The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-30

lem that Is calling into play the best talent in financial circles. It is true that the public is at this time the holder oe a larger aggregate amount of stocks than ever before in history but those stocks are not for the most part owned out right. The public is not in the speculative game and has not been for a year or more. A very large so-cailed floating lsi;rply is being carried on capital bor- r3wed from the banks and trust corr, lranies by a wealthy class of clients who are in the know and especially favored by the financial institutions. They have been used and are being used as means for finding employment for funds th"t would otherwise be idle. They are about to be called upon to return part of this roney for use in the west and south where it Is needed for the harvesting and handling of the crops | Just how this is to be done without causing a bad decline in the stock market lis the problem which Is now confronting Wall street. The chronic bear party which las been waiting for months for lthis crisis, does not believe it can be done. although up to this time. theA banking Interests have been able to hold tue situation in absolute control. They may lnot have been able to get rid of as many stocks as they would like to but they have neld prices very close to the top lhgures reached on the advance which has lbeen going on steadily for two or three lnonths. The public has refused to be lbeguiled or coaxed into the market. Wan street literature is loaded with bullish stat ements and bullish sentiment Mary luf the statements are misleading and the lsentiment is either artificial or non-exist. lent. There is a great deal of talk these ldays about the reappearance in dIoves lof .'the oc d-lot' buyers. This is a recK- less nlisstatement. Odd-lot buyers rule are bargain hunters and bargain Hunters are not going into the stock mar lket on top of a rise and doing any buying. These other people turn up after la slump and when the situation looks ldemoralized. They have not been seen in Wall street for a year.
 great boom which was 70 begin with the new fiscal year. July 1, has not ma lterialized. There has been some increase in the volume of business in rhe steel and iron industry but there appears to Have been a check in that, and orders how being on very moderate scale with a slight tendency toward reaction 1.-The Steel corporation statement of earn llngs for the second quarter ending Juno Twas a very artistic piece of work. IL
  900 the first quarter a gain of about IS4,50O,GO0. If the second six months pan cut as well, about $lO3,000,000 will be earned for the F months, or more than S10, ,000,GD shy of the annual requirement.. From the headquarters of tie corpora tion rosy stories are sent out for pub llication with reward to prospects but lconfdential talk is not so hopeful There lis genuine expectation of some mprove fcitt II body Is prepared to modify previous es. timates, and the same holds good in al lIuost every line of business.
 Railroads are barely holding their own as compared with a year ago Ill the maj ter of earnings, yet they will be called upon during the ensuing year to pay 1850, ,000,000 mu1e in interest on bonded in debtedness than they did last year, at least $100O,0OO0 600 in new bonds having been put ahead of the stock. If anybody can find bulish argument on railroad stocks in this, they must be of an exceed ing cheerful disposition, and optimistic from the core out. Railroads have used part of this S1,o000O0,000 to pay off old scores hut they have q very considerable percentage in their treasuries for expendi- ture for new equipment and betterment of plant. Thus far they have only spent a hctle and are very SLOW with their or- ders They have had warnings enough that then properties are being run down in every way but that has not stirred 1 them up to large action, although many of the uncertainties which held them in cheek until lecs,tiy have disappeared. They now nave a good line on the crops which are tdrning out tt be up to the aV- craze in most cases and above the aver age in some. oWGIess and longwindeo state legislatures are not through passing laws and agitating and the worst that could happen has happened In various other quartecs. Yet. the wheels do not move as taey should and there is disap- ointment :-- Wall street.
 One thing that acts as a darH per is the fact that tund, eds of millions of dollars of bonds that were gaily underwritten back in the spring remain unsod. In. vestment capital available for that kind of security suddenly an1 eN- lectedy dried up. Every little while Isome individual underwater or syndicate lhas to let go at a loss the ponds re ln,aining undistributed. The bond mar ket is described as dead without hope ot immediate resurrection.
 The almanac has reminded the street that just a year ago this week occurred a terrific slump in the stock market due
 
 son-Farquahar syndicate which went to pieces in an effort to buy about all the lrailroad capitalization afloat. This syn iicate specialized in Rock Island, Frisco, Delaware and Lackawanna and Lehigh Valley. A salaried crew headed by Kuhn, Loeb & Co.,, took over huge blocks of the syndicate stock. Later on Phelps, Dodge & Co. took the Rock Island hold ings off Kuhn-Loebs hands and joined hands with the Moore-Reid party, which controls the Rock Island system. |Just how much of the rest of the syndi- cate stock has been unloaded is known only to Kuhn-Loeb insiders
 The Spokane-Reno rate decision by the interstate commerce commission starteu 8 furry in the stock market which car lied prices down point or two The Thanking interests came promptly to the rescue and put stocks back again to the rcint at which the decline started. The more the decision is digested, however. the more bearish it becomes as stock factor, in the estimation of the rank and file traders. It has sufficed to gen crate strong bearish feeling and to encourage the selling of stock both for long and short account Wall street is filled with a keener sense of uncertainty than it has been in months although leVery effort is being mada ta copcao1 tb a