11:30 the recovery exceeded 8. point in most stocks and in several was nearer three points.
 HARD HIT IN LONDON.
 London, Feb. 24.-The leading Am erican railways slumped danger ousiy on the stock exch 1lge, todly, the break ranging from two to seven points. The heaviest losses were in St. Paul, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Pennsylvania and Reading but every share on the list was under pressure.
 There was a flood of selling orders cabled from the other isde in antici- patton of weak opening of the New York Stock Exchange.
 At 12.30 the market was n a state of high excitement and the trading was feverish. The direct cause was the construction placed on the refusal of the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion to permit railroads to increase their freight rates. It was feared that not only would dividends be re- duced or disappears altogether but
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