The Washington times., 1911-07-30

I
gave a fairly good account Of itself
Naturally IN view of the unsettline
character of the news both from abroad
and at home reactions were to have
been expected, and these occurred, bu1
for the most part the net losses were
| inconsiderable and the volume and char
acter of the trading clearly indicated
that the declines were chiefly the re-
| suit of professional selling. AS such
they occasioned no uneasiness In COM
mission house circles, where the belief
prevails that the outstanding short in
terest has been enlarged by the per.
formances Of the interval.
I 1t would not have surprised the major
ity Of the financial observers If the de-
cision of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission against the railways in the
long and short haul cases, or II the
alarming news from Europe concerning
the Moroccan situation had started
genuine liquidation in the market. In
fact 1t was looked for, and in anticipa-
ton of some real selling the traders on
one or two occasions, notably on Mon
day afternoon and Tuesday morning.
raided the general list, and though they
succeeded in depressing prices they dis
lodged very little long stock.
Market Showed Resistance.
There have been times without num-
ber when the security market has been
thrown into a condition bordering upon
panic on developments of far less i'm
portance and influence on the general
railway rate situation than the findings
in the inter-mountain freight traffic
cases. For instance, 1t Is not much
more than a year ago that stocks all
but collapsed upon the news OF an In
junction by the Government against
proposed rate advances by the railways
in the trunk line and central traffic ter
ritory On that occasion no rates had
gone into effect; the companies were
deprived Of no revenue, but only
source of prospective increased revenue
was denied them.
In ordering as the Commerce Com
mission does in the present case, that
the roads traversing the PACING coast
States may not charge a higher rate
for a short than long haul the COM
panies are deprived OF some revenue
that has been theirs in the past. How
much this may amount to no one ap-
pears to know, but II is interesting TO
note that the companies themselves
evince no alarm, and instead OF the
WnOle DSluS luIO"il lIINO n 49,
ment, as was the case year ago over
a less considera BILE development, the
financial district remained calm. The
declines which followed on the hrst
news of the Commerce Commission
action were largely recovered and sub
to foreign news than to the long and
short haul decision.
Speculative Sentiment.
It is not to be inferred that because
the market showed such great resist
ing power during the interval that the
fina ancial district was in any sense graft
fed over very many Of the develop
ments Such. of course, is by no means
the case. OF the long and short haul
matter, however, bankers, brokers and
spectators alike are taking the philo-
sophie view. In the first instance the
various railway presidents have ceased
their predictions of the bankruptcies OF
their properties unless they are permit
ted to advance rates, and the street
realizes that this plea was false
alarm. Aside from that the opinion pre-
walls that the inter-mountatn and Pa
cific coast rates were excessive and the
injustice of charging more money for
short than for long haul appeals TO
the Street in its poverty:
General speculative sentiment is de-
pressed; of that there can be no
doubt; and, small wonder, for the
his paper each morning and reads
from one to a dozen news items
dealing with some new investigation or
an industrial trust or some wretched
disclosure OF. corporate sins, committed
twenty or thirty years ago, brought out
in some one of the Investigations al
ready in progress; or of some ancient
pool; or some alleged contract between
men and corporations. 1t Is needless to
enumerate these things, and, in fact. it
Wall Street has lost track of some Of
them, and it was much gratiied to read
Of the resolution Ito Investigate the In
vestigting committees Introduced in
Nevada. 1t may locate few investiga-
tions that have been overlooked.
Investigations and Congress.
Concerning the proposed investigation
of the so-called money trust" leading
bankers expressed the opinion that If
one Is undertaken It Is calculated to
result in good rather than ill, because
they insist 1t will disclose the utter
fallacy of the widespread belief that a
group of seven men in New York city
control the money and banking power
of the city and country, and possess
the influence to produce money panics,
squeeze competitors, and force rivals to
yield up a share of their booty. Whether
the investigation Is ordered or not, 1t
Is very well known that the Department
Of Justice has already started an in
quiry into the organization and pur-
poses of the National City Securities |
Company, which was formed to hold |
certain bank stocks for the National |
City Bank, which under Ihe law that |
institution cannot hold as a national |
bank |
Speculative Wall Street hopes for |
some Improvement In the security mar |
xet with the adjournment Of Congress, |
I fair average crops are assured but |
t does not look for a very big or long
bull movement with confident |
buying while the investigations and dis
closures continue, while the tariff |
he political horizon Is overcast. Even
he dullest broker now realizes that the
legislative performance with the indus
rial companies smacks Of politics. and
hat If such was not the purpose a,
he inception of the movement, the fea-
ure of corporate aggrandizement and
corporate abuses, ancient and modern, |
ire destined to play a very Important |
,art in the next Presidential campaign.
The Dominating Influence.
The opinion that political uncertainty
dominates all markets-like all other
opinions of speculative Wall Street-is
ubiect to modification. II anything hap
,ens to change the course Of events;
mt II has firm hold on the brokerage
O have been encouraged by the mer-
antile customers Of stock-commission
olIses. particularly such as are identf-
led with the dry goods trade. That in