Evening star., 1915-07-04
FINANCIAI-LOCAL AND OTHERWISE.

Tho week in the local security mar
ket has been decidedly uninterestlhs
The chief reason for this conoitloh
which seems likely to continue io'
.ome time to come, Is found In the
stoppaGe of all trading in the snares
of the Washington Railway and Eiec-
trio Company and Washington Gas
These stocks furnished practicahy
10000 shares of business in the nrs'
hve months Of the year to May si'
1900 shares being in the stocks OF the
first named corporation.
Last week not a share of the common
stock of this corporation changed
hands. Sales of 100 shares OF Washing
ton Gas were made and thirty-two
shares Of Capital Traction as well as
twenty-one shares of Railway and
Electric preferred.
When the public utility stocks are IN
such q neglected condition one cannon
expect much activity in the rest OF the
list, where trading Is irregular anu
spasmodic at best.
None of the virile buying Of Railway
common that featured the earlier
months of the year is in evidence ana
Capital Traction has shown no activity
for weeks, except the recent temporary
spurt to 80, the advance being just
as quickly lost.
There Is an abundance OF money IN
Washington. as elsewhere; seeking IN. IN.
vestment, but the capitalist, even the
person of moderate means, asks mucn
information from brokers and Is ire.
quently unsatisfed in his or her mino
as to the earnings OF the various cor
bus competition, still in the initial
stages in Washington, but, more than
all else, in fear Of physical valuations
and what may come thereafter
ahor
the Capital Traction Company, received
assurance from the president OF the
corporation that the first half OF the
calendar year had been sumcientiy
stantially to its surplus" which should
have a good effect in stiffening the
views Of holders of the stock.
Business over the counter has been
much larger. in bonds, than on .ne
ing freely for investment and also for
customers. Practically $1,500,Oo0 was
turned over to the investors with the
list of July and much Of this must ma
reinvestment-if not In local securities
then in outside bonds.
So far as Wall street Is concerned,
Washington is at this time, not IN
speculative mood. Even war stocks fail
to interest.
A Friend in Need.
On the night Of May 80. 1908. after
many days Of fierce filibustering, the
Aldrich-vreeland currency measure
was forced through the Senate of the
United States fought to the last with
unytelding tenacity. and was placed
shrewdness of the senator whose name
heaAs the duo responsibility for the
measure. 1t is generally understood
that a Washington bank president
wrote the measure as 1t passed.
But for the fact that this bill became
a law and that a democratic Congress
later extended its duration. the United
States. in the trying times Of August.
1915. and months subsequent before the
danger was past would have been in
the worst chaotic financial condition
Imaginable.
October 81. 1914. there were out
standing $36s.b51. .os5 Of this currency;
statutes. but had not been put in oper-
alton. November 80 the amount out
standing was $242.000.000; December
II. $150.s36,692: February ~, 1.000.-
900: March 81. $4,000. 900; April 80.
which time all but a small amount
now fheld by banks in process of liQui-
dati0n has been retired.
There has been little outstanding
since the rate reached AZ per cent with
January of this year. save in the south.
The rate after March 81 was per
cent.
,Forty-two currency associations were
government for the emergency cur
rency taken by member banks, who
also put up securities at rs per cent
market value. equal in amount to cur
rency taken out.
Bankers today have nothing but
praise for the Aldrich-vreeland law.
It was asset currency and tho govern
ment stood no chance of losing a dol
lar. The currency associations stood
local bank official. commenting on
the success Of the measure in time of
greatest emergency. said: "And bank
ers all over the country feel much the
same over the federal reserve law 1t
looks n II the Oft recurring monetary
stringencies were a thing of the past.
Usually this season Of the year, with
the heavy interest and dividend pay
ments that have just been made and
the country starting the usual drain of
the New York banks for crop moving,
perhaps the stringency has been such
as to make legitimate business suffer
This is all over-money will always be
plentiful hereafter"
Steel Business Improving.
There 10 no question but that the
steel business is improving with each
day. The labor question IL becoming
rather serious factor. immigration has
practically been suspended, and large
emigration has taken employees from
every line of business.
It IL unfortunate that the increasing
endeavor Is not in aid Of constructions
In the making of structural steel for
buildings and rails for railroads, rather
than in assisting in lines of destruc-
tion.
There is such an abundance of money
for all business purposes that it seems
unfortunate that 1t cannot be thus en-
ployed.
But times are improving: great crops
are maturing. and but for labor trou-
bles in leading cities there would be a
revival of business in building lines.
Some Of the leading railroads are plac-
ing orders for rails and there Is a
healthier sign, perhaps retarded in
fruiting. through the uncertainty Of
the situation abroad and at home.
The Steel Corporation hopes to close
the third quarter OF the year with
deficits wiped out: the result Of the
second quarter. unannounced as yet. 10
expected TO show better than $25 0.0o0
net earnings. The third quarter should
increase the net to $3o.o0o.ooo. perhaps
more
The suggestion has been made that
With the deficit Of the period of depres-
sion in the steel industry, ended with
December 81. 1915. the directors Of the
big corporations might consider some
dividend on the common stock, as a
means Of inducing foreign holders to