Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-01
OPENING PRICES
SLIGHTLY LOWER
Heaviness Of Mexican Oils and
coppers the Striking
Features

New York, Dec. NO other de.
velopment in today's stock market
came in for more notice than the mid.
day sinking spell In the railroad divi-
sion. whith disclosed considerable weak
ness in the lower priced and non -divi-
dend paying shares. There was no par
tlcular reason given except the disap-
pointment quite generally expressed
over the reported earnings, which fail
to show the big gains many expected
from the liberal rate increases.
According to the street gossip, how
ever, the socalled salvage corps had
another busy morning Of 1t and reports
had another overextended important
operator had been rescued from the
whirlpool This application of the first
aid was generally believed to refer to
holdings Of some Of the recent vulnerable
issues in the steel, equipment, metal
and various speciality groups. In con
sequence the softness Of the rails was
altogether q big surprise. II looked
very much as II some one was letting
go in order to protect possibly less mar
ketable ventures elsewhere
Then again the selling movement at
tractPd considerable attention because
it was preceded by what could be best
called a dull and hesitating market.
There had been the same irregularity
in rice movement, but the list as q
whole showed an inclination to drift
into narrow circumscribed area. Ex
ceptions to this rule we're found in
vanadium and Replogle Steels, Bald.
win Locomotive, American Woolcn,
Utah and Chile Copper, which ran of
to 2 points. There was continued
pressure against Chile Copper, and
,,.b, ,,b aatI to hn ah,,ntiaI he r.
| tically the same source which was re-
spensible for yesterdays wide. open
break. The slump in American Woolen
was not surprising in view of the fla :
grant manipulation efforts Of the last
! few days to bolster the stock up In face
of the strong reactionary currents In
the general industrial list.
When the rails took the toboggan
slide around midday. Southern Pacific
was the only representative shares to
react. but the secondary issues, espc
| cially Baltimore and Ohio. st. Paul
common and preferred Missouri Pa :
| cifc, Kansas City Southern, st. Louie
and Southwestern. Rock Island. Erie
first preferred. and New Orleans, Texas
! and Mexico. declined l to 2 points or
increasing selling pressure. This later
extended to the representative shares
| anu III u SuOlN pO'aN "HN
was Topped off of Great Northern pre-,
ferred; Lehigh Valley. Norfolk ant
Western, Reading, Southern and UnioI
! Pacific.
For time the decline was checked
on the strength Of the announcement
that the Southern Pacific directors ha,
agreed upon the segregation plan. whicI
would not be made public until thi
evening, but especially among the Tow
priced issues it was plainly eviden
stocks were freely on tap.
In the meantime, the call renewa
rate had been fixed at Z per cent a
against the recent initial rate Of O pc
cent. disclosing considerable curtail
ment in the supply. as the demand wa
! anything but urgent. There were at the
same time heavy offerings of Libert!
Bonds at recessions Of fractions to al
most a point The resumption of tn
arbitrage dealings with London wa
marked by moderate selling of the rail
road shares which, however, was no
of sufficient volume to exert materia
I influence