New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-21
STOCKS PRESSED
AGAIN BY PEACE
Heavy Selling Not Due to
Advance knowledge of
Wilson Note
BETHLEHEM STEEL
LOSES IN LIGHT SALE
Drop of y Points Shown
on 800 Share Day.. S.
Steel at 1878

0iNCi at lOf
NAL street had another bad day.
-,. idea Of peace Rad an increasing dis
cement In financial thought But at
stage OF tho excitement, due 10 an
.,,rsord.nsry slump IN prices under a
...-y ortpour.uc Of securities from all
-. uss there any suggestion that the
...5-g financial interests had the
..,c.. animation OF President vii
-, ,-tcr-or 60 send q note 20 the
l.Hgercn, powers.
The significant TACT. so far as the
49,. activities iu Wall Street we're
..,cerned. was that bankers. raeially
..s tcwpcramcntauy international IN
..,.~ outlook. are almost unanimous m
.., oo.n.oa shat tho door 20 peace, hav-
.,e once been opened. no matter how
-.var6.y. will never be closed again.
P,.A,chcm Steel she premier war
..... on sale OF 500 shares fell p
,o,,. That incident possessed a
theatrical interest out OF all proper
zion 70 rs Importance.
Bac. Of tho phenomena taking place
.- ,bc stoc. market lies serious con-
..5craron or what effects peace would
,,r, unor industry. Opinion is easily
.,.s,rcd. bat information is hard TO
90, Grca. secrecy has surrounded the
var order business from the first, and
f.. more .mpcnetrable now than ever
before.
War Business Diminished
% f.. admitted by the fiscal agents
,f.se Allied governments that the vol
,ne Of new war business is somewhat
diminished. That fact by itself is not
,eeesssr.ly significant. Last August
,tere was lull in forward buying Of
us- merchandise. followed by the plac-
me Of orders on a greater scale.
Other factors may now be present
Tho pos blity Of peace. even though
So were unacknowledged, might cause
foreign buyers 20 proceed in more
le.surc,v manner. especially as tnelr
fuvinc rs all IN the form OF contracts
1or future delivery. There is also the
circumstance that when the British and
French treasury bills were suddenly
withdrawn from sale three weeks ago
II was necessary 10 work out alterna-
1--WE means OF financing foreign pur-
etsscs That would account for some
delay
Industrials slump Hard
The precipitate fall in security values
,es,erdav sent the majority OF m
crstr,aI stocks 70 the lowest levels
reached since the selling movement be-
rsr. more than q week ago. After
, 'eve-isb fluctuations IN early hours the
rsrket ran into whirl OF selling IN
,be final hour Losses ran from TO
10 points. 4 few important issues SUI
tsred even greater declines.
limited States Steel common, after
,psnirc unchanged al i12 and advanc-
iTr esrlv 70 ll3. broke abruptly in the
las, hour. and a few minutes before the
close touched 1915. decline OF . =
ro,uts from Tuesday. At that level II
vas Il. points below It's previous low
for the movement.
Dealings in the final hour ran into
BIZ figures. Total dealings for the day
amounted 20 500 600 shares. OF this
Steel common contributed 100000
shares.
Next 70 steel the international Mer-
camille Marine issues attracted most at
ten,ion. The preferred showed loss
o. is points from Tuesdays closing,
touching Sc. i closed l4i4 points OF
~ s7&. Marine common fell ~ points
70 26&. A few weeks ago this stock
was selling a. 81 p. while the high rec
ord for the preferred this year was
1854.
Bethlehem steel common fell p
points on sales OF 300 shares. The stock
opened and closed at 500, against a
'rsl quotation the day before Of or.
Since the peace talk began Bethlehem
has lost l26 points. IL is now 200
POINTS under IT, high record price Of
100 made last month.
Other Important Losses
Extreme losses in other important
stocks when prices we're az the lowest
were: Cruc.bie steel. points; Gulf
safe, Steel. 4: Lackawanna steel,
tl Utah Copper. ca; Central Leath-
0 S. Republic Steel. 2ss; Industrial
Acohol so. and Atlantic Gulf and
West Indies. % points.
Railroad stocks as a rule held very
VEL The Tubune's average Of fifteen
representative railway shares showed
net decline yesterday OF only hali a
POINT The average price Of twelve IN
elsirials declined nearly Q points. In
Wall Street brokerage houses less was
heard Of bear manipulation.
The following table shows yester-
Gays net decline in the leading indus
iral issues and the total losses regis
tered since the publication Of Ger
Hsnys peace proposals:
Irish Railway Trouble Settled
London. Dec. 20-The complaint OF
The railway men in Ireland was ami
co.y settled az the Board Of Trade to-