The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-12-11
IL. WATSON'S
 WEEKLY LETTER

M e@ A EE aM @ Ks | k A sold-out condition in the general
 stock market developed during the
 week into an oversoId state in a large
 number of active issues. In the ab- l sence of further disturbing news the bear element decided to cover, and in doing so raised prices substantially. Retirement of the bear party was 1 stimulated by easier money rates. It was also promoted by vague reports i of approa ching settlement of the coal strike. By depriving industries of fuel, this strike has resulted in clos ing of plants and extending restric- tions tending to make fsr hardship among the people. Briefly. the foundation offering to bring about fairly cheerful market before Christ mas, pool interests are said to have taken advantage of the situation and ! lent their aid toward creating a better sentiment in the Street by bidding up speciaIties; and this activity may continue temporarily along conserva- tive lines.
 "As long as the banks all over the country dump their idle funds upon the Stock Exchange, treating these loans and New York balances invest ed therein as their quickest and most important secondary, just so long is the Stock Exchange in an unsouhd | condition" says MT. Paul M. War burg. And just so long will it be | i'm possible to secure for our country the benefits of a wide discount market and effective bank rates. Our Stock Exchange must be protected from vagaries of a daily fuctuating money supply; it should be placed on 1 a basis of weekly. or tWo-weelIly settlements. The call money market ought to be based primarily on prime | bills that can quickly be turned into i cash balances" These remarks are timely in view of the strain that has been put on the money situation in New York The Board of Governors ] of the New York Stock Exchange, however, are not prepared to take up this matter prior to the putting 1 into effect of their new clearing plan. Fuel oil is becoming so much more generally used that the time may not be far distant when the coal miners will be forced to realize that there will not be the necessity for mining as much coal as heretofore. Oil dis coveries are reported in the North west. If present promise is fulfilled the St. Paul and Northern Pacific Railroads may materially benefit from them The copper metal market is quiet Exports are said to be going out in moderate lots. But interest 1 in copper shares is dot strong except
 where the producers also include a large content of silver in their ore output Silver continues at high levels. The porphyry copper com panies surprised the Street by de- cIaring regular dividends. The de- rectors of Electric Storage Battery | placed their stock on a $10 annual dividend basis.
 An interesting little item is pub 1 Iished by the New York Sun, bearing on the money market. We quote 1 from it: Members of the New York ! Stock Exchange are protesting stren- 1 uously at the slowness of the transfer l offices in the Wall Street district. and, judging from the congested con- 1 ditions in most of them. the protest i is a righteous one. It is contended that the splitting up of the shares of a great many corporations has in creased vastly the certificates to be ] transferred and that the trust com panies acting as transfer agents f1r | corporations are attempting to han I dle this increased traffic with the same sized operating force that 1 handled the business before the in- 1 creases. Under normal conditions and with the transfer offices properly manned, members of the Stock Ex- l change maintain that it should take no longer than A hours to transfer a | certificate, that stock sent to the agent at 2 o'clock today should be ready in time for transfer at delivery time, 2:15 o'clock tomorrow. Two. three, four and even as long as eight days now intervene before the stock 1 is returned. The manager of one 1 house said that his firm had had | S700,O00 worth of stock tied up with the transfer agent for exactly a week before the return was made Of course this means that just that much capital was tied up for that length 1 of time.''
 Southern Pacific stock responded
 strongly on Friday to an announce
 ment that the government would not 1 appeal from the recent California decision uphoIding the company's
 right to possession of valuable oil | lands aggregating about 160,000 acres. We believe Southern Pacific | has a great future.
 1 The junk business can always be
 | sJ,.I Nf-