The sun., 1919-08-05
MONTREAL STOCKS
HAVE DULL WEEK
Volume of Selling Small, With
New York Weakness q
Factor.
CONDITIONS UNSETTLED
Labor Unrest, Dominion Loan
and Exchange Rate All
Have Effect.
CONDITIONS UNSETTLED
Special Correspondence to the Canadian
Section OF THE SUN

speoia. Correspondence to the Canadian
Section OF THE sum
MONTREAL, Aug. 4.-Price quotations
alone do not fairly exhibit the state of
the Montreal stock market during last
week. From the extent OF the recessions
In the more active stocks It might be
supposed that a general selling move
ment was In progress. but In actual fact
the volume OF selling was very small,
and the recessions were mainly due to
lassitude and lack Of interest.
There were half a dozen reasons for
the stoppage o: buying. Weakness In
New York was the chief. The admitted
abandonment of merger projects in the
steel business, accompanied by disquiet-
Ing signs of labor troubles In Dominion
Steel, the uncertainty caused by the clos
ing of the wheat market. the imminence
of the new Dominion loan, brought to
notice by a conference of financiers and
Government officials at Ottawa; the
tremendous official issues In the balance
with both the great parties undergoing
a process Of reorganization, the continued
and unprecedented dislocation of our
exchange rates with New York-these
would have been reasons for a much
more extensive slump than was actually
witnessed-and the general feeling is
that the Canadian stocks stood up very
well under the circumstances, and are
clearly capable of further advances as
these temporary uncertainties disap-
pear.
| A Canadian Pacific Railway half year
report showing the largest gross in its
history and the smallest net in ten years
was painful reminder that the railway
problem Is getting worse every month.
1t Is true that Sir Henry Drayton, who
has been responsible for most OF the
| rate increase refusals of the last I'VE
years, is leaving the Railway Board for
the political life to which he is much
better adapted by temperament, but busi-
ness men do not feel at all assured that
the Borden Government will appoint a
successor who will be less harsh to
invested capital
Repeal of Reciprocity ACT.
The projected repeal by Washington
Of the reciprocity act of which Canada
never awaited herself, Is not included in
the above list OF adverse factors. The
truth is that So far as the East Is con-
cerned II has not caused so much as a
ripple on the financial or political stream.
Whether 1t will cause any deeper dis
turbance In the West will depend upon
the use to which the Liberal politicians
can manage to put it II they can con-
have taken place II Canada had allowed
the agreement to become effective, It will
certainly increase the bitterness of the
West against the interests" Of the East.
Sot from this corner Of the country II
looks as IL the Conservatives would have
| much the better case, when they argue
| that repeal is part Of q general protec-
ZIONIST reaction in the United States /;
| that II would have occurred anyhow.
irrespective of whether Canada had ac-
cepted reciprocity or not, and that,
| therefore. in accepting the Liberal policy
and the reciprocity agreement in 1911,
Canada would simply have made herself
once again the shuttlecock of the Amer
| lean battledore.
The repeal incident occurs at a mo-
ment which Is most unpropitious for
making 1t an effective factor In Cana
ojan politics. The farmers are absorbed
In the harvest, the fixed wheat price
the movement and financing of the
crop and the securing Of aid and credit
for the districts which were wiped out
by drought or other visitations, The
closing of the American ports to Cana.
dian wheat has given them rather q
lively sense of their dependence on Cana.
, dian transportation and marketing facil
tiles. The fixed price to be granted
them by the Government is likely {,
keep them fairly contented for this au
tumn.
In short. the repeal of the reciprocit,
act will be something like the funera
OF an old friend whom one has seen blu
little for the last six or eight years
Ii things were quiet one would go I,
the funeral and be quite genuinel.
grieved and say what n good chap tn
deceased was and how one loved hin
In the good old days; but as things ar
pretty busy-well. after all. 1t isn't a
II he was a relative, you know-no con
nection Of our family at all.
One Dividend Increase.
A small dividend Increase (Rrifis]