Evening star., 1921-08-10
BALDWIN Locomotive Weakness.

The financial district construed the
action of Congress in delaying the
railway relief bill to mean that TINS
jmportant piece of Legislation will
not come in time to help the roads
this year 1t also means that the
euuipment companies and the steel
companies will not get the orders
they were expecting before ls22.
This was set down as the reason 1or
the weakness in the equipment
shares and particularly Baldwin. 1t
was learned from one source today
which has close connections Win
Washington that the belief IN the
capital is that half of the remaining
on the tax bill and that this will be
passed. This would indicate that the
two other pieces of constructive
legislation, the railway relief bill and
the tariff, would not come until late
in September, and the erect OF Ine
Akt at least would not be felt in 1921.
Wall street has been full of rumors
br the past fortnight regarding
!banking troubles" The following is
what one man who is usually well
posted on financial matters had to say
today: ut is an open secret the last
hours that there are still
some involved situations growing out
frozen bank loans in connection
fth foreign trade. particularly in
Cuba and South American countries
that await adjustment. The belief
is expressed that these Positions.
with federal reserve help. &in be sat
isfactorily arranged, but until there
is definite assurance the market will
probably continue to drag its weary
way along with absence of bullish
interest On the part of the speculative
fraternity"
studeDaker Target OF Bears.
The speculative element has been
rfch anh a q
but it waited until the stock sold ex-
dividend this morning before launch
Ing the main attack. Weakness in
the market position rather than any
for opposition to Studebaker. The
street believes that a lot of stock was
distributed previous to the semi-an-
nual report. on the strength OF the
excellent showing which this report
was to make. accompanied by un-
founded rumors of dividend increase.
Inasmuch as the recent bull move
ment In the rails had been based, in
part at least, upon the prospect of
favorable action on the railway re-
lief bill, it was not surprising that
the prospective adjournment of Con-
gress for month without doing any
th4g on this important legislation
Hhouid have led to hasty Unloading
bf speculative accounts. Rock Island
and other. of the southwestern is
sues were specifically affected by the
reduction Of 30.000.o00 bushels in the
winter wheat estimate, which was
unexpected New Haven sold with
more urgency than the average be-
causes the New England roads are in
reater need of the proposed financial
Yelp than the others, and will suffer
more by the delay.
Atlantic Gulf Dfsturbs.
The Atlantic Gulf report for 1920
was bad enough, not only to bring
fresh selling into the stocks of the
company, but to unsettle other stocks
which usually move sympathetically
with full allowance for the increased
costs Of labor. fuel and the other
items of expense, the addition of S13,-
100000 to the operating account is
out Of proportion to the S9,40O,0O0
gross increase. Further light than
Is furnished in the report might be
thrown upon the increase of nearly
$9,000,000 in cost of transportation.
lf the balance of s1.OS a share for
the preferred stock was the worst of
the story, things would not be SO un-
pleasant. But with greatly reduced
earnings in 1921, Atlantic Gulf has to
write off another $1,000, 900 against
its loss in the French oil enterprise,
has to absorb a loss of S1,3OO,O0O in
CURED in the sale of two of it's tank
ers and will have to pay another
100000 on its oil investment in Great
Britain.