Evening star., 1920-09-14
STRONG At OPENING
| ON MAINE RESULTS
Bears Raid Steel Shares for
Profits-RaiIs Lead in
Recovery.
BY STUART r. WEST.

ny STlAH 4. WEST.
NEW YORK. September IA (SpeciaD.
The street. which always prefers an
outside reason in accounting for mar
ket changes, accredited the upward turn
today to the decisive results of yester-
days voting in Maine. The results
were. of course. very pleasing TO the
financial community, and from its point
of view were better than expected.
But as a matter of fact the election
news merely fitted in with swing to-
ward higher prices which would have
probably come about anyway.
1t is the characteristic of a profes-
sional traders market to move up one
day and down the next. Yesterday
selling was analyzed at the time as
wholly unimportant and az coming very
largely from traders working on the
short side
The bear crowd had the story OF
wholesale cancellations i'm the steel
trade and they were diligently using
this to depress the prices of steel
stocks.
When there was time TO ascertain
the facts it was discovered that the
cancellation reports had been very
much exaggerated, that while it was
true that some of the companies were
not taking much new business this was
because they were looking for the more
pTOllldUt6 OTuSTS eApSSlcu iu tuc hCdi
future from the railroads.
RaiainE the Steels.
In face of the election news and to
show that ii did not materially affect
trading considerations bear operators
went to work again at the outset this
morning upon Republic Steel and other
independent steel stocks. which sup
posedly were suffering from csncelta-
| tfon of contracts on their books.
ThegH stocks either e0uaI6d went
! through yesterdays low points. but
| their decline was soon checked BY
| the appearance of buying orders by
| serted from sources which were In
| that professional Wall street had the
steel trade situation wrong.
| With the pressure lifted from the
steels, short covering and litt>p
| fresh buying carried prices forward
| pretty much all through the list.
Railway shares were in brisk de-
| mand under the lead of Delaware.
| Lackawanna and Western and Nicke
| Plate, in which the buying was based.
| in part, upon anticipation of an early
aggregation plan and in part upon
| the belief that the D., L. g. W. will
| turn up in control of the Nickel Plate
| road.
D.. l.. 4 w. Plans.
The street had the report this morn
| ing that the Delaware. Lackswanna
and Western segregation plan woul-
be announced with the course OF the
day, and the sharp spurt in the stock
to new high levels reflected the idea
that even the 50-point advance with
in the last six weeks had not properly
discounted the good things which
were in store for stockholders when
the equities of the coal properties
were distributed.
With Delaware. Lackawanna and
Western getting active and Jumping.
attention turned again to the cues
tion of the Nickel Plate-the New
York, Chicago and St Louisiana the
negotiations which are believed to be
under way for the acquisition or the
latter road by the Delaware. Lacka-
wanna and Western. The latest story
| is that the price under consideration
for the controlling interest in Nickel
Plate is $50 share for the common.
Southwesterns Firm.
The st. Louis Southwesterns made
new high records and the same per-
sistent buying of Erie stocks which
has been in evidence for the last week
or more continued. These were the
principal moves in the railway list:
| elsewhere the advance in the rails
was more sympathetic than primary
Mexican Petroleum, Pan American.
| Texas Company. Middle States and
| Caddo were the features among the
ellis.
| American International was very
strong under special buying. Ameri-
can Wool felt much more than it had
yesterday the good effects of Opt
| mistic statements of the president OF
the company. following the results OF
| tie price-cut.inc experiment.
| Tobacco stocks were all strong
| American Car and Foundry did the
| best of the equipments. but the ease
| with which Baldwin Locomotive came
| back was impressive because IL show
ed the ephemeral character of the
selling. which put this stock down
Saturday and yesterday.
No Profit for Bears.
At the same time the sharp re-
bound in Republic Steel. Bethlehem
B and in Steel common itself indicst-
ed that bear operations in the section
had resulted in no profit and probably
in loss.
The dividend on National Cloak and
Suit common was passed as expected.
but this action, which was explained
as due to q desire to conserve work
ing capital rather than to any lack,
of business, proved to have been welF
discounted.
The prompt rebound in other stocks
like the feathers, where business con-
ditions during the last nine months
have been unsatisfactory. gave fur
ther proof Of the thoroughness with
which stock prices have adjusted
themselves to the reaction in outside
industry.
The decline in exchange kept on at
the start, with demand sterling down
another cent in the close to $3.45, but
in the afternoon there was q rather
sharp recovery which carried the rate
back nearly three cents. Call money
loaned and renewed at per cent and
there were small transactions again
at Sia and So per cent.