The sun., 1919-08-26
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Stocks Show Less Activity and
No Important Changes in
Speculative Condition.
RAILS ONLY EXCEPTION
Money Is Firm Throughout the
Session-Exchanges, Except
Pesetas, Are Steady.
RAILS ONLY EXCEPTION

There was no particular change in spec
of business in Wall Street yesterday. and
the stock market gave evidence of this
! by sinking further into the rut of mac
tivity from which It was dislodged by
the big advance which began last spring.
The only signs Of life at all In the list
were in the railroad shares. which, as
was the case on Saturday. provided
whatever features there were to the
trading. 1t was entirely . professional
affair with the exception OF q few spe-
oialties, which were guided principally
| by pool operations. and the indications
were that now the market has had It's
shakeout and setback 1t Is likely to drift
back into just such an affair as was
Witnessed prior TO the last big upward
swing while Wall Street Is getting Its
| Dealings, so to speak, for the next con-
| structive movement, which everybody is
beginning to talk about.
The reason that the railroad shares
stood out so prominently was on account
| of the various differences that have come
from Washington in connection with the
labor controversy. 1t was figured in
Wall Street that II any kind OF an adj
vance in wages is offered to employees
the Director General can hardly help but
| increase railroad freight rates. In the
second place. II is beginning TO be real
lied in the financial community that
Congress Is finally getting ready to dc
something for the railroads In the matter
of new legislation and that the chances
are that this legislation Is likely to be
favorable from the viewpoint of security
| holders. Otherwise, however. there
| Of davis
/ news developments. Some attention was
| given to the week end reports OF trade
conditions. but these revealed very little
| which Wall Street has not known all
along, and consequently were very
largely ignored in the stock market. As
| a matter OF fact, it is doubtful II the
market would have done very much
anyway II there had been favorable de-
velopments in the news, for the market
wore tired appearance all day. and
there was very little disposition any
where to do much IN securities excepting,
of course, In certain specialties such as
the shipping shares.
The market started of rather poorly,
as might have been expected In view OF
the poor showing which the bank state
ment made on Saturday, the statement
having disclosed a deficit In reserve for
the second time since 1914. But as
soon as it was realized that this deficit
was not due to Stock Exchange opera
lions. hut to ordinary commercial
causes, It was seen at once there was
no reason to worry in SO far as the Sc
curities market was concerned. All Of
the issues which had lost ground early
in the day then recovered. in part at
least, the rails in particular turning
strong. Just as has been the case all
along. it was the lower priced issues
which attracted most attention when the
railroad department came to life. The
theory on which this buying was based
was that In the REIMBURSEMENT. which -
coming in the country's transportation
systems, It is probable that the weaker
| roads will be combined under the wing
of the stronger ones, circumstance
which unquestionably will solve the sit
uation so far as the weaker roads are
concerned. The rest of the list was firm
| to the closing, but outside Of specialties
! did very little.
The money market was firm all day,
call money loaning at to 6 u per cent
! throughout the session. There was no
particular Significance to this, however.
! for one thing was certain and that was
! that 1t was not stock speculation which
| caused the deficit in reserve on Satur-
! day. II this had been the case there
/ would have been much cause for alarm.
but as it turned out the present furry
! is nothing more than a temporary short
| age of funds at this centre, which will
be relieved undoubtedly at an early
date. The foreign exchange market was
generally firm. Sterling held steady, to
the satisfaction OF Wall Street, around
$42O, while francs and lire did likewise.
| But there was sharp break In pesetas,
| which bore all appearances of being a
| speculative decline. The cotton market
was dull and steady throughout the best
part of the day, and grain was gem
orally firm after weak opening.