Evening star., 1919-05-11

Wild Speculation in Stocks.
These are strenuous days in the
New York stock market. When a two
hour session is productive of trans
actions aggregating 100000 shares
and over. one may easily imagine
the wild speculative craze that at
tends each days sessions.
And the trading is almost entirely
by the public. with the professional
element standing aside and waiting
for good break in prices one that
is past due. by all the trading rules
that Wall street ever knew.
Commission houses and brokers are
watching the situation very closely,
pressing for margins and curbing
orders where good judgment maxi es
this suggestion.
For a few days an effort was made
to turn the trade into the rails. but
with small success, the oils. Marine
preferred. motors and some of the
metal shares giving an excellent ac-
count of themselves.
On Friday of last week 1.S23.S00
shares of stock changed hands, some
of it many times.
Speculation may continue indefin-
itely but the best judges hold for a
reaction as matter of the next few
days. The fad is in oil and the
oils are the leaders, Sinclair. Royal
Dutch. Mexican Petroleum and Texas
Oil. with Texas and Pacific r. r.. be-
cause of oil lands owned being espe-
cially active.
Business Welcomes Congress.
Bankers have been discussing
financial conditions with railroad ex-
ecutive heads, and the necessity of
repienishing the revolving fund of
railroad administration.
The big men in financial New York
will use their every effort to secure
the immediate passage by Congress
of the S75O.O0O,00O appropriation,
which Director General Hines asked
of the last Congress.
Emergency financing which has
been cared for by the bankers
will cover the needs of the admins
tration up to June !. April I. s60.-
100000 had to be raised. the War
Finance loaning s35,000.0G0 direct to
carriers and the banks the balance.
Business men expect much from the
coming Congress in the matter of
divorcing the government from the
actual control of business enterprises.
Business men generally want the
railroads returned to private owner
ship. under certain conditions, also
The REIMBURSEMENT by the Post Office
Department of any hold 1t may ha".
on wires. etc.
Senator Cummins OF lows Te-
pairing a measure which b. - in
troduce for the settien- =. of the
railroad question. wherein he viii IA
vor the consolidate" q. sH the rail-
roads into not n ,;sA-i eighteen
systems. these to DE operated under
tions. with the return upon invested
capital guaranteed by the govern
ment.
Howard Elliott. president of the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company.
begs for the addition of three other
conditions-tirst, that the owners
must assent to federal control. but
tion and encouragement; second. that
the great labor organizations of the
assent to some orderly way
of settling Gisagreements over wages
and working conditions, so that the
railroads will continue to serve the
public pending adjustments of dis
putes. and, third. that the govern
ment in its policy of regulation must
be more responsive to changing con-
ditions; that there must be protec-
tion as well as regulation, and that
there must be no twilight zone" be-
tween national and state authority.
Railroad people do not believe the
plan is perfect, but it is considered
as a basis for the Senate committee
on interstate commerce to work on.
Director Hines advocated consolida-
ton into twenty systems, with COM
between units. as a cure for
wide disparity between roads. some
Of which were prosperous and some
bankrupt under the same regulation
as to wages and rates. He favored
of valuations SO that the
suspicion of water in capitalization
might be removed.
Graphophone Earnings.
During the first quarter of 1919 the
earnings of the Columbia Graphic
phone Company were S1,250,000. This
would give annual earnings, II main
tanned on the same basis, of S5,O0O,-
O00
On this basis it would not require
many years of contributions to the
fund to retire the preferred
stock.
Bank Clearings Mount.
ing cities Of the United States
to $6.194.51e.447. or 104 per
cent increase over last year at this
time and 22.1 per cent as compared
with the clearings for the same week
in 1917.
Commercial failures last week were
120 las compared with 211 the cor
responding week of last year.
Thirty-two articles in the COM
modify list moved to higher levels
and twenty-one to lower levels, the
higher list including the commodities
in most general use.
Untitled Steel Tonnage.
Late Saturday afternoon the steel