Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-02
A Peculiar Situation.

" a great demand for cash. and bank
ers find no trouble in placing their sur
plus supply and demanding good rates
of interest. peculiar situation eN-
lists at this time. There is no ques-
tioning the presence of prosperity. The
railroads cannot handle the business
given them. shipping is inadequate to
carry the cargoes that are piled up
double time and sometimes in three
shifts and money goes a-begging at
unprecedentedly low rates.
The great corporations of the United
states have been enjoying great sue
cess and they have been piling up cash
in the banks to their credit in way
that suggests added incomes of i'm
portance. for they all demand interest.
and perhaps larger dividends save on
stocks and bonds that bear fixed rates.
The great United States Steel Cor
poration has more cash than any other
company. probably about $110,000,000.
1t has been estimated that nineteen
corporations, all prominent in the in
dustrials field, have about $3.50, O0O, 900
cash on hand.
Wisdom would seem to dictate that
much of this great fund should be re-
invested in something that would pay
better than 2 per cent. the demand
interest rate of trust companies and
banks generally on large deposits OF
this character.
One would naturally think that the
its surplus cash in it's own bonds or
common stock holdings for offerings
later on to employees. Other companies
might invest in their own bonds, but
short-term maturities of other corpora
lions have been freely acquired, this
buying being one reason for the fairly
good market that exists for bonds on
Wall street.
fully supplied with cash is another
reason and a palpable one for the
limited demand for accommodations
from bankers. as smaller corporations
generally have in a measure their pro-
portion Of cash on hand also.
Local Securities.
The week has developed but little of
interest in the local securities market
If the street railways have turned the
corner in private auto competitions and
are beginning to show increases in pas
senger traffic as indicated by interviews
in this column yesterday. it will be well
come news to the holders of these securi-
ties.
"Jitney' competition is thing of the
past and is not likely to he revived. but
the privately owned auto will continue to
cut into receipts. lnaL revenues
should be greater than March a year ago,
despite the strike. was news to many
readers.
The uncertainty as to the action to be
taken by the utility commission. once
it has completed its valuation of the
public utilities of the District of Column
bia. is a check to market activity.
Much interest has been attracted to
the ruling of the Maryland state commits
sion in valuing the Chesapeake and Po-
tomac Telephone Company A reasonable
valuation was fixed and then the commits
sion permitted a moderate sum for good
will of going company and also allowed
for teh expenses of getting the corpora
ton started. Overhead charges" and on
this valuation adjudged that the COM
pany should be allowed to make fair re-
turns. and fixed this at per cent.
Last weeks total transa ctions were
SIS shares of stock and $4,000 bonds.
including limited trading. There has
been an unquestioned trend toward
lower prices on many leading securi-
ties, which was in a measure checked
yesterday by the higher bidding on