The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

scribe this sort of fake work. 1t is a dis grace to the stock exchange, but IS the means adopted in make q market Tor the majority of new stocks It is the | stereotyped introduction of unknown things to the public and if kept up long | enough usually results in wide distribu- | ton of the certificates.
 | Trading in Reading has been one or the spectacular features of the market Tor | the last two weeks. This week and last | transactions amounted to nearly twice the entire common stock capitalization of $'o,- l 100000. About s4o0o,0o0 of the common stock is locked up and the real amount which is apparently held by the pupnc gives a startlingly insignificant basis for I the enormous trarAaction on the stock exchange New York Central and Baltl- more and Ohio have together $60,OOO,0OO 1 of the s1400O0.000 total capitalization or Reading securities supposed to be locked up in the treasuries of the two compa- nes or up as collateral on loans. Last week sales of Reading common on the stock exchange footed up 7So,Qe0 shares, considerably more than the entire issue and twice as much in volume as the pub l lie hoAis. It would seem from the daily figures that the stock Is always cornered and such is really the case for manipu- lated control has long been lodged in a small group of heavyweight capitalists known as the "IArst National bank crowd" Reading is the most popular gambling stock on the exchange because | of it's violent and continuous fluctuations. Total transactions in Steel are about equal to those in Reading, but the com | mon share capitalization of ''the cor l poration' is s50S, ,000.0o0, or more than seven times that of the anthracite coal | leader. The supreme court is expected l to hand down a decision in the very near | future which will decide whether Read | ing is doing business in violation of the antitrust law. Insiders would have the ! world believe that it Is a matter of in- difference to them what the court may decide as they will have no difficulty in | so adjusting their affairs as to conform | to any construction which may be hit upon. Their market manipulations would seem to carry out this pretense of indiffer- ence.
 The great banking institutions of New
 York. Chicago and other large fiscal cen | ters have become the best agencies in I the world. They are in close personal and business touch with thousands of cor
 respondents throughout the country and
 are In almost daily receipt of every event or development of consequence in every township in the United States. They
 know what is goin gon in every minute I | change of news among all of the leading | institutions. Their hands are on the pulse of the nation and the slightest in l terruption to the routine is noticed. Lead l ing flnanciers in every industrial finan- | ciai and commercial center enjoy close personal relations with dozens and scores
 of men similarly situated and jointly in ! terested in knowing what is going on- not alone in a general way, but in detail. | There has never been time in the his l tory of banking when this intimate per sonal fellowship has played so important | part in regulating the business affairs
 of the nation. Wherever there is a weak | link in the chain or some unpleasant de-
 velopment in sight the leading bankers 1 in every large community know about it
 far in advance of the general public and
 much that is mysterious in the daily
 making of history is simply a manifesto | tion of forelSnowledge on the part of
 those who have the direction of our great
 affairs.