The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-12
TRADING IS DULL
 IN STOCK MARKET
 s5-as' Prices Change Little But Tendency Is Higher BEARS NOT ACTIVE
Some Railroad Stocks Make New High Records for the Movement
 and Strength Is Evident All Around
BY RALPH EMERSON

New York, February u-lSIech'i)- Trading was dull and mostly professional cn the stock market today especially was this the case in the closing our of business. This came at the close Of sn inactive session. Although tho mar ket was dull in the first half holr or vWp small, but they were generally on eho side of improvement and complete absence of pressure suggested that the decline of the last half hour of Friday haA resulted from bear selling and that sAs bears were unwilling to attempt to force matters further.
 A new high record for the present movement was made by Missouri Pacific and Texas. Pacific was strong in ls pathy. Relief appeared to be growing stronger that change in the manage ment of these roads would soon occur.
 For upwards of a quarter of an hour Reading made no change of price from Fridays closing all the sales being at ,eoss. This was something unusual, ana appeared to indicate that market forces were pretty evenly balanced. Strensth in Consolidated Gas was one of the fea- tures, while it resulted in large ! art from buying to anticipation Of the civl- dend reduction next week.
 , Another large expansion of loans on the weekend figures, the increase was s12, ,3e0,O01, making total increase ot Slpo'- e6oOO0 snce the first week of January, was the governing influence in today's bank statement The gain in cash was itself much smaller than yesterdays es- innate. as against that estimate of $7,'O0,- GDanet receipts, the associated banks add cnly s1 Sc0,o0O to their holdings. The surplus reserve accordingly declines but the loss of s1O,O0o,tO0 is not great, and the actual surplus still remains s6,7O0,0co above this week in 1910 and s15.5oo,2 2oo ahead of 1909
 The business outlook continued to grow brighter during the week. Increased or ders and specifications for locomotives and cars were received by plants during the week. The Hartman lineS which recently placed orders with tho Baldwin Locomotive Works for 1967 locomotives, have apportioned the orders for ;ne off serent roads, most of which are to go to the West and Southwest.afF
 '. S. Steel corporation is now opel at ing about 50 per cent of it's blast furnace capacity.~an increase of approximately IS per cent from the low level reached sev- eral weeks ago. Within the last week or two the corporation has blown in sever al furnaces and re-employed in the neigh horhood of 10000 men. This week ln- creased orders and specifications for lo-
 
 thus the equipment industry has net- ter future ahead of it after prolonged dulIness The improvement, in the s'eel trade was even more marked witt an in creasing demand for finished products eeneraliy The gain was represented by an increase in the inrilled orders of the United states Steel corporation at the close of January. of 4S61vo, as compared with those at the end of, December. This is the frst increase in months and in the fact that it marks the turn in the steel industry from. depression to reviv'ng ac- .ivity
 Crop conditions are favorable for continued prosperity in the agricultural world The slight decline in the price of cotton had the effect of drawing increased orders from foreign centers, which was stimulus to export trade. The copper producers statement of the
 
 lures were an. apparent further de- crease in production during January amounting to 100000 pounds, but the chances are that>this has been owing more to the weakness of the metal market than to any recognition by pro ducers of the desirability of curtail- ment. so much discussed last year. On the other hand domestic deliveries were the smallest set forth for any month in the records of the Producers asso- citation, while exports shrank 35,000,- 900 ponnds The result of these changes was an increase in the domestic stocks at the end of January of about 20,- 500,0O0 pounds. .t
 The collapse of the bull speculation in several commodities, especially cof- fee, cotton and wheat, means a re- duction in the cost of living. The adop- tion by Congress of the reciprocity agreement witf Canada would lead 9 still further reduction and the signifl- canoe of all this lies in the fact that 1t would bring contentment to- the wage earners of the country and pre- vent that almost constant demand for increased wages which has become a serious problem to corporation man. agers. eThe monetary situation has been generally favorable to borrowers and it looks very much as if prospective railroad financing would be carried to a successful issue and at lower in- terest rates than at the close of 1910. The decline in discount rates abroad at such prominent financial centers as sIondon, Paris and Berlin Is encourag- ling to American corporations and it