The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
WALL STREET GLAD ID HAVE THE STOCK MARKET TAKE REST Things Have Been Happen ing to Disturb Men Big in
 Financial World LIGHT MAY COME BY MIDDLE OF JANUARY Pending Decision of Minnesota Rate Case Is Regarded as One of Most
 Important Factors Now
 Overhanging Market
By w. G. NICHOLAS


 New York, December 2S-(Special )-This is one of the times that Wall street is glad to have a stock market rest. The street has gone through trying period and needs a rest Things have been hap pening to really disturb men of affairs in the financial world-the men who are be- hind big business and have been made through choice and circumstances virtual guardians as well as directors of the great business organizations. They feel more than a sense of personal responsibility.
 Everybody would like to look forward with d feeling of unshaken confidence to- ward the developments of the next year, but there are many features and condi- tions which give rise to apprehensions thar rosy estimates may not be filled to the limit. There is an underlying un- easiness lest rampant politics might check business progress and throw the country back instead of moving it forward. It Is also unlikely that the legal points of vital importance in corporation affairs will all be settled by the supreme court.
 A mass of fresh litigation against the large interests has been started within the last few months and must go through to the end. No doubt when the relations of capital to the public are more clearly defined the machinery of business will run more smoothly and to the better sat- isfaction and profit of the people. Until then, elements of uncertainty must remain to disturb and unsettle the minds of the men who are responsible for the man. asement of railroad, industrial and com morcial enterprise. Young men grow pre- maturely gray and middle aged men pre- maturely old in their struggle to sue cessfuly carry the responsibilities they have shouldered and that have been m- posed upon them All of this tends to make- the stock market situation uneer- tain anu to fill the mind with doubt where there should be certainty and calm confi- 6ence.
 Middle of January
 The feeling is strong that it will not be safe to take a fixed market po- sition until the middle of the coming month, January. By that time the huge dividend and interest payments amounting to more than $250,000o00 will have been diffused among investors and the tide of capital will have set in strongly toward the fiscal eenters, thereby recruiting the supply of large capital which will be needed in the programme of high finance during 1918 The stress flor money with which to move the crops is over and the money situation has already eased in the quarter. Altogether, the outlook for money is satisfactory, although tho country is under nigh pressure for the development of it's resources, and 1t will probably pay high rates with out interruption. In the broader sense this is very wholesome condition It is strongest testimony of the intense Business activity of the people. 1t is q living manifestation of the pro- digious force that underlies Q pa triotic nation possessed of boundless ambition and desire to make the most of opportunity.
 Market Stagnant
 The market this week has been stagnant Nobody cares to do any. thing either in the buying or selling of securities. Prices are neither high enongh nor low enough to stimulate speculation until the sky clears some what. The settlement of the Union Pacific Southern Pacific merger case is one of the matters upon which ths street is giving great deal of at- tention. The problem may be settled peacefully and before the close of the Taft administration, but there are ele- ments which may give rise to endless and costly litigation. It is no easy matter to disentangle two properties that have been so closely blended for 10 years as these two Hartman roads, ana the question of redistribution of the assets upon an equitable and satisfactory basis taxes the ingenuity and knowledge of the leading minds in the financial world.
 It is barely possible that there is