Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-29
FAVORABLE NEWS
WITHOUT RESPONSE
Bears Continue Their Efforts
for Speculative Profits.
SIiqht Results.
BY STUART p, WEST.

ulative sentiment been cowed by the
| unpleasant experiences of the last
/ few weeks. there would have certain
: ~ been more of response to the
| statement of Gov. Harding of the Fed
eral Reserve Board on credit position
| and outlook.
Prices. as it happened, did have
! fairly good upturn. but it was not
! as pronounced as it should have been
| in view of the great Importance of
! these remarks coming from the head
| of the country's banking system. Mr..
| Harding has certainly no reputation
! Tor being overSanguine on conditions.
| His repeated presentation of the
| credit strain as it developed in the
autumn of 1919 and continued through
| the winter and spring is fresh in
| eVerybody'S mind.
When he says, therefore. that the
credit situation is decidedly on the
| mend, that old loans are being Nqui-
| dated at fair rate and that the
bankers of the interior are confident
! of their ability to handle the burden
! of the crop moving demands. there
should be no disposition to minimize
! the reinsurance these statements az
ford
Mr. Harding comes out unqualifiedly
as being optimistic on the general
situation. The most satisfying tnins
he says is that our troubles are ply
steal rather than financial. meaning
| by this that there is nothing wrong
with the credit situation itself, but
| that the whole difficulty lies with the
traffic blockade and that wherever
railway congestion has been relieved
! liquidation of credits has promptly
| followed.
Money in Good supply.
In addition to the Harding statement
Wall street had again today a COM
| Portable condition in the money mar
1, ho renewal at *
per cent and with borrowers for the
day only securing all they wished
| at 7. 1t also had the prospect Oh a
decision on railway rates in the very
near future with the general eXpecta,
lions that the roads would get the fun
| increase they asked for
| In spite of this formidable combina-
! tion in favor of the market specuia-
7 tors working on the short side by no
| means were inclined to suspend their
activities During the first two hours
they repeatedly returned to the at
1 tack, devoting their energies to driv-
| ing down individual stocks IN the
| hope of giving the impression that
the market refused to respond to
good news.
No Great Success.
! These efforts met with very little sue
cess. Steel common went back to It's
previous low point, but would not go
through. Republic Steel was broken
down a point or SO, but quickly came
back. The characteristic all through the
list was the rapidity with which the
greater part of the market. including
most of the representative industrials
and nearly all the rails, recoiied after
each of these raids.
In the afternoon the impression got
around that the Interstate Commerce
decision might be out within the next
| day or two and buying movement
started in the rails which finally in
| fluenced the entire market.
Crucible Steel.
I; Crucible SteeFs report to the stock
! exchange for the five months ended
| May 81 makes it very clear why the
common stock is selling as high as 1t
| is with all the depression in the market
and with all the talk about recession
! in outside business. Net profits during
| this period were very close to $4,000
| 900 and the balance after deducting
dividends on both classes of stock
amounted to $4,336,0O0.
| ing Crucible Steel during these five
months, which were certainly not time
| Of undue prosperity for the steel trade,
earned it's common dividend seven times
| over. 1t increased its surplus from
$4S2S5, 900 to $52,622,000. Out of this
| it paid a stock dividend of s12, 500, 600,
| then still had left a surplus of Slightly
over s40.000.000.
| Incidentally. with its dividends during
| the same period also covered seven
times over and with a surplus equal to
more than one and half times the
amount of the $25.000.O00 outstar ing.
! Crucible Steel preferred at IS Duld
| appear to be one of the bargai of
| the preferred industrial investment list
| Curb Market.
| Business continued small on the
! curb market today and the tone was
heavy. The professional element again
| operated against values, and offered
various stocks for sale whenever a
rallying tendency appeared. Outside
! interests, with the exception of some
; small sales, was moderate, and in
| siders did little toward supporting
prices.
| General Motors, which has been I'M
der pressure for several days, was an
| exception to the general trend. Cow
| ering of shorts and supporting orders
1 from insiders caused an advance of
! several points. United Retail Candy
was again in supply at lower levels.
| Aetna Explosives was easier on
| small dealings. Chicago Nipple. which
| has been rather active recently, with
! evidences of manipulation, suddenly
| four points below the final quotation
| of Wednesday. United States Steam
| ship held about steady.
| Moderate selling pressure was again
in evidence in the motor group. but
transactions were small. British
| American Tobacco registered stock
| held well.
| Submarine Boat and many others of
the recent active issues were quiet
and most of them showed small
! losses.
1 White was the feature of the oil
! list, being in good demand on the pub
| LEGATION of the report for the second
quarter of the year. Midwest Refin-
ing was in supply and reacted about
a point. and an easier tone was shown
in Skelly. International Petroleum,
Cities Service, Bankers shares, Mara
caibo and several others, with small
rallies from time TO time on covering
of shorts by the traders
Among the exceptions to the down
ward trend were Salt Creek, Guffey
and Gillespie, Merritt Oil and Leetone
petroleum, the latter being the leader
of the low-priced shares.
Bond Market Strong.
The main feature in today's bond
market was the increased demand for
all railway issues accompanying the
rise in railway shares and anticipat-
ing the decision of the Interstate Com
merce Commission on freight rates.
All classes of these rail bonds were
stronger. but the favorites were the
Issues of the reorganized roads and
the convertible bonds like the Ches-
|apeake, the BaltimoreS and the South
ern Pacific. In the government divi-
sion libertys improved slightly, but
on the other hand the weakness in
the Belgian 7hs persisted and these
bonds dropped down to $50.
There was no explanation for the
decline of nearly two and a half
points in these bonds from their re-
cent high, except profit taking by
dealers who got them at the subscrip-
ton price and had since seen an at
| rroof;yo adyanca Swiss government rs