The Washington times., 1912-04-21

NEW YORK, Aprll I.--Wlth eacH
succeeding day OF Wall Streets business
week, the volume of business transacted
was on descending scale, until in the
closing days, tine apathy in the security
market was as pronounced, almost as
before the Inception of the manipulative
movement. In rough way the de-
| creasing transactions measured the In
creasing horror, or perhaps more prop
erly, they were duly proportloned to the
| ever-growing, expanding and cumulative
| appreciation of the fearful tragedy OF
the mid Atlantic. without question Sc
curities after Monday were controlled
by the one event, the foundering of the
White Star steamship Titanic, with the
appalling loss of life. The great dis
aster sobered Wall Street. Although II
did not wholly stop, II certainly checked
the manipulation; whether II has put
an end, for the time being, to the bud
ding bull movement remains to be seen.
Usually an event of this general char
| acter, a great catastrophe involving a
heavy loss of life and property, without
directly ,injuring or destroying the value
of the things in which the security
markets deal, has but a passing influence.
| 1t is the way of a hard and cruel world.
Men pause to discuss them for time
and then pass on to the routine OF their
affairs. This has happened on SO many
occasions, in the cases of the assassina-
| ton of Presidents and the death OF
kings plunging whole nations In grief,
| or in dreadful horrors. like the burning
| Of the Irouuois Theater or the loss OF
| the General Socum, with a toll of 1000
lives, or the destruction of San Fran
cisco. and with others which might be
enumerated that for a general charac-
| terization, IT may be said that from the
material, sordid, market point of view,
| the effects OF these dreadful things are
| transitory.
] The Tragedy of the Titanic.
/ 1t is perhaps not much a matter of
surprise that the tragedy of the Titanic
should have a more pronounced effect
on sentiment than any other occurrence
not directly related to finance. that the
present Wall Street generation can re-
call, for there has been nothing within
the memory of this generation to conf
pare with it. Aside from that, the cruel,
heartrending disaster coming home to
many men directly engaged in active
walks Of finance, could not fail to cause
a depression of feelings and reluctance
upon the part of many men to engage
in manipulative performances of the
variety. which has of late diverted. the
Street.
| Even had professional work continued
on the recent scale, 1t is doubtful IL 1t
| would have made much headway, for
a security market is very much infiu-
, enced by the moods of the public and
1t did not require the general display
of half-masted flags throughout the
city to convey the information to the
market leaders that gloom and depres-
sion of sentiment pervaded the entire
community. Special movements in spec
ial stocks continued, and some surpris-
ing advances in issues of the "cat and
dog variety were recorded, but the
rank and file in the offices. after Mon
day, were busily engaged in discussing
the inadeNuacy of lifeboat accommoda-
lions, the Withholding of the details OF
the disaster by the Carpathia and va
rious other features of the ocean hor-
ror, and In consequence took practically
no interest in anything else
No Structural Market Weakness.
Despite the manifest dissemination OF
the public for speculative transactions
the market developed no structural
weakness, and prices to the contrary
ruled strong. This without doubt, al
the outset of the week, was a matter
of considerable surprise to the element
which had attributed the reactionary
tendency of the preceding interval tc
the success of Mr.. Roosevelt in Illinois
In relation to this, the opinion was ven.
tured in this column. that the market
in all probability had in no wise beer
influenced adversely b. political occur.
rences, and that such was the case ap
pears to be very well established by
the course of Mondays market, follow.
ing Mr.. Roosevelt's more Significant
victory in the Pennsylvania primaries
Prices were opened down upon tn,
deteat Of the Administrations delegate:
In the Keystone State, but they refused
to stay down, and they closed the daS
at a general and sharp advance, which
made up In many instances practically
all the losses sustained through the re
action of the previous week. But fol
the Titanic disaster, in all probabiIi
Ties, the Improvement in the genera
list would have made further progress
AS 1t was, however. the standard rail
way shares, despite considerable irregu
lartty held their own fairly well. Th,
up-bidding Of specialties was regarded
movement, and naturally 1t was dis
trusted, for one scarcely looks for
healthful movement led by shares O
bankrupt railways and dubious indus
trial concerns.
One 0vershadowing Event.
The developments of the week wer,
not without interest and Importance
but naturally in a market dominate,
wholly and solely by one event, no at
tention was paid to routine news an,
even happenings of more than ordinar!
concern were discussed with scan
ceremony This is illustrated by tn
manner in which the rupture betweel
the Easter railways and the Brother
hood of Locomotive Engineers and tn
declaration OF the latter for an i'm
mediate strike, was received in tn
financial district. AS a market factor
1t was entirely ignored and as a new
item 1t occupied barely more than
paragraph. On any other occasion tn
announcement would assuredly hav
depressed prices, for If the men carr
their threat into effect, it cannot hel
but have a serious result.
A developement of different nature
which met with a somewhat similar re
ception, that Is, ignored, was the an
nouncement OF the Forthcoming record
breaking sale, In amount, of $65, 900, ,0Ot