The Washington herald., 1911-02-20

New York, Feb. ia good many
people in the financial district came,
some of them very reluctantly. to the
conclusion last week that it was useless
| to expect any further notable advance
in the stock market while the Supreme
Court decisions in the Standard Oil and
American Tobacco cases and the Inter
| state Commerce Commission decision in
the railway application for power to make
increased freight charges were overhang-
| ing the situation.
At any rate, a month Of optimism and
rising prices, even II this rise after all
had been but moderate, seemed to be
about all that Wall Street could stand
for the time being. Recurrence to the
many favorable developments Of the last
two months and the continually brighten
ing prospects for the future fell upon
deaf ears and was only met by anxious
| inquiry as to the decisions"
| 1t is not at all certain just how long
this mood of Wall Street will prevail,
| that is to say how long a time of pes
| simism made up essentially of mere dread
| and apprehension. most of 1t altogether
unreasonable, will manage to suppress
! the springing up of new business life
| brought about so far as can be seenp by
purely natural and legitimate causes
! There is no doubt that to some extent the
Wall Street mind has been Influenced in
| the present month by the strong ira
dition to the effect that February is usu-
! ally a time when no advance in the stock
market can be looked for and when prices
usually tend to sag if a January rise
| has gone before.
Idea Not Well Founded.
! The records show, of course, that this
| idea is not well founded, or at least that
the so-called usual history of February
prices referred to is full of exceptions to
! the general rule of decline; and COM
mon sense attests that the business of
attempting to predicate financial opera
tions upon mere calendar periods Is apt
to be attended with poor success.
| 1t is fundamental conditions that shape
| the course of values in any stock market
| and not the succession of the months or
the whims and erratic and fugitive
guesses OF spectators for a turn" "
These fundamental conditions have in
the last few months undergone substan-
| tial improvement and afford n basis of
| optimism concerning security prices and
| the business future irrespective of de
| cisions'' and politics.
Meanwhile as regards the Supreme
Court decisions themselves, which are
rapidly passing into the stage of a
nuisance, so far as talk about them in
Wall street is concerned, it is worth while
| to call attention at this time to an ar
| ticle in the current number OF the At
Iantic Monthly, written by Gilbert H.
| Montague, a lawyer of this city. which
presents certain facts bearing upon the
discussion of the trust question which.
! although we'll known to lawyers and po-
| litical and social economists, are yet far
! from being popularity understood. Mr..
| Montague explains in detail. and accom-
pauies his exposition with numerous
practical instances thereof, the legal
| theory obtaining in the great civilized
| nations other than our own, and particu-
larly in Great Britain and Germany, of
| the laws governing combinations Of
! capital
In all these countries combinations"
of wealth and corporate enterprise, as
| the term is commonly used here, instead
of being suppressed and legislated
| against are welcome and foStered by the
| laws.
| Follow Europe's Progress.
The whole trust question in our own
| country at the moment settles down to
| the one point whether the Supreme Court
of the LAND will have the courage and
the clear insight into the exact nature OF
the business proposition involved to fol-
low the lead wisely and bravely assumed
by the law authorities of England seven
teen years ago, and which was antici-
nd
of Germany.
Meantime 1t is still worth while for
| thoughtful and conservative people to
let their minds rest somewhat upon the
substantial and underlying state of hnan-
cial affairs just now, or more especially
the march toward a better condition of
these affairs. intrinsically, that is going
on During the week the great Missouri
Pacific Railroad system passed from the
nervous and inept hands that have so
long held it to the grasp OF great banking
interests of immense wealth and pro-
gressive ideas and with record for i'm
proving the properties that they have in
charge. The Missouri Pacific system was
correctly described last week as being
the greatest undeveloped thing In the
countrys railway world
Money conditions are easy and grow
ing easier. Last week the Bank OF Eng
lands discount rate was reduced to 81
per cent. and as money is still pouring
into the banks treasury from South Az
rica, K may be that another reduction,
making the third since the beginning of
the year, will come in a short time. The
market for investment securities proper
is still good. It Is impossible to believe
that such essential conditions as these