Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-24
PE[TED WITH EGGS MARKET NEAR PANIC
Woman in Trousers Skirt Excitement Result of RuInu
Mobbed in Paris Against Railroads.
REsCUED BY POLICE STOCKS SOLD FRANTICALLY
Doubt Whether New Big Losses Are Common Sup
Garb Will Be Success. porting Orders Stay
RowDY1sM IN MADRID WALL STREET GETS SHOCK
Excitement Result of Ruling
Against Railroads.
STOCKS SOLD FRANTICALLY
Big Losses Are Common, But Sup.
porting Orders Stay Rout.
WALL STREET GETS A SHOCK
American Shares Drop in London
and Demoranzed Conditions i
Prevail for a Time. r,

! Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, February 2i.-For flfseen
minutes this morning the stock market
faced panic. Demoralized traders and
SPECTATORS OF every class sold stocks
frantically. and prices following the open
ing were hardly recognizable compared
with last nights figures Losses OF four
ana ffve points were common, and some
or the declines ran to moro than twice
those figures. When strong supporting
orders appeared the rout was stayed.
IL all followed the announcement that
, the Interstate commerce commission had
refused 10 allow the railroads the I'm
creases In freight rates that they insisted
were absolutely necessary il they were n
continue in business.
The decision was a complete surnrisa
TO wall street: I'm some quarters n was
nothing less than a calamity Nobody,
NOT even the shippers who opposed the
railroads in their application. had sun
posed tnat the outcome OF months OF arr
sument and counter-argument was to be
IKE this. Predictions had gained wide
the railroads would fot get all of their.
demands but that they would get none
OF tnem was conclusion seemingly un-
tninkable. Consequently when Wall street
| at the breakfast table this morning they
were more than amazed: they were dunn
founded.
Result In London.
London, with its difference of five hours
IN time, was the first to show what the
decisions meant to the securities mar.
kets. American shares there went into
a panic Reading dropped more than IN
points and other stocks relatively as far.
| New York sellers kept the cables hot
| with their orders, pouring out stocks on a
| scale that an arbitrage broker described
as colossal. Between 10000 and 3OOOOO
shares share Were sold in this way by, New
holders of Americans were not SLOW to
| follow their example. For more than an
nour the market for Americans in Lon
don was dernoralized At one time Read-
ing was offered at 1A5. Union Paci6c ct
1854 and Steel common at 75,k: The esti-
mated dealings in London wero lO0LOn
shares. total without parallel since the
venezuelan message panic Of the early
Then the influence OF big supporting
orders sent over by Kuhn. Loeb n
GO. and other powerful international
banking firms began to be felt and the
TIDE was turned. A rally set in that
carried prices just before 10 O'Clock, New
YORK time, half way back to the level OF
last nights closing. The market WIS
NOT steady. however. even though the
worst was apparently over. Spectators
turned to the local market with feelings
OF genuine apprehension.
Opening Abnormally Active.
The first sales here gave warrant to
their fears. The market opened ab-
normally active and very weak South
ern Pacific opened with q loss OF "A
points: 5000 shares of Union Pacific
changed hands at q decline OF ~ to ~
points; Atchison was or ~. New York
Central 2.s to 3. Reading opened 900
shares at q decline OF 8x and. l0.0OD
shares from 6t to Us points below last
| night. Great Northern preferred was OF
IA and Northern Pacific. Missouri Pacific
i and Steel common cash points. st.
Paul dropped ~. Baltimore and Ohio
3. and Lehigh Valley 4st points. Other
losses were in proportion.
| In most cases the worst OF the decline
was seen at the opening, or Immediately
after it. Warned by London. the power.
full banking interests that have had the
market in hand for many months were
prepared for decentralization here. So
| effective were their plans for staying It
| that at no time did the general level
| of stocks in tho local market reach the
| average Of American prices in London.
But they were no great distance above
| it.
Commission Houses Anxious.
L
In the commission houses. although the
| general public has not for a long time
been heavily committed to the stock mar
ket, there was nevertheless considerable
anxiety.
Generally brokers advised both their
| 'Iong' and short customers to stand
| firm and do nothing until tho speculs-
tive sky became clearer. In some cases.
| however. they could not hold them and
many sold out at heavy loss.
After the first fifteen minutes the mar
losses stocks had sustained. were slight
| Trading continued excited.
| At first the decision OF the interstate
commerce commission caused too much
| dismay to allow Of reasonable discussion
of It. Then various railroad operators
gave out statements. of which the follow
| ing by Roswell Miller, chairman OF the
| board Of directors OF the Chicago. Mil
waukee and st. Paul railway. was typi-
cal:
".rhe interstate commerce commission
will have to bear the burdens which will
result from this decision, and am much
mistaken IL the burdens will be light.
The first ones to suffer will be the COM
merciaI interests opposed to the ad-
vances, who pursue the penny-wiss,
pound-foolish policy"
Reflected in Philadelphia.
E4.-Tn0
downward rush OF opening prices on the
New York Stock Exchange was reflected
in the Philadelphia exchange. where all
stocks felt the influence Of the rate de-
cision. The widest margin in the OPEN
ing prices was in United States Steel.
which dropped points. to II. Cambria
Steel showed q loss Of points, openin.
at 45h Pennsylvania and Reading each
lost points.
Many calls for margins were sent out
over night. but the forced liquidation was
not upon an extensive scale. Later prices
recovered about a point, with the ex-
ception OF Lehigh Valley. which remained
weak
CHICAGO February N.-The Interstate
commerce commissions decision in the
railway rate cases was reflected here
today in q lower range OF prices on the
stock exchange. Declines ranged from
1 to 2h points. The volume Of business
was small.
PARIS. February "a. The bourSs
opened agitated today sp the weakness
Of American railroad shares in London.
which followed the adverse decision OF
the interstate commerce commission. AZ
<h> doy nrn0reSsod prices here stAAdfed