The Washington herald., 1920-04-20
STOCKS SHOW
: RAPIDDECLINE.
Many Issues Slump Badly in
Face Of Continued Easy
Money Rates.
POOLS ARE NERVOUS
CamouAaging Underlying
Conditions Seems to Have
& Reached Limit.
POOLS ARE NERVOUS

standing aid given the speculative
pools by the banking element in
maintaining a comparatively low
call money rate, todsy's stock mar
ket displayed a decided weakening
tendency. with leading pool stocks
showing the greatest decline.
1t seems unnecessary to reiterate
the many warnings given in this
column during the past week or so,
although it might be mentioned
that the stock market all during
-today's session was indicative of
the fiimsy foundation upon which
to advance stocks.
Distribution has been under way
for some days past. and leading
Spectators have been putting out
large lines of short sales. This fact
is significant of what may be ex-
pected in the Immediate future. At
least 1t should be sufficient warn
. ing for the public to use caution in
placing. any long commitments
When the market becomes so top
,
est groups find il impossible to
keep quotations up. it is time to
make some sort of an analysis. 1t
would not seem a difficult task to
analyze the present speculative sit
uation.
Why should Stocks Advance?
For every reason given in favor
of a further advance in the stock
market. there seems to be several
decidedly unfavorable. In fact the
only plausible reason is that Wall
Street is carrying a heavy load
which il would like to be relieved
of. 1t has used up practically all
of its bag of tricks in trying to get
the public to enter the buying side
of the market on a large scale, but
in this endeavor it has met with
little success. Today's market dis
played that fact.
Underlying conditions certainly &c
not warrant present stock market
values, let alone further advances
To many the country would seem
to be prosperous. but under the
crust of this prosperity" lies the
germ of imitation. which eventually
can only be expected to take life in
the form of depression
The foundation of all our pros
perity-agriculture out as
q warning signal. The outlook thi:
year is decidedly unfavorable. This
can be easily confirmed. Secretary
Meredith, of the Department of Ag-
riculture. has just received a COM
prehensive report on the country's
condition. which should be read by
every thinking individual. especial
ly those interested in the stock
market
Money, another important COM
modify, would seem to be plentiful
but it is all camouflage- Leading
merchants and manufacturers will
tell you just how plentiful" money
Is. Or IL you are in business, you
Anow. You know that it is a diff
tcult matter to obtain loans or
the highest collateral This being
the case. just how long will the
money lenders be able to play
free-and-easy" with Wall Street;
Irrespective OF what interests are
favorable to an advancing stock
market, the banks cannot long be
expected to hold the umbrella"
Japan's Predicament.
The financial panic in Japan has
become serous. according to latest
reports. Sooner or later 1t will be
, reflected in this country. In fact
Wall Street heard today that Japan
would Immediately call some S5,-
900, 900 gold credit which it has here
Japan's condition is only a natural
result of an economic structure
built upon a f1imsy foundation 1t
is the result of a fallacy as to the
true underlying conditions existing.
The failure of nineteen banks in a
row cannot be taken lightly, and
continued silence from official quar-
ters in Washington does not aid
the situation
Middle States OIL New Financing.
Those in control of the affairs of
the Middle States Oil Corporation
have been figuring out a plan of Sc
curing additional funds in order to
carry on development work. One
plan adopted called for the issuance
of some 100000 shares of new
stock. which present stockholders
would be given the privilege of
subscribing to at around s12 per
share. However, it is not certain
whether this plan will go through,
owing to the poor condition of the
speculative market. In fact, II is
understood, that some directors are
in favor of raising funds along the
lines of declaring a stock dividend
as an inducement to get stock
holders to subscribe to additional
stock.
General Motors Huge Plan.
The distinct weakness in the
shares of the General Motors Co.
today was based on a new gigan-
tic financing plan. which is under
stood to call for the issuance of g.
100000 additional shares of common
stock at $50 per share. This would
give the company 100000