Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-09
|STOCKS IRREGULAR,
WITH FAIR TRADE
Same Shifting Movement as
Noted on Thursday-Read-
ing Leads Rails.
BY STUART p. WEST.

NEW YORK. July ALI the lead
ing features of yesterdays market
were reproduced in the stock ex-
change trading today. Again there
was a great deal of apparent irregu-
larity. Some of the recent leaders
went down a point.
But this was nothing more than the
shifting of the active trading ele-
ment out of stocks which had tenn
porarily ceased to move into new IA
vorites.
That the upward tendency had not
| abated but had merely changed its
| direction was perfectly apparent.
While Baldwin Locomotive and the
other equipments, the oils and the
motors were losing ground under
| realizing sales. Reading. Lackawanna
Steel. International Paper, motor &C
cessory shares, Consolidated Textile
Inyincible Oil and another batch OF
specialties were taken up.
The move in Reading was one or It's
old time affairs, the stock becoming
increasingly scarce as it moved ahead
| The street, of course, taking its cue
from the tape found it easy to &C
cent the revival of the talk that, in
pursuance of the Supreme Court de-
cree and the more recent refusal OF
the court to revise its decision, the
nounce it's long awaited segregation
plan.
I.ackawanna on RumOr.
The fact that Lackawanna Steel
went I'D independently of the other
steel shares started another rumor
which did service in the market las'
sprinr. namely, that combination
between the company and one or more
other steel concerns is in prospect.
There was a further spectacular
jump in Houston OIL and another
sharp upturn in Stromberg
The great strength IN hea
brought about a better demand for
the rest of the dividendpaying rails
Yesterday the low-priced issues OF
the rail group were the features IN
this quarter; today there was more
interest taken in the higher priced
shares. Union Pacific, New York Cen
trail Chesapeake and Ohio and Nor
folk and Western all got through
their recent highs.
Southern Railway.
priced rails under way at last. new
leader of this group has come to the
fore as in Southern railway. which
now shows the effect of the accumu-
lation which has been going on for
some time past.
IL is lcdTHeo IIOll SOoo Sodi NSS
that the right people" have been
picking up this stock all along:
Southern railway is the largest and
most important railroad system
which is now fully independent of
government control or compensation.
The road resumed its pre-war
status on March /.
In the first month of its independ-
ent operation Southern railway, as a
result of aggressive going after bust
ness. increased it's freight revenue by
better than forty per cent. The April
gain was greatly reduced by rail-
road strike troubles in other sections
interfering with receipts and deliver
les Of its connecting roads but there
was, despite all this, gain of II per
cent in April freight receipts.
In 1918 the road showed a net of
93 per cent for it's $120,000,00O com
mon after allowing 5 per cent divi-
dends on s60,000,0 900 non-accumulative
preferred.
In 1919 the gross receipts were
$129,787,811 and net operating revenue
was $16,042,999, compared with $685.
574,297 gross and $34,763.S72 net in
1917. In other words so per cent of
the 1919 increase in expenses was due
to large OUTLAWS for maintenance