The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-10
FINISHED OIL AND
 ITS OPPORTUNITIES

all street was Cn1e1y OCCuplSo after the sensational ending of Con- gress in trying to figure out just where the country stands in the light of Washington developments and the Presidents remarkable statement to the country; but on all sides 1t was agreed that the days action was evil dence of quite emarkab1e degree Of strength of undertone. The buying in the afternoon was called much better than the selling in most sections of the market. It is no part of the duty of a Stock Exchange letter to dis cuss the ethics of such g. question as has arisen between the executive and an insurgent Congress element, but we do not believe the situation should disturb owners of railroad securities. IL seems probable that, through short acceptances, with the aid of the Federal reserve, or through the War Finance Corporation, or some other temporary eXpedients, the Railroad Control can be financed un- til President Wilson's sense of duty allows his return to this country to convene Congress in special session. The short interest is believed to have | increased yesterday.
 The prospect of great activity and prosperity throughout the country, and specially in the Middle West in
 general trade and agriculture sug- gests great activity in the vegetable oil markets, and doubtless also in the mineral oil business In saying this we have particularly in mind the po- sition of the linSeed oil trade and the 1 white lead industry which, of course, mean practically the American Lin l seed Oil Go. and the National Lead Co. This spring with the beginning of deferred maintenance of railroads. | factories, public buildings, farm i buildings, homes, business building interiors, highway bridges and in dozens of other important lines there ] will be, the writer believes, more l paint used than in any other warm ! weather period in the history of the 1 country. Concerns like the two men, toned bid fair to come into a period when their fortunately large inventor i ies will vanish like a March snow, and their business ought to show profit ! percentage to compare favorably with times of greatest prosperity, as their i inventories are understood to have i been carried in their last balance i sheets at figures very much below the | current market prices of their pro- 1 ducts, the demand for which is just 1 beginning to assume substantial pro ! portions. It is not only in the domes- | tic markets that the American Lin 1 seed Go. is likely to profit, for it is probably due in considerable measure l to the efforts of its president who is l now abroad that the foreign inquiry i is reviving for oil and oil cake, even i in i. .ce of the present difficult position
 of exchange. It was at the annual
 
 i venrber that the president of the l company stated to the stockholders i that in six months or a little more
 there would be 8 large cut in current i debit accounts through the marketing g 1 of goods and materials carried in in- ventory.
 For some days there has been nota-
 ble strength in the fiaxseed market in this country, and at the same time
 the situation has been more or less
 complicated by the difficulties attend
 ing seed experts from the Argentine
 To those crushers of seed, like the
 American Linseed Co.,, this position
 must be quite encouraging. The stat istical position of both faxseed and Hnseed oil has for some time beer
 getting stronger and it seems to have
 been only the absence of demand fol
 oil that is now appearing that has
 kept the market in its unsatisfaetor.
 state. One of the most importan ; dealers in the West is authority fol the statement that the supplies O. flax and oil in the United States ars so low that practically any buying would exhaust them at once. Ever under the most favorable conditions i requires weeks to get seed in iron . Argentina, while the shipping condi
 ttons there now are so bad that busi } ness of the sort Is pretty much ou 7 of the question. The tendency in thu trade is such that linseed oil is nov : being sold with only a very small dis 7 count for cash, or with a soda, . bankable trade acceptance. This vii free a lot of tied-up capital Tn trade attaches little importance to tn [ reports that a Swedish inventor has . new cheap substitute for lnseed oil [