The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27


 that the goods must have come from that source. The interests" made heroic effort to bull prices to higher level be- fore beginning liquidation, but finding it impossible to interest the public at the quotations established on the July bulge they began unloading anyway, satisfied to get the best they could and selling on a down scale instead of an up scale as they hoped to be able to do.
 The Standard oil party is believed to have been the heaviest inside seller. Off eials of the Standard oil corporation have been at pains to deny that the company has sold stocks, giving as a. principal req son the fact that 1t had no stocks to sell. This statement is commonly construed as a technical denial and does not cover the operations of the multi-millionaires who comprise the Standard oil party and who are known to have held a bearish atti- tude on the general situation for many months past. Tn proof of this. it Is men, toned sub rosa that one of the junior
 members of a ruling Standard oil family got short 40o00 shares of Steel common as far back as last spring, standing by his account through a rise of nearly 15 points, and then adding thereto when Steel crossed 80 on the rise. It is argued that the youngster would not have taken that formidable risk unless he had known what was going on behind the scenes ana how the elders in the Rockefeller coterie felt and what they intended to do. The reasoning is logical and events have proved that the young man knew what he was about and was not troubled with doubts as to the outcome of his specula- ton. He simply had to stand pat on the short sales with advance Knowledge that he would be a winner in the long run.
 t... taax tbaua Ia+tarc fra quently to the fact that the railroads have put about s5OO00, ,000 annual interest
 charges ahead of stock dividends by is- sues of bonds during the last year, and that ultimately this drag would be an inn portant market factor. Time Is proving
 the accuracy of this forecast Statistics published this week show that disburse- ments on the 1st of September will record | a decrease of s2,000, GOO in dividend pay ments and an increase of $1500,000 in in- terest payments. The issue resolves itself 1 down to a simple sum In arithmetic. The | incerased interest charges are shaved di- rectly from the dividends. Both are paid | from earnings and the bonds have prior claim thereon. The S50000OOo annual ad- ditionaI drain on revenues amounts to about three-fourths of l per cent of the entire share capital of the railroads of the United States, an item that must be taken into account and from the conse- nuenceS of which there IS no escape. All of which may explain to the superficial observer what now appears to be a mys- terious behind -the-curtain cause for li- | oi1datjon Those who are accustomed to l delving deeply in their search for reasons | for market action knew that ultimately there must be a strain on dividends which
 would compel a scaling down of distribu- l tion to stockholders unless business
 nightly improves, and business is not 1 improving. It has not been improving for | O year or more and it does not seem likely | to improve to any material extent for an | other year or nlore--probably not until after the next presidential election.
 Opinion is, of course. divided as to the
 wisdom of the President fin not meeting l the democrats and insurgents half way | in their programme to relieve the country of the distress and uncertainty incident !, to protracted agitation over tariff revi~ sion. A good many of Mr. Taft's best | friends regret that lie did not take the | non-partisan, patriotic stand and play to l the best interests of the whole country in- 1 stead of to the partisan prejudices of Q | faction of his own party. However, the l veto messages are in and Congress has already adjourned, leaving the country. | confronted with a full knowledge that | business must move blindiy until Wash 1 ington acts on the tariff issue, whether | that be at the regular session of Congress, l or at the regular session which will fol-
 low the election in the fall of 1912.
 It Is big problem and tie uncettuin-