Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-12-27
GREAT DAY FOR
STOCKS; RAILS
LEAD ADVANCE
Taking Over of Railroads by
the Government Has Bull
ish Effect and Prices Soar
Rapidly.

new 1OTk, Dec. Zi--f lnanclal Afper-
lea. today placed its approval on gov
eminent operation Of the railroads.
On the stock exchange, word that
the government would guarantee in
comes to investors was greeted as the
best news of the new year.
Advances in rail issues ranging as
high as IA points were generally main
tanned. although there were few re-
actions after the shorts had run to
cover.
New York Central was up IN points
at Il. New Haven opened at 20. up
2h Erie was up rs at 16.
Advances of the leaders ranged from
to 2 points to liz registered at st.
Paul.
ALL RAILS GO UP.
Among the other railroads. Southern
Pacific opened at 81, up 6h. Union Pa
cific was up Sk at 112. Southern
Railway was up 2h at "a. Reading
opened at 70h,. UP 2T; st. Paul, As,
up 11%; Pennsylvania up 8 at 45k;
Atchison, SIN, up 9h; Delaware and
Hudson. 100, up 8; Canadian Pacific.
1874, up 4; Louisville and Nashville,
1924, up az; Norfolk and Western.
104, up 7ss; Ontario and Western,
21A, up IN.
The general list followed the rail-
| road advance.
| General Electric opened at 12t%, up
IN American Smelter opened at II H.,
up III.
u. S. Steel opened with sale Of
5000 shares at Sc and 200 at s61a and
SJ7s, up "a to az; American Can
opened at So, up n; Missouri Pacific.
234, up IN; American Telephone and
Telegraph, 1O0a4. up /; Westinghouse.
$685., up u; Baldwin Locomotive. BIN,
up S1s; Crucible Steel, so, up 1; Beth
lehem B, 7Oh. up rs.
The market continued to fairly boil
during the first hour. Prices in some
issues ran wildly up and down without
any apparent reason. There were diff
ferences of five and six points between
some sales, of the same issue. ST. Paul
common dropped from 40 to AN B &
| O went from 81 to SIN only to recover
later.
Selective buying appeared after the
early reactions. B. & o. recovered two
points from it's days low; Reading
Erie and Union Pacific were in de-
mand; while Great Northern advanced
to S7k. up IN.
Equipment stocks were strong In
authorization of government orders.
Confidence seemed to have been re-
stored In the whole list by the govern
ment move. Railroad bonds showed
strength also, with advances from / to
61a points.
CAME AS SURPRISE.
While Wall street had largely dis
counted government control, neverthe-
less the presidents proclamation came
as a surprise. 1t had not been expect
ed until next Monday. Lack of buy
ing Yesterday when several rail issues
sagged to new lows for the year. indi-
Gated lack of insiders"
Coming as the announcement did al
most week before 1t was expected
the excitement resulting on the stoci
exchange this morning was the great
est in years.
Shorts had recent restrictions or
short selling to thank for not being
; caught in a far worse position.
The million mark on. sales was
passed before o'clock this afternoon
At that hour 1,O29.sOO shares of vari-
Gus stocks had changed hands. The
average advance for all railroad issues
was points.
: Total sales for the day were 1919
100 This represented three times thu
trading of Wednesday and Monday
On Wednesday sales totaled $4,000
and on Monday, $4,000 shares. u S
Steel closed at STA up az. b. o
was up liz at the close with READING
up Az and Union Pacific up q. Mis-
souri, Pacific, Great Northern anc
Wheeling also moved to new high fig
ures for the day, during the fina
trading despite some profit taking tina
was under way during the last hal
hour.