The Washington herald., 1921-11-19
IRREGULAR PRICE
TREND DISPLAYED
in ACTIVE MARKET
Profit Taking Continues
In Recently Promi-
nent Securities.
c. & o. MELON HELPS
Declaration of 2%o Dividend
Aids Rail Issues-Indus-
trials Erratic at Close.

NEW YORK. Nov. 1s.-with trad
played much irregularity. PROFIT
taking continued in a number of
issues which recently have been
prominent Other stocks meanwhile
pushed through to new highs. Dec
laration of per cent dividend
on Chesapeake and Ohio helped the
rails. but this department was ir-
regular toward the close. Indus
trials behaved similarly, low priced
oils and coppers having been the
feature for strength. Bonds vert
still in active demand at higher
prices Call money. after opening
at "A per cent. went to per cent
early In the last hour and to 51a
per cent shortly thereafter.
Heads of Industries Heard.
Wall Street read the optimistic
onertng of three captains of indus
try whose opinions usually carry
great weight in the speculative
community. Judge z H. Gary, of
the United States Steel Corporation.
spoke of the economic situation in
general and the steel industry Incl
dentslly. Horace NJ. Wilkinson,
chairman of the board of the Cru
chile Steel Company, dwelt primar-
lily with the affairs of his company.
Samuel NJ Vauclain. president of
the Baldwin Locomotive Works.
dealt with the equipment situation
III 81
his own company in particular. The
statements OF all three, generally
and specifically, were optimistic lust
at time when the stock market
seemed in great need of optimism
but IL would be entirely erroneous
to state that they timed their ut
terances to the needs of specula-
ton The market benefited but
slightly.
Coppers Early Feature.
A feature OF the morning trading
was strength in the copper shares.
In the face of a reactionary early
market the coppers, with two or
three exceptions, were able to move
up from Il to a full point in re-
Spouse to yesterdays advance of
= Of a cent in the price OF the
metal. Wall Street has looked on
the copper stocks with favor OF late
because of increased sales and firm
ness IN price OF metal, which now
shows an advance of about s45 ton
over the low prices reached early in
the year. Traders are wondering
whether the shares of these COM
panies are now destined to reach a
selling level consistent with the
general market During the past
three years they have Jagged be-
hind and although on several occa-
sions there have been temporary
spurts resulting from an apparent
revival in demand or a marking up
OF the price OF products of the mines
the movement has never been en-
during.
Both the steel men quoted in the
preceding paragraph discounted the
notion that the Limitation of naval
armament meant much to the steel
producers Mr.. Wilkinson, speaking
at the annual meeting of the Cru
chile Steel Corporation stockhold-
ers. answered many pertinent ques-
lions about the financial position OF
the company. During this week a
member of one of the more promi-
nent brokerage firms raised some
question about the meaning of some
items in the annual report and the
balance sheet as of December 81.
1920. A short time later a news
agency delved ipto the matter and
published a story which created an
atmosphere OF mystery. Mr.. Will
kinson stated today that the COM
pany was never in better condition
than at present. Apparently his
answers to questions directly pro-
pounded by stockholders were salts
factory to the market community,
for the stock came into active de-
mand. Advancing almost = points