Evening star., 1920-11-15
MONEY RATE AIDS
TONE OF MARKET
Lowest Prices of Current
Movement Scored Before
Recoveries Follow.
BY STUART r. WEST

WALL STREET. New York, Novem-
ber 15.-It was pretty generally
agreed around the street this morn
ing before business began that much
would depend. SO far as the fmmedi-
ate course Of the market was con-
cerned, upon what happened In money
rates. The Saturday bank figures
were unQuestionably favorable. They
showed a substantial surplus reserve
for the New York banks in place of
the deficit of a week ago. What was
! more important, they showed an in
crease from 43 to 4s.6 per cent in the
| ratio Of reserve to liabilities for the
country as a whole. This latter fig
ure is practically the same as that Of
August 1 and means that three and
one-half months have passed covering
the critical period Of the crop moving.
crcdit. without the barking position
in general having been weakened
1t was not to be supposed that the
! comparatively slight gain in resources
occurring last week would involve a
release Of much additional money for
! Wall street uses. But what the mar
| kets were thinking about was the at
| titude Of the banking interests.
VIII ether there was any real desire or
their part to call halt to the do
! moralized conditions on the stock ex-
| change, and much significance was at
tached to the fixing OF the call loan
! renewal as 1t would tend to throw
| light upon this subject.
Downpsur Of SellinE.
There was another downpour of
selling orders at the opening as had
been fully expected. 1t was the left
| over liquidation from last week plus
! a certain fresh amount coming from
! scattering sources through the eoun-
try. from people who were discour-
aged or alarmed at what they read
over the weekend.
OIL shares were attacked on account
of the cut In gasoline prices. Bald
win Locomotive was driven down
Rubber But after the first quarter
Of an hour the general list steadied
under the lead Of Steel common and
Southern Pacific. both OF which were
evidently receiving substantial sup
port.
The call money renewal of 81 per
cent was announced soon after II
o'clock It was not as much OF a re-
duction as had been hoped for. still
II was the first time in the month
that the rate has been below per
cent and consequently heh market
looked upon it as favorable incident
Treasury Certificates.
The morning advices sent out by one
Of the leading Broadway wire houses
the following: Certain representa-
tions are likely to be made by bank
ers to Washington as to the advfsa-
bility Of converting outstanding is
sues Of Treasury certificates into
fixed and longer term securities on
basis. II this can be promised 1t will.
we believe. relieve money tension def
initely until the real turn comes as a
result Of commodity liquidation.
Many treasury certificates are held by
corporations against tax payments.
exchanged. but banks would be glad
to exchange into q security at an at
tractive basis Of interest that will al
ways be available as basis Of loans
at the federal reserve. Should this
plan be adopted there would naturally
ury policy OF purchase Of liberty
bonds monthly in the open market.
which It Is impossible to reconcile
with constant sales Of certificates.
their ideas will meet with little op-
position.
seatAern PaciAe Dsyisg.
There Is no question that the buying
Of the Southern Pacific on Saturday
and again today either came from or
was inspired by sources which would
be apt to have the most accurate in
side Information regarding the value
Of the Southern Pacific oil lands and
securities which 1t is assumed will
be issued against these possessions
The disposition is to take the rail-
road part Of the Southern Pacific
with Its Per cent dividend paying
capacity as equal 70 Atehison, also a
ing at IS. this is where Southern Pa
cihc would be selling without the Oil
lands: The whole question Is how far
the difference in market prices be-
tween the selling prices of tae two
shares has n4asuEed the extra value
Of the Southern Pacific oil properties.
DsnA Market Weak.
lapse got into the bond market to a
greater extent today than at any time
so Tar. despite the steadier tone in
the share list itself. Nearly all re-
Gently f1oated securities were weak.
This was especially true of the bonds
palfties. The Belgian 7Es were down
the most: They broke below 50, as
against 99A at the close Saturday,
French Is sold down to par, decline
OF nearly a point on the day and Of
Two points from last weeks hi9h.
swiss Is around 101 were Off q point.
Ihefe was some pressure also against
the City Of Paris 6s, which went to
ssx. ssx. as against last weeks high Of
1t might have been said that there
was some connection between the
increasing emphasis laid upon the
general financial situation in Europe
III consequence Of the break in the
exchanges. But as against any such
conclusion there was to be set the
iact that equal weakness was mani
tested in other Of the newly f1oated
issues.
Speculative railway bonds were
steadier In sympathy with the i'm
provement in their corresponding
stocks. This was true OF the various
convertible issues, especially the
Southern Pacifics. Bonds Of the
strictly investment class held very
and the Chicago Northwestern IS al
102H were unchanged on the day and
were Well UP to their best prices.
There were still numerous points OF
weakness and these interfered with
the tendency to recovery in other di-
rections. The rubber stocks were
heavily sold because of the passing OF
the dividend on Goodyear. although
such action was certain to haye been
anticipated after the recent big
financing. which the company had to
put through at most unpropitious
time. The new Goodyear notes in the
outside market were offered down
sharply.
New low records were made In
most of the copper shares, the selling
in this instance being directly due to
the fear that with the metal trade in
| lis present Improbable position. and
with no likelihood OF any improve
ment immediately. the next dividends
Of most of the copper companies
would probably be cut.