The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-09-24
UNITED STATES HAS
CASH IN ABUNDANCE
Sensational Smash in Steel
Has Little Effect Upon
General Prosperity.
CROP PROSPECTS GOOD
Economic Changes World
Wide; This Country in
Strong Position.
CROP PROSPECTS GOOD
BY Leased Wire to The Tribune.

I VIEW 1Okk. sept 23.-l ne sensation
al smash in Steel and a resultsn, decline
In other shares has been the salient fea :
ture in this weeks stock market Yes
| terday's low-priced Steel showed a loss OF
142 points compared with last Monday
high price; compared with July 90. the
day the downward movement started. the
stock showed a decline OF 21t points.
Wednesday 2i9.65o shares of Steel
changed hands THURSDAY the trading In
| day all records We're broken With the
DAYS turnover Of 7I7.s00 shares.
Thgs in three days nearIy one one,third odi OF
the Steel corporations So0s, 900. 600 com
| mon stock changed hands.
Holders OF Steel shares who regarded
this weeks decline and enormous trad
ed, evidently were not familiar with re-
cent stock market history. In Luly OF
last year Steel declined from 7oi to e1l
In ten days; In September of 1909 steel
broke from 53a To il3 in six days. Later
the same year, with daily transactions
running as high as 626100 shares. IL ad- =
vanced points In week and 20 points
in a month. touching ga the high rec
ord on October a. Within two davs after
94s was touched the price was down to
After selling at 50 in 1901. with daily
transactions as high as 4sS1o0. steel sold
as low as ST.
Plenty Of Cash in Country.
day is strong In cash resources and that
domestic money markets are facing the
present disturbance with eduanimity.
Otherwise there might be plenty OF trou-
BILE ahead.
In dissecting the cause of the presen,
nnsettlement of securities there arc nu-
merous reasons to select from The
economic ones are probably more 10 he
reckoned with than those political They
arc interlated. Of course with financial
conditions. especially in Europe. jus, as
financial aspects have been changed and
intensified by politics. The underlying
cause, however. seems to be economic
and social. and the fact that il is not
confined to any one country. but is
difficult TO estimate the length TO which
/, Will go or the effects II wll produce.
The manifestations in this disorder are
different In different countries. but they
all grow out of the same search for re-
form.
In Austria and Spain. where martial
law has been the controlling factor this
week II is high cost Of food. In France
and Germany similar causes have been
al work. Both nations have been reduced
In purchasing power and in selling power
by two abnormal seasons.
In England, the railway strike. now
breaking out again in Ireland. is related
to the economic hieh living cost and fric-
ton between capital and labor.
What Americans Demand,
The biggest and broadest manifestation
Of this condition is exhibited In the
United States in demand from the peo-
pie that the competition he restored to
Its normal basis and that the tyranny Of
big business" over politics and the law
be once and for all disrupted
President Taft has given expression 10
this sentiment In his Detroit speech this
week Very little doubt remains but that
the corporations Of this country arc about
10 undergo radical adjustments
The strength Of railroad stocks this
week during the l4-point break in steel
common Is of great significance. IL sus-
sests two possibilities, on" That this sec
tion OF the mark whore the weakness
frs, began hasNbeen liquidatcd 10 the
point demanded by the earnings Of the
past eight months. and by some scattered
instances Of dividend weakness, The
other idea Is that large owners Of capital.
who sec ahead industrial disturbances OF
the sort here indicated. have been trans
investment stocks that have already dis
counted at least ! per cent reduction
in dividends.
II Is hard 10 conceive Of any other ef-
feet Of the past two months Of nquida
tion in the stock market than of restrict
ing general trade.
Generally denoralized as have heen the
iron and steel prices s,s The dee decline .s In
particularly has put the consumer just
so much further away from the producer.
The great sources of strength in the
present situation are agricultural and
monetary. The total Vaue OF farm
products will not he much below last
year. The northwest has made mp in It's
potatoes. fax and barley what ii lost In
spring wheat, while the damage Of the
southwest I'm winter wheat and corn Is
nearly Offset by cotton. rice and smaller
products,
For the first time in any world wide
crisis the United States is I'm a position
TO lend TO other countries. Her money
rates are the lowest her surplus of funds
the largest: her stock markets the most
liquid and her foreign credit balances
tho greatest
These two facts together ought 10 brace
UP the spirits OF those who are now look
ing only at the effects OF politics on
stock market prices.