Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-03
HALT IN LIQUIDATION
Wall Street Wondering it the
End Has Been Reached.
INSIDERS HAVE UNL0ADED
Quotations Are Now Down to 'eEx-
Dividend Cut" Level.
NO UGLY CLOUDS IN SKY
Business Outlook Not Wholly Good,
But Situation Might Be
Much Worse.
NO UGLY CLOUDS IN SKY
By w. G. Nicholas.

By w. G. Nicholas.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September 2-There has
been halt in liquidation, and people
are asking each other If the decline
is over, and If insiders are through
selling their surplus holdings. No
answer has been given to this very
natural and very general query, be-
cause nobody knows. The gamble
hinges on that point The decline Of
Is to 80 points In stocks has been suf-
fcient to discount a great many I'M
pleasant developments, but whether the
break has gone far enough for a gen.
eral cleanup and for quiet readjust-
ment Of the situation around the cur
rent level remains to be seen.
| A number of active stocks are now
| down to point where they would
scaled one or two points below the
present paying rate. New Haven, st.
Paul. both Northern Pacific and Great
Northern. Union Pacific, Baltimore and
Ohio and Atchison are among the lead
ing railroads whose stock is now sell
ing "ex-dividend cut" They are SO low
that conservative bears are thinking
of making shift Of front at least
/
the future. Railroad officials are loud
ly denouncing reports of possible
| dividend reductions, but the tape talks
louder than they do. and is more in
f1uential In shaping market opinion.
Heavy Foreign Selling.
Foreign selling has been a decidedly
| important factor in the big slide In
prices. Great Britain and the con-
80
lean securities for the last six weeks.
The dispute between Germany and
France over the Moroccan issue seems
to have caused genuine uneasiness on
the other side, although the affair
seems in this country to be trivial.
Why it should set two great nations at
loggerheads passes our understanding.
| Then there came along the labor strikes
in Great Britain, which are serious be-
yond question. The labor situation there
| Is grievously bad Wages are extremely
low and the great army of workingmen
employed by railroads and many other
| corporations feel that they are enlisted In
| a holy cause. They are in life and
death struggle to lift wages to a standard
that will enable them to live as civilized
human beings. The wage average Is
| stated to be around Sc week, figure
that Is incomprehensible to the American
| people. The seriousness OF the problem
is understood by the British public far
better than it is here, of course, and its
bearing on securities values is clearly
| seen. The effect on prices of English
stocks has been harsh, and has naturally
| led to liquidation of British holdings in
| outside stuff Americans. being easier to
| sell than anything else, were first to be
spilled out Of the box. That selling, on
| top Of home liquidation, served to put our
prices down lower than they would have
otherwise gone. The great burden Of un-
| digested stocks and bonds is still weigh
| ing heavily upon the American market
probation.
Sold on the Decline.
! Gossip has been free with the names Of
| big insiders and favored plunging specu-
lators who have sold out their stocks on
| the decline. The break in International
! Harvester from around 40 to under los
| has been attributed to the unloading by
| George w. Perkins. who has been active
in bulling the stock ever since it left IS.
Mr.. Perkins has not denied the report.
| which emboldens gossipers to believe
| that on this occasion they did not
wander far from the facts. Mr..
Perkins is in deadly earnest in his de-
| termination to devote the next few years
| of his life to the carrying out OF pro-
81 dII d UctlcE 0IuCi SlollAiA6 OCI"CCA
warning business and political interests.
In order to accomplish results, he feels
/ that he must divorce himself as much as
| possible from business cares, and 1t would
| not be at all surprising II he should be
concentrating his heavy interest IN the
stock market and putting himself in shape
| to give his whole time to his benevolent
| hobby. There is q great deal more to MIR.
| Perkins than the general public believes.
| and he may yet make very decided i'm
i he
| large capacity for achievement in cru
SADIE for the popular advantage
Another story is afloat to explain the
break of 100 points or more IN standard
| ings Of the estate Of A. Mcdonald, the
| deceased Cincinnati multt-millionaire.
have been finding a market rather I'M
| der compulsion. few years ago MIR.
900 shares of Standard Oil. He was one
| of the largest individual holders. He
| became involved with his son-tn law,
| Stallo. and associates In the. construc-
| ton Of Mississippi railroad and not
long after he died It was discovered
| that his estate had shrunk enormously
| in value. According to the Wall street
| story, the last $500 shares was held
| by a trust company OF this city as
collateral on q loan and that the clear
| ing house demanded that this be taken
up. else the banking company would be
denied q membership in the association.
Selling Caused Break.
It had to be sold and in working 1t
| of there occurred the break referred
to. It IL understood that other parts
OF the original big holdings passed to
the hands Of leading Standard Oil in
| siders.
Attention was called to this gossip
| by an amusing incident that occurred
on the curb market this week. A new
broker mistook an order to buy 100
| shares of San Toy, a penny mining
stock. for an order to buy 100 shares Of
Standard Oil stock. In attempting to
| fill the order the youngster ran the
price Of Standard Oil up $45 a share in
about ten minutes. only succeeding in
| getting fifteen shares By that time
| they choked him off. II he had been
| allowed to buy the full 100 shares he
| might have put the price up 200 points
| He was an earnest bidder.
Wall street is very much at sea over
prospects. Nothing vitality wrong in
| the general situation can be observed
that is. nothing which is likely to
| cause a panic or to greatly under
mine existing values. At the same time
| business conditions are not satisfac-
tory. Enterprise has come to a halt.
The minds OF everybody are disturbed.
I 49,