Evening star., 1915-04-04
PEACE SENTIMENT
BOOSTING STOCKS
Wall Street Figures Great Cost
Soon Will End Con-
fIiCt Now.
INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS
GIVE GOOD REPORTS
Business Is Looking Up With Mar
ket Buoyant and Higher
Prices in Sight.

NEW YORK. April 3-The buoyant
stock market which was ushereo IN
during the week of March 20 .and mas
continued on a very exuberant OASIS
through the present week may well be
called a peace" market. Not that
there has been any definite assurance
of an early cessation of hostilities IN
Furope. nor even that formal peace
treaties are in the process OF forma-
tion But Wall street has ever been
the country's foremost expert IN dis
counting the trend Of future events,
and Is now able to discern those in
fallibIe economic sign posts that point
to an early resumption of trade and
commerce between the nations that are
usine their energies for the purpose OF
destruction.
r. 10 now an easy matter to figure
out that to continue the war upon the
gigantic basis upon which 1t has peen
conducted for the past seven months
involving an expenditure of fifteen mil
lions Of dollars a day, is an economic
impossibility. and. therefore. the final
day of reckoning cannot be far re-
moved. The remark OF Premier AS,
ouith that the result OF the war VIII
denend upon the last hundred million
dollars" contains much more truth than
II may, therefore. be assumed that
the trend Of the stock market from
now on will be largely influenced ny
the reports from the belligerent terri
tory that any indication of peace pro-
nosals will be discounted" as an i'm
portant bull argument. and that the
actual signing of peace treaty Will
be followed by violent rise in stocks
IN ALI the important home and foreign
bourses. 1t is easily seen, however.
that Wall street Is now operating on
the assumption that peace Is not far
distant.
Industrials' Steady Advance.
One OF the most gratifying features
of the market has been the steady ad-
vance Of the industrial stocks. such
as Bethlehem steel. American Can.
lAmalgamated Copper. as we'll as a few
! of the leading automobile shares.
| AS a case at point, let us take the
Bethlehem Steel Company stock. Mon
day Of this week this stock sold at
SO, new high record. and 14S points
above the final quotation Of last Sat
urday. This stock sold at 80 last fall.
and though no dividends have been
paid on the common stock for some
| time the company in its latest annual
report @ showed that its net earnings
were equivalent to 80 per cent Of the
common stock. If, therefore. the
| stockholders (Mr. Schwab and Mr.. Car
neeie holding the majority stock) were
SO disposed they could easily announce
| a liberal disbursement and still retain
a substantial amount for unused sur
plus. 1t is estimated that the earnings
Of the company for the first quarter
| Of 1915 will be at the rate OF 50 per
cent on the common stock. In the
wake of this latest sensational rise in
the stock came stories of big fortunes
| lost and won. 1t goes without saying
that those who put faith in war orders
last fall by buying the stock around
| 80 are smiling now. even In the face
Of Mr.. Schwab's often repeated state
| ments that Bethlehem Steel will not
pay dividends on the common stock
| for a long time to come. The differ
ence between 80 and SO bridges many
possible dividends.
Two other important industrials rem
dered reports this week, showing fair
|ly satisfactory condition-the Western
Union and the Marconi Telegraph. The
reports Of the Western Union Tele-
graph Company for the year ended De-
OF $46,264.777; total expenses. s40.57S,-
751; net earnings, $5,686,026. The COM
panys gross operating revenues in
creased over those of the previous year
| by $1.475,900. due to unprecedented
cable business during the last five
| months Of the year. the land line earn
ings remaining approximately constant
| with 1918. Tho combined operating ex-
penses for land lines and cables. in
cluding taxes. show a net decrease of
$685.. 800. this figure being made up of
l a decrease in the land line operating
expenses of $s1s,s0o and an increase