The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1920-01-05
WALL Street WATTS
FOR COURT DECISION
BY BRoADAN WALL.

= New York, Jan, 4.--Whtle specul4~
tive Wall street looks forward tomor-
row 10 a decision from the supreme
court regarding the ability OF stock
dividends. the serious people in nlGA
finance care Little for that decisioIi.
Ii stock dividends are declared taxable
that feature can be easily avoided by
other devices such as tns reduction Ut
par values. sale of new stock at a low
price and so on, just as it has BEEN
done In the past year by several inn
portsnt corporations. Nevertheless
should the court decide that stock div-
idendx are not taxable as income Wall
street will make a market Doom ct
IL.
What the serious people In W1u
street are worrs ing most about - the
condition OF the railroads the money
rates and the labor. They also want
TO know about foreign trades and tho
crops are the basis OF everything ftnan~
ciai in America just now.
Reports from ashington grow
more confident in regard to an early
agreement in conference on the rail-
1,trideS toward recuperation at the exc.
pected that union labor will be left
FREQ to call strikes legally and that
the rate making power will be given 20
the Interstate Commerce commissions
absolutely. This Is reassuring because
1t Ia believed that the commission ~
now the most competent body Id
America to fix such rates. But as. al,
offset to this optimism Is the feeling
that by removing the anti-str3ke aUxo-
congress Will be set down as having
surrendered once more to union labor. q
This is matter of immense imports.
ance because the farmers OF the coun-s
try who outnumber union labor ten
ts xtzss. -
suit OF the constant victories OF union
labor. every one of which increases the
difficulties OF farming. The farmers
are now strong enough to do some
teamwork in their own behalf.
Wall street cannot ignore the faGeH
that the British are making immenao
strikes toward reeuperation at the ex-
penSe OF Americas foreign trade and
that they will soon be In position to
invade the American domestic mar
kets Europe will need our raw mA-
terials. such as metals and food prod
ucts but will have little need OF our
manufactured articles. The present
prosperity Of America IL based more
largely on manufactured articles than
on any other one thing. At first the
effect OF this will be good because
It will force scaling down OF profit
eering prices and enable Americans TO
have some OF the things that they ali,
need--thihgs that are manufactured
here in superabundance but that have
had been withheld from homo con-
sumption by the exorbitant prices
People with spot cash will be the
gamers in whatever readjustnnent
takes place in this country. This 10 4
time to have spot cash and lots Of II
It IL time to pay debts even though
the old debts do carry low interest
rates. The high rates being charged
for money through the influence OF the
federal reserve bank Is an Official
wa.@ing from the government that
business murt be curtaiied and that
commercial disaster is making itself
visible In the not distant future On
no other theory can the high money
rates be justified.
The only possible course for any
American citizen to take Ia to accept
this warning from the reserve bank an
truthful and prepare for the trouble
that they forecast.
just at the moment conditions are
right for temporary and sharp spec
ulativc advance in the stock market