Evening star., 1921-02-20

tain. and that is that those who are
still carrying the common stock
and Washington has a big load of it
are not trying to average their
losses. as the price movement has
been too narrow to encourage that
Just whore the big buying comes
from is another question. The price
was little lower at the close yester-
what might have been looked for
with tens of thousands Of shares be-
ing sold. All in all. it has given a
good account of itself
Dividends will be considered by the
directors in the near future. One
thing seems certain-wistom insured
by facts andsconditions, by danger
in stock dividends. will in all prob-
ability cause the directors to aban-
don the long-continued stock diyi-
aend on the common stock and
thereby help the market
i. II the regular dividend Of % capte
sei, nnhfe hie,n. is declared the stock should
Local Securities.
The feature of the local n,artet
curing the past week has been fbe
strength in the securities of tho
washington Gas Company, which arc
near their high levels of the year.
-; new - oer cent notes are SELL
other securities on She local mar
ket were steady and rea<onab:y firm.
Win hallway preferred showing a
erehd toward higher figures.
Talk of Merger of Roads.
ahere Seems to be a very general
uesiIe just now for the merge of
Gapital Traction and Washington
failway and Electric Whether the
a..aI enoiders OF the former road are
ANXIOUS for the merger is not known.
lime was when the vehicle for the
union was here. and it was promptly
h!ied iId on before fairly started. AL
| .Lougn the Washington Utilities Com
pany is still in existence, it is TODAY
task. e
Expert Comment on Stocks.
Thomson &, McKinnon of New York
ana washington have this to say on
technical position of the market:
We have had week of decided ir-
regularity in the stock market. There
was fair degree of strength at the
oesinnlng OF the week followed by a
period of dullness and weakness to-
ward the end: In analyzing all that
mas transpired, We can find no change
In general conditions. but in q few in
dlvldnal issues. special conditions
nave developed that created founda-
ton Tor the liquidation that occur
red, such. for example, as the reduc-
tioh VI the dividend by Bosch Mag
neto; the reduction of the price of
paper by the International Paper
company. and the difficulty of arrang-
ing necessary financing by the Allan
tic Gulf and West Indies
This company has been the sub
lect OF discussion in market circles
Tor some time. The stock has been
under pressure for many weeks and
toward the end Of the week a new
wave of liquidation resulted in estab-
ilshing new low price on the pres
ent decline for this stock. The linui-
dat1on that occurred in other groups
such as the rubber tire companies and
leather companies. was based entirely
on the poor financial showing made in
recent statements. This. however
could not possibly have been a sur
PRISE to traders, since all have been
familiar with unfavorable trade con-
dltions that prevailed during the lat
ter part of last year and, as a matter
OF fact. was then the cause for the
heavy liquidation and severe loss in
quoted values. Reading was one of
the disturbing elements of the week
and we have each day a moderate
amount Of liquidation due to the fact
that the dissolution plan is far from
what traders have expected. There
has been great disappointment be-
cause of 1t and some organized oppo-
sition is now taking form, and as il
is still subject to approval of the
court. there is really no certainty at
this time that the dissolution plan will
be completed in accordance with the
present outline"