The Washington times., 1911-04-30

better during Wall Streets bushes.
| week. To what this Is due was no
made clearly apparent. unless It Ii
traceable to the distinct improvement
in the bond market, and the very many
| successful financial negotiations which
were really the features of the interval
Stock brokers did not, as a rule. refer
to the large bond and note sales as a
reason for the better feeling, but a
great many of them expressed the opin'
ion that the market wanted to go up.
Upon the part Of some brokers the
change was rather sudden for men who q
| week ago were insisting that they detect.
ed evidences of liquidation In the market
were among the first to switch the
other way round. 1t is not impossible
that this transformation developed from
| nothing more considerable than a test
applied to the security list on Monday
by professional traders. The forenoon
| of that day was marked by some rather
heavy selling Of stock. which was clear
ly Of professional origin. When the an
| nouncement. No trust decisions today
appeared on the tape a covering move
ment set in under which prices rallied
sharply.
41PluNCuuCuI IN oIUChS.
Thereafter during the week. prices
were irregular, advancing and declining
by turns throughout the day. but they
gradually worked to d higher level, and
they closed strong and distinctly better
Saturday. Possibly this was due to the
discovery by the traders that they had
been unable to dislodge stocks or force
liquidation by their early bearish ef-
forts. A professional trader always
argues one way. II stocks won't go
down, why, then, they ought to go up.
and when the talent gets into this frame
Of mind their own short covering opera
tions usually force prices higher. But
aside from this. the market is drawing
close to May. and Wall Street has not
forgotten its old traditions of a May
bulge"
AS a matter of fact these strange
old traditions, with which the financial
market is filled to overhowing, are fall
sitied as often as they are fultilled.
May, for instance, does not always see
bulge" 1t witnessed panic in 1854
and another one on the ninth day of
the month In 1901. but when the latter
fact is mentioned no oldtimer, who
clings to traditions. forgets to point out
that the first eight days of the month
that year witnessed the most active
trading in the history of Wall Street,
and the highest price ever recorded for
the common stock Of an American rail-
way, namely, 1900 share for Northern
Pacific.
An Old Tradition.
These traditions certainly play a part
in the stock market, and il would be
as difficult to dislodge the rock of
Gibraltar as to convince some men that
there Is utterly no relation between the
general tendency of the market and
the course of prices on a Tuesday. If
he is very old-timer he will probably
tell you that you are a fool, because
every one knows that Tuesday is low
day. in a bull market, and high day
in a bear market I made an effort
to trace the origin of this remarkable
tradition once, but I was unable TO do
so. l was informed, however, that II
was current in Wall Street as far back
as the days of Jacob Little, who was
isso. $50 0'''A ai net eoer ITO" 1''0 10
l have an idea that Tuesday was a
dull day, not necessarily a low day."
in Wall Street, as in all commercial
lines down to. comparatively, recent
that the telegraph was not as ex-
tensively used then as now, and at the
time referred to the Intervention of
Sunday and the slow train service de-
prtved New York of mail on Tuesday
Central West like Cleveland, India
napolis, Chicago. st. Louis, Detroit,
Milwaukee. Columbus. Louisville, and
the like. OF course. with extensive priv
feel this now, and with better mail
facilities and the night letter service
Of the telegraph companies the mer-
chant probably does not notice any diff
ference, but twenty to thirty years ago
Tuesday was the dulIest day of all the
week for wholesale merchants for the
reasons specified.
Court Cases and the May Bulge.
But to return to the May bulge" or
rather to the tradition, it is possible
that something of the kind may develop,
If the Supreme Court should render its
long-deferred decision in the industrial
trust cases. Unless some disposal is
made of these within a very few weeks,
they will, of course, go over until the
fall. That would not be to the liking
of the business and financial COM
munity, but 1t is doubtful If it would
prove as much Of clog as the present
situation Of weekly uncertainty. In one
respect 1t would prove a blessed relief
for Wall Street might turn it's atten-
ton to something else and drop the sole
topic of the court cases, which 1t has
worn threadbare.
Without question the best feature of
the financial market at the present time
is the improvement in the bond division.
No doubt there has been a great deal
of manipulation in bonds on the ex-
change. Many of the issues that have
been taken in hand are not of charac-
ter which appeal to investors, but, un-
derlying the movement, is the very
solid basis Of cheap money, and there
has been some excellent buying by in
stitutions, which has impaired strength
to the entire bond list. A. case in point
has been the encouraging activity and
issues, particularly the new ~ per
cents, which are up a full point for the
week on savings bank buying.
New Capital Issues.
That the bond market has definitely
improved is, very clearly indicated by
the new capital issues announced as
concluded or under negotiation, and the
quick sale that has attended public Of
ferings, as. for instance, the 900
Seaboard Air Line .refunding As. The
new issues of the week. include $40 900 600
Louisville and Nashville As, s12,3o0. coo
Central New England ffty-year As, the
road being a subsidiary of the New
ST. 500, 200 Chicago and Northwestern As,
etn ooa non Rorjd