The sun., 1916-08-30
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stocks Slump, 0minous Aspect
Of Railway Labor Dispute
Inducing Selling.
NO RUSH TO L1QUDATE
Rails Lose . Little, but Sales
Are Not Pressed-Offer.
ings Well Absorbed.

Wall Street traders soid stocks on the
basis Of the latest developments IN the
railroad labor situation. Resultant de-
clines In prices. however. were not In
proportion to the amount Of energy *.
pended in the operations Or 70 the i'm
portance attached By bearish speouiators
to . widespread railway strike % . fac
tor fAvorins lower prices for securities.
Big bulls ala not iiQuidats Shsir hold
ings At the bshest of he 0safs. nor ala
the public rush In 70 sell Commission
houses reported . certain amount Of
selling ordsFv for unimportant public op-
orators. but the greater part Of the
sales were for the account Of m unim-
portant professional element with .
further substantial addition 20 the out.
standing short interest.
Standard railroad securities such a.
Union Pacific. Reading and New York
Central lost q point or more. but they
were not pressed for sale. There was no
investment liquidation. Bankers said
there was no good reason why investors
shouid get out Of their holdings. Ulti-
mate investment values. they pointed
out. would not be weakened by . tenn
porary cessation Of rail traffc In this
country. while they went o n record with
the opinion that the actual declaration
Of q strike would not bring about any
great depreciation In market values.
A strike will cost much money. but
II It meant the UNFOLDING Of . principle
in which the entire business community
Is interested Il will be money we'll spent.
A settlement Of the railroed controversy
along sound economic lines. bankers say
no matter the amount Of money involved
IN reaching an adjustment between capt.
tai and labor. will mean money saved
in the end both TO employees and stock.
holders.
incidentally certain bankers yesterday
modified their Jews regarding the i'm
possibility Of q strike. They not only
viewed the outlook as quite favorable "a
such q development. but went 90 far as
to say that the sooner II came the better
for all concerned. assuming the dispute
could not be satisfactorily adjusted
through Federal legislation.
The relative Hrmness Of stock market
prices IN the face Of professional pres
sure may have impressed some Observer
that Wall Street and tho public were
unwilling to admit even the possibility
OF q strike. despite the apparent inten.
t!on OF the railroad unions to make one
effective on September I. But to the
greater number Of mon in the Street the
course Of prices and the absence OF
liquidation suggested that owners Of -.
curities and spectators who are bullish
on the country were accepting the rail-.
road abor situation A. foreshadowing q
labor disturbance which could not upse,
basic factors and which would b little
more than a passing serious annoyance
Tho l00.0o0.00o people Of this country
arc directly or indirectly identified with
and interested In national prosperity
Wall Street and the general public DC
not figure on permanent paralysis be.
cause 100000 railroad workers, q small
proportion Of the total workers engaged
In the rail- transportation business. in.
s.st that their one-s.ded argument or
An eight hour day wage schedule mus
prevail.
1t is quite probable tina. people Wit
sell stocks on . strike viii buy then
back at higher prices. But Il does no,
appear reasonable that the 1000, 900 O,
more OF railroad stockholders In III.
United States will rush into q sel,!ns
panic.
Although there wa little public in
terest in the general market. commits
sion houses reported good absorption O,
offerings. especially Of the high grad,
rails. further active buying OF Mercan,
tile Marine preferred. United States Stee
and some OF the coppers. Bulls on tn,
munition shares found moro rea son fol
disbursement over the entry Of Ru
mania In the war than they did In tn,
labor factor. for Il was argued. on IN,
basis OF foreign dispatches. that with
Rumania in the Entente the war wa,
much nearer It's end. and then farewell
TO war profits IN this country. Similar,
bears Ia the wheat market argued tina
Russia. through Ruman,A, would TAX,
Constantinople and open the Darda
nelles and thereby find an outlet for IL
vast stores OF wheat. Wheat however
recovered IN part from Its slump o
the day before.
Tho Rumanian development again va.
reflected in the foreign exchange mar
ket. rubles advancing and marks dc
clining to a new low record under II
or a depreciation from parity Of Q iittl
more than 25 per cent. Early In tn,
summer New York exchange on Berlll
sold above n. French exchange wa.