The Washington herald., 1912-12-19
By L. A. FLEMING.

Wall Street gave a rather wonderful
display OF strength and weakness on
wednesday, but in the end the showing
was pitifully weak.
Moving along with a sagEing slow
kind Of a market during the greater
part of the day with losses of 1a2 points
rested
Then came the announcement that the
Reading directors had declared the long
expected per cent annual dividend the
first quarterly payment OF per cent.
The bulls accepted the good news as
the one thing needed to give the market
the advance that it has long expected.
Advances of 2 points and some Of lit
tie more over the low figures OF the day
were easily established and everything
looked well.
Then In even less time than il took to
cause the advance the whole list went
TO pieces and as the bell tapped for the
close of the session the market was going
down the toboggsn and going fast.
The action was all In the last half
hour, the rise and the fall, and the fall
looked good enough to bring further
smashing on Thursday.
The Street quickly decided that every
thing that could come on Reading had
arrived and that this ended the good
things that there would be no melon
cutting and that with the money power
investigation and the filing OF further
suits by Attorney General Wickersham,
who seems bent on making grand repu-
tation as a buster, there was nothing
to do but soak stocks.
Copper and Smelling turned very weak.
the latter in the last few minutes Of the
session; petroleum stocks were weak, and
losses of 1a2 points were general, the
speed of the weakness in developing sur
prising even the bulls.
There doesn't seem to be any balm
in Gilead" for the Street just now.
Money is close the country over, although
easier in New York. The investigation
is going badly, and announcement OF
methods and reforms are more than
likely to be forced on Wall Street.
These are the halcyon days for the
bears. They realize that the advantage
is theirs and they are going TO make
the most of II.
That the Reading S per cent should
have fallen next door to fiat was a
horrid disappointment to the bulls.
A. Piatt Andrew. formerly Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury, has prepared
a pamphlet on The Money Power"
In this rather remarkable document
the author shows that there are more
banks in the United States in ratio to
population than in any other country.
According to these figures Great Britain
is rightly entitled to the best as the
money power nation. as it has but one
bank to every SSS OO3 population.
Here are some really surprising sta
tistics:
Total number Of banks in the United
States. 25.I76.
In 1860 there was, as reported, a sepa-
rate bank to every 1857 of population.
In 1872 there is a separate bank to
every 5.7SS of population.
In Great Britain there is a separate
bank to every SSs.OOs of population.
In 1900 New York Citys proportion of
the country's banking resources was, in
per cent, 2S.2.
In 1912 this proportion had fallen in
per cent to 1s9.
In 1903 ten London banks held So per
cent OF England's total commercial de-
posts.
Four Paris banks held IS per cent Of
Frances total deposits. as reported.
In New York to-day the ten largest
financial institutions hold only sc per
cent of the country's deposits.