New-York tribune., 1920-07-22
Day OF Walking
I'm Stock Market
Prices Irregular
Sentiment Cheerful as Rail
way Men Appear to Get
Wage Award; Republic
Steel Makes Good Report

Indications yesterday were that the
railway workers would accept as salts
factory the wage award of the Rail
road Labor Beard thus removing the
! danger of stvike Wall Street had
arrived at this conclusion the day be-
| fore, but early advices yesterday
seemed to cast doubt as to the att-
| tude of the mes. Subsequently, how
ever, i. appeared that the judgment of
the financial community had been right
and that while certain minor radical
elements were more or less disgruntled
! at the failure Of the board to grant
the $1,000, 100000 increase sought, the
rank and file of employees were COM
pletely satisfied with the amountdRle-
cided upon.
This brought relief in financial cir
cles. but did not stimulate activity in
the stock market, which drifted list
lessly without definite trend in a dull
session, total business at the exchange
barely reaching 100000 shares. Rail
shares were firm as arule and the in
| dustrial stocks displayed strength.
| but price movements were narrow and
meaningless. The market was almost
entirely in the hands of the profes-
sional traders. Bear operators had
nothing tangible upon which to base
operations and there was little incen-
tive for traders favorng higher
prices to add to their commitments. To
all outward appearances the market
seemed to have reached condition
with no single trading element dis
| posed to make a definite move that
would enliven the proceedings.
For time the railway equipment
stocks showed signs of a revival of
speculative activity and Baldwin Loco
motive at one stage shot ahead with.
vigorous burst of strength. The buy
ing power behind the move soon died
out, however, and Baldwin settled back
into the doldrums. Sugar shares were
about the only group to develop a
definite trend and they slumped sharp
ly, moving down with the break in raw
sugar prices. Weakness of the Max
we'll Motor issues constituted the chief
feature in the motor shares, although
Pierce Arrow was also under pressure.
United States Rubber again became
the target for short-selling operations.
In general way the steel held firm
front. A break of 312 points in Ma
tional Aniline suggested selling as a
result of the delay in putting through
the proposed chemical merger. Call
loans renewed at 8 per cent.
The quarterly earning statement of
the Republic Iron & Steel Company did
not appear until after the close of
the market so it was not factor The
company, like Lackawanna Steel in it's
splendid showing. For the three
months ended June 80 the surplus after
Federal taxes and other charges
amounted to S2,305,5Oo, equivalent
after preferred dividend deductions to
1922 share on the $3O,O00.OO0 com
mon stock, compared with $1,777,317,
or $4.46 share in the preceding
quarter and $51O,916, of q cents a
share in the corresponding quarter of
1919. For the first half of the year
the company earned a surplus of $4,-
0S2,817, against S1.564,s72 in the
corresponding period of 1919. The
showing made by the Republic leads
the Street to look for an excellent re-
port by the United States Corporation
next Tuesday when the quarterly earn
ing statement will be Forthcoming.
Hope is expressed in the iron and
steel industry that the settlement of
the railroad wage question will be fol-
lowed by the return to work of ex-
perenced railway men and thus bring
relief from the desperate transporta-
tion conditions. AS indicative of the
situation in the Pittsburgh district,
with regard to available supplies of
basic pig iron, the trade is talking of
importing iron from Alabama The
| demand for structural steel is said to
be falling off rapidly and the June re-
port indicate that the fabricating mills
booked only about 5 oper cent of their
capacity. against 95 per cent in Feb
ruary. This, of course, reflects a slow
ing down in the building industry.
Early strength in the foreign ex-
changes yesterday was followed by
declines later in the day and sterling
dropped more than a cent in the
pound in the absence of supporting
bids. Francs were also easier Rates
moved in favor of the scandinavian
countries. The commodity markets
showed wide fluctuations with a sharp
! break in wheat followed by later
| recovery. The market in raw sugar