The New York herald., 1921-09-27
FINANCIAL NEWS
AND COMMENT
Rails Slightly Lower - Lib
ertys at New Highs-Chi-
nese Exchange Rises.

Stocks indicated throughout most OF
yesterdays dealings that buyers were
exercising caution in taking on new
tendency noted in the latter half OF last
week, when highly Irregular movements
denoted some confusion in speculative
surveys OF the market outlook con-
tinued. The Street Is able to look back
on a siseable recovery OF prices since
the middle OF August. and Il has been
evident In recent fluctuations that even
the most optimistic members OF the bull
party are unable to determine as yet
whether the upturn has or has not dis
counted the signs OF business improve
rnent that have appeared In the last
two months. The hesitant character Of
trading yesterday, however did not de-
veiop any marked spots OF weakness,
although pressure against Mexican Pc
troleum and Baldwin Locomotive
brought some success to short sellers
and there was fairly extensive reac-
tion near the close Most active stocks.
including the leading rails. were lower
at the end of the day than they were
on Saturday. bst declines for the most
part were less than point
Sentiment toward railroad shares may
have been affected by the opposition of
the Pennsylvania to the Railroad Labor
Boards activities in respect to It's dcal-
ings with certain of its employees and
by the rather gloomy prediction by w.
w. Atterbury, vice-president~ OF the
Pennsylvania, OF Government owner.
wages should come down. But the more
likely influence on prices. outside OF
factors purely OF market Importance,
was consideration of the true tenor of
rail earnings. The control Of expense
accounts disclosed in August operating
reports has seemed impressive in some
cases, but actually the results have been
misleading to persons who have not
studied the figures In full relation with,
costs in the same month last year.
The Pennsyivania Railroads report
for August illustrates the point in ex-
cellent fashion. On it's face the net
operating income of s4.S1S.ooo made a
striking showing in comparison with a
In August. 1890. the Pennsylvania
charged up a large amount, If not all,
OF three months back pay. made avail
able to employees by the Labor Boards
r,,Ikv - MI iAl ~
wage outlay In abnormal fashion. o.he'
roads included the retroactive pay in
crease In part or In whole In the accounts
OF August OF last year, fact that g
likely to give an exaggerated, impor-
tance to the comparison this year. al
though the Q per cent. wage cut OF July
last is plainly working to lower rail
operating costs. The thing which Is of
considerable Importance now Is that
August gross earnings In many cases
are showing gains, compared with those
of July, which in the case of the Penn
sylvania amounted TO slightly more than
Az ne~- ----ss- .--- o-s.ts..ore and Ohio .
gross receipts were about $1.60J,o0U
larger than they were in July and the
Delaware. Lackawanna All Western re-
ported a slight growth In August.
The start Of the new week saw no
lessening OF the strength OF bonds, Gov
ernment war issues again advancing -
new high points on the movement. The
connection between a brisk advance OF
exchange on Buenos Aires and the bond
market was disclosed late In the day I'm
news that a banking syndicate has ar
ranged o s5o.ooo.ooo loan to the Ar
sentine Of two years maturity. which
Is to be offered to the public on basis
OF approximately 7.2o per cent. The
relatively high interest is the result
partly OF the short life of the loan. but
that figure shows a substantial relaxa-
tion from the charges which foreign
Government borrowing entailed few
months ago.
Exchange on Shanghai continued Its
sharp rise OF last week. the tael quo
tation rising more than four cents. Tha;
movement. with strong tone OF the
Hongkong rate, stood IN sharp contrast
to now low price Of SO cents a mark
for exchange