The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-21
MILD REACTION IN THE STOCK MARKET Mexican Situation Causing Genuine Apprehension FEARFUL ABOUT WAR Next Two Months Will Probably See Considerable Unrest Until
 Nominations of Two Par
 ties Are Settled
FEARFUL ABOUT WAR
By ". c. NICHOLAS

cession of prices. A series of careful | canvasses made by competent men re- veals the fact that a large majority | of representative flnaneiers, bankers | and captains of industry think the ad- vance has gone too far and that legit- | innate conditions warrant expectations of setback of consequence.
 Since the beginning of the month | the high price record showed a gain in prices ranging from points to nearly 80 points. From the extreme outside figures the reaction carried quo- tations back to 6 points, from which | range there was partial recovery. | American Can, both common and pre- ferred, lea the procession on the up. turn. the junior issue scoring a gain l of 24 points and tho preferred 29 l points. Amalgamated Copper made i new high record with a recovery of | SPA a share from the low price of Feb l ruary 1; Reading gained 20 points, | Union Pacific 16. United States Steel | 15 and the quieter stocks like Balti- | more and Ohio, Atchison. Pennsylvania, | the Hill stocks, St. Paul and Louis vile and Nashville. we're satisfied with gains of to 10 points. New York Gen. tral was strongly in the lead among the standard rails and moved up Il points. being aided by a powerful ma nipulative syndicate interested In fnan-
  derbilt system. The bull movement In the stock mar ket lasted longer than Wall street ex- pected and prices went higher. Great numbers of professional speculators of large calibre got out of the market and back again many times during the advance They misjudged the strength of the market like the pikers and were apparently as unable to understand the influence and meaning of the forces in actual control. As the upward move- ment developed 1t became apparent that the public was in on a command ing scale and had really taken charge of the situation. Whether or not the public will continue to keep on buying | Is the problem Wall street is trying to solve. Thus far it has done some pret- | ty bad guessing. It has been powerless | to control the course of prices and l that may continue to be it's Ill luck If the outside public felt like a ma jority of traders do on the stock ex- change the average of prices would now be 10 points below where they | are.
 The street has been singularly in- different to news developments of late. Perhaps callous would be the better word. It has been hearing so much the last year or two In the way of I bad news that 1t has become case hardened against gloomy talk and deaf
 to prophecy of depression and disaster.
 Things must actually happen before
 ihe street is not particularly impressed With disquieting reports on political, labor or warlilSe Mexican developments
 In regard to the latter 1t may be stated that the best of advices from Wash | ington are to the effect that the White Q f1A Ian dAro nf hot I, t& ,~I,. Congress are really very much alarmed over the Mexican outlook, and appre- hensive of war with the southern re- public. The tone of resentment if not actual defiance of this government, which permeated the Madero reply to our offer of intervention, while given serious meaning in Washington, hard | ly arouses interest in Wall street As a matter of fact. the stock market might be benefited by excitement of that sort, and that is about as far as Wall street cares. There exists a blind faith that the labor disputes started by coal miners and railroad engineers will be peacefully adjudicated and matters allowed to run along about as they were before. with this difference: The public will be assessed directly in an increase in the price of coal to pay the advance in miners wages, whereas the raiorads will be obliged to go down
 
 the $7.000,000 to $1o.00o.00o for the en- gineers. It would take genuine tie-up of the railroads to convince Wall street and the public that there is anything really serious In the controversy be- tween the railroads and their em. ployes.
 Many of the big bankers are telling the railroads that they can have all the money they want within reason and that they are taking too seriously .he fear that they may not be able to earn the money to pay increased in- | terest charges. Their argument Is that with tho new capital borrowed the railroads can so increase earnings that | there will be no real danger of en- | barrassment. Railroad homogeneous are not so sure of this. and the gov | erning opinion at this time is that the safest and best plan Is to defer addi- | tional financing until the uncertainties are cleared away and the public Is | more willing than now to let the trans portation companies insure themselves moro income by allowing the raising | of freight rates. They note with sat- isfaction that newspapers and the pub | lie in general Is more inclined than heretofore to recognize the merits of the railroads contention that they be allowed to make more money in order to provide the facilities the public de- mands. A campaign of education Is go- | ing on in this particular, which seems ! to be more or less effective in modify ing sentiment. This change of attitude on the part of tho public has not yet l hit the interstate commerce commits | sion very hard, it would seem At least | there has been no evidence of soft ening front in that quarter.
 The destruction of tho Titanic and floss of 15o0 lives hung like a pail lover Wall street for time There is a lpervading sense of personal grief on
 account of tho disaster. The money loss lis rarely referred to. Hundreds of those
 who went down to their death were personally known in the financial dis II trict and many of them did business here Who is to blame for the calamity
 win be settled in due time by author ized agencies. As a stock market in- fuence the disaster is not regarded as important.
 Political developments have been ob- scured by more sensational happenings
 Not even Colonel Roosevelt seems able
 to command the attention of people .n
 the stock market. They have recovered
 from the shock of the Roosevelt vic
 tories in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Maine and are going along in the
 even tenor of their way. In fact the street Is becoming reconciled to what