The Washington times., 1915-03-16
READING WEAKENS,,
MARKET DECLINES
But General Motors Jumps Full
Three Points, Then Reacts
Slightly Later.

NEW YORK, March 16.--With the
volume Of activity at the opening great
er than for several days past. the stock
market during the early trading mani
Tested the same tirmness that prevailed
yesterday, Uut development later OF
y weakness in Reading carried the list
generally below yesterdays closing
prices.
Floor traders attributed the Weakness
in leading to a revival OF rumOrs that
the poor earnings for the past srX
MONTHS would cause reduction in the
dividend. Having opened at I,44s Read
Inc sold off p. points. 1t later recovered
! in yaIi
Motors Company has purchased many
OF the outstanding notes sent that STOCK
up ) full points to 1862. new nigh
record. il IraCted slightly with tne rest
OF the list. Maxwell and Studcbdkcr,
TWO otter motor stocks that have re-
Gently been quite active, did not show
the strength OF General Motors, and
both suffered substantial losses.
bethlehem Steel gained moro than
point. and Alaska Gold continued
strong. Canadian Pacific was one OF
the Weakest of the rails, selling off Ia
points to l0S&s.
The Brazilian government. newspa-
say. is arranging to float in New York
a loan of sl5OOOOo0. offering as a guar
antee custom house returns on Amer
lean importatiOns. The Swiss govern
ment last week floated loan of similar
amount. and Uruguay has been report
ed as seeking loan in this market.
Claus y. Spreckels, president of the
Federal Sugar Refining Company, said
| yesterday that the reduced tariff has
lowered the cost of sugar to the public
| and offered figures to prove it.
Allowing for the difference in raw
sugar values, said Mr. Spreckels, the
, average price of refined sugar In 1914
| was about 299 cents, a hundred pounds
| less than in 1912. when refiners paid the
Cubans the same price for raw material,
/ and this advantage to the consumer Is
a reflection of. and can only be account
ed for by, the reduction of 2I9 cents a
| hundred in the average duty. The tariff
on cuban sugars, which was reduced on
| March ], 1914, from 1.34S cents a pound
| to l.Ol cents. Is used basis of COM
| parison because most of our raw sugars
| come from that country.
on consumption of, say. 1900, 900
tons this means saving of something
| like $4,000, 900 annually"
To offset the dullness of the market
to some extent, floor traders of the
stock Exchange have taken up chess.
Inc brokers carry leather booklets
ribbed in gold and containing minia-
ture chess boards with movable cellu-
loid pegs, representing the pieces and
paWns. The games are played in the
LOBBY, and a game may take a whole
day or several days. the brokers being
on their honor not to juggle the pieces.
Reports just issued by the Pennsyl-
Vania railroad show that the constant
services of 2,455 persons are required on
the lines east of Pittsburgh to keen the
ROAD, passenger cars, stations. grounds
ana shops sanitary. With the aid OF
every modern mechanical cleaning de-
vice. force of 405 equally divided be-
tween men and women, cleaned 2 lSS
cars during the month of January or
about 100 cars per day.
| one OF the best illustrations of the
extent TO which the campaign for sani-
tation has been carried on by the Pennsyl-
Vania Is the elaborate system of rules
provided for the handlers of food stuffs
that go into the dining cars. The need
for this care. however, may be recog-
nized when it is realized that the Penn
sylvania serves daily 1900 persons. This
service in year amounts to 4,745, ,00f
meals.
To assure it's passengers of fresh air
the company has installed in the 5000
and odd steel passenger cars a venti-
lating system that costs $265 a car. or
a total of $SOO.OoO.
Having advanced from 372s In less
than a year, General Motors common
stock yesterday established a high rec
ord at 1O1 This is an exceptional
achievement when one recalls that this
is a non-divdend paying stock. Direc-
tors have been quoted as saying that
no dividend will be paid until the out
standing notes have been paid off. OF
an issue of s15OOC,OOO per cent notes
put out in 1910, all but 100000 have
now been paid. and the accumulated
surplus reported at the end of 1914 was
more than enough to pay off these.
HORLICK'S