The sun., 1916-11-24
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stocks Decline Again, Gulf
State Steel Second Down
49,, Is Points on Day.
LEAST LOSSES IN RAILS
Anomaly Presented Of Roads
Shares Selling Higher When
Not SO Valuable.
LOSSES IN RAILS

Stocks lost ground again yesterday.
In the industriais 10 points Of caution
were admi1tstered BY Gulf STATE stssi
second prSUbrred. which declined IL
points. closing At $50. which IL 10 points
below the price ct which this same stock
sold Ast week. Al the sams time the
common stock sold down TO 15e. which
Is ~ points below III high price Of
only . few days ago.
When inflated industrials such a.
thess can decline 10 and - points IN .
week the idea naturally spreads that Il
IL wise to take profits while profits ara
o~btainable. Undoubtedly hundreds Of
the spectators who had handsome paper
profits in Gulf State Steels at the. top Of
the market las week ave found those
pronts wiped out in the last " OF
three days.
Tho movements on the Gulf States
Steel shares sugeest that speculation
alone was responsible for them, although
they were accompanied by glowing re-
ports Of earnings. They also bear re-
minder that the gambler In stocks mus
make two guesscs-he must guess wher
| to get out, AZ we'll as when to get in.
In the other industraals declines wert
not EXCESSIVE Steel common lost IN
points on the day. but the closing pric'
of 12lM represented a decline Of bu'
~ points from the high record Of 12s
| established after a fairly consistent ant
long period Of bullish activity. At M
time was there any vide break In thii
stock or in many others Of the recent,
active and buoyant industrials.
In the railroad shares tho declinei
were fractional. but the mere circum
stance that standard investment stock
the most curious phase Of the stock mar
ket Of recent weeks and months: that Is
that the dividend paying rails sold highsl
when worth much less,
Southern Pacific yesterday reported ~
operating Income for October OF 1915.
900. aS compared with 35.2s3,0Oo in thu
same month. Of 1915 n $4,0S2.000 II
1914. In the same month net earning
| OF Union Pacific Increased &1.12s. 900. Of
"a per cent. over the corresponding
month last year. These figures are mere
ly typical Of q trend In railroad earning.
Chat haS been fairly constant in the las
year.
/ The railroads are much in the publ,
eye because Of the labor disputes. and
speculative sentiment may be averse Il
them on that account, a. well a. because
the income returnA though seemingl,
assured, cannot be 30 great As those de
| rived ftem r 70 per Cent advance in ar
Industrial stock In q few days. Most o.
the railroad managers. talking pessi'
mistically on railroad problems. MAY
also incidentally be dbcouraging invest
ment. The fact remains and II II elar
Ing that the railroads are doing bust
ness. =
According to the Rati,ray A0e-Gasett,
they spent $4,000. 900 for equipment II
the first three weeks OF November. which
indicates that the directors of the road
expect that they will keep on doing bust
mesa Some money made from tn,
fortunate speculation in industrial
shares and from fortunate development
Of business has been invested In tn,
seasoned rails. but the amount has no
yet been sufficient to overcome the sell
ing begot by the prejudice against them
The high rate for call money was ~
per cent. compared with 8 per cent. OF
Wednesday. The ruling rate. 81 pc
cent. was a of 1 per cent. higher
Some funds came from the interior 4
response to the higher rates in this city
but Minneapolis. st. Louis and othe
large interior centres reported them
selves loaned up temporarily because O
the large amounts required to nnanc
crop movements. II was. however, agai
predicted that largo shipments Of gol
would soon be received In this city fror
Canada. and few brokers had difficult
in arranging their accounts with tn
banks.