The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-23
SPECIALTIES RULE
MONTREAL MARKET
Great Canadian Shoe Concern
Goes Up 16 Points in
q Week.
Special Correspondence to the Cdnddidn
Section Of THE SUM-

Special Correspondence to the Cdnddidn
Section Of THE Sum.
MONTREAL, Sept. 22.-The stock mar
ket last week was a peculiar affair. in
which a few specialties. all of the do
mestio Industrial class, went kiting to
unheard Of levels. while the big widely
distributed issues were heavy and ex-
cited no interest.
Ames-Holden, the great Canadian shoe
concern, was the spectacular feature. AT
its close of "A It was 16 points up for
the week, and on Friday 1t had touched
76, its total rise during this movement
being about rs points. Such a price
could only be justified by the certainty
Of a very substantial dividend In the
near future, whereas in actual fact there
Is an obligation of some 100000 back
dividends on the preferred which has not
yet begun to be cleared up. The ma
jority of the stock is known to be in the
hands of powerful market clique, and
there Is also known to be a strong
short interest 1t seems hardly credible
that even a short interest could be scared
into paying so high price for a stock
so far from dividend unless the market
were actually cornered. 1t appears pre-
posterous. moreover, that the common
should be selling at such a, price while
the preferred, with over 80 per cent. due
on it, is selling at 1o7. or about ~ net
However, in a limited market such as
thai for Ames-IIolden, operations on the
short side are dangerous, however tempt
ing.
Canada Steamship was the next live
Hest performer. putting on 5 points to
So and closing strong. In \this case,
however, there are substantial reasons
for the rise which has been predicted
In this correspondence for some time,
and while the price is now out Of line
with the present dividend it Is not at all
unreasonable in view of the earnings
and the position of the company in re-
lation to any future maritime amalga-
nations. The preferred at 81 seems de-
cidedly cheap. probably owing to a
large amount of the stock being offered
from England owing to the advantage
Gus exchange rate.
All the stocks Influenced by this fac
tor were decidedly weak owing to the
tendency Of sterling exchange, notably
Brazilian traction.
Atlantic Sugar and Abitibi Paper, be-
longing to tho financial group which
controls Ames- Holden, were run up
from So to 60 and from 80 to 80 re-
spectively. The rest of the Paper group
were listless to weak after their efforts
of the week before. Penmans, the most
widely distributed of the knitting-mill
securities, sold from 81 up to par. Not
many of the knitting stocks were listed,
and 1t is the opinion of many textile
experts that this industry IS now one
of the best situated in Canada, and
should show great advances in the next
few years. Dominion Textile was weak,
but Wabasso Cotton continued its up
ward movement to lob
Cement was strong though not very
active. The yield is sufficiently high on
this security (about S.3) and the COM
pany's position sufficiently strong to
afford expectation of a substantial rise
on any sign of buying demand, but of
late the stock has attracted hardly any
interest. A little cheerful news on the
prospects for structural work next year
should put It up several points.
The market at present seems to be
an affair of specialtes, and to be likely
ably until the exchange situation is con-
siderably improved. Trading is very
narrow and rather professional. the
are apparently picking up large guam
titles of certain smaller industrial
stocks, which have prospects better than
the public is aware of. But 1t does not
seem reasonable to expect any big gem
eral movement in the steel or other
large securities for the present.
The following table gives the total
sales, high, low and last prices and net
changes of all stocks and bonds traded
in on the Montreal Stock ExchaRge for