Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-04-14

tis morning expecting to So" higher
prices The PREVAILING: belief wac
that the steel Corporation would cut
prices around May !. ami tnat au Hh-
vance ~ steel shares woIii follow
9neh acton before The op"uing Of
ne stock market. However i vas
learned from the London cables tia,
80" thftt'rh'I general STRIFE viii me
~. ei Friday. That news threw cold
"tN'f on IA" whole market AMI later
% t'Io day Wal Street r"yivci it's.
'pIn!pu titt cut ia selling prices
lhs steel Corporation you'd ir-
iicu" that n'w business wts u,
,irhi, mus warrdn,iu2 higher prices
or steel -hareS. Instead OF ady.,lr-
NJ. the s'.c! shares declined Rails
ind come OF the specialtics were also
Opinions on strike Vary.
E"yonl question. the labor si;ua-
ton In England Is ov-rshaGpw!ng uur
stoek market. IN some quarters here
he feeling ~ that the threatened
strike would be SO disastrous TINT IL
just cannot happen. There are bank
ne people IN Wall street. however.
VINO arc ~ tho belief That tho striEo
VII he q good thing Tor thc Whole
wgrld " u occurs and TIA" British
pGhilc stands behind the govcruluru,
az i ala during tho last trouble with
Se%t to the British labor situation
IN Importance IN the days u.ws was
no av.raHc cUt 81 g. made by ,ho
stool CORPORATION IN its selling l,riers.
bringing tr" uv"rns" down 10 tho
icEoI established by 'he lujgsirIalA
a. tn" end OF last wccF. whom th, So
increase was made rhc best inlor-
NATION oh,hiu"bic h"r" les that the
steel Corporation Dr. coming DOWN
stairs stcp at tim" u. rs caro-
'HlE I"d out pl"us - cut wages.
Iron nnd Steel rri--s Drop.
But the feeling 81 that a good many
more siers must no crvcrti before
IN" nual rcndjUS'iroUt In saiUu.
prices aud waEes is mai". ToIJy's
Il D. DO 3.
prls" of eight principal iron ana
steel products down "a tjs.ji, COM
rarei With 's3 - tho average Wulu-
't.ncd by the company siuco March
- lol.. tho level nsch by Tho IN
dustrial board COS pared with mo
industrial board prices, ludty's av-
81 per cent compared wi,h s>5.u3.
~" hiGh for i34p. established In N
gust ~ that year by the mi dependents.
" Is p! per cent lower than tho ul.h
ll.hed Ia July %: 1917. Blt 8, y stl
n5 per cont above the prIs. OF Sa5 SO
an AUGUST az 1919. which wus ~ tvu-
.,al prewar price. These figures tel!
L the Railroad Labor Board a.,
Washington should decide 10 cut
| wases-and IL IS hare! TO scc how .uy
other decision can be reached. IN v.-vv
81 the fact thni tho increases In
| wages last GRANTED were based on tho
. h!Fh cost 81 llvirg then prevailing
| and tho "aEU scale prevailing IN
other Industries lit Is possible that
M" railroads Win then start to buy
ing some steel! Thnt mas be what
the steel CORPORATION BIAS IN mind.
However, the steel situation Was
frankly summed up tuda. .y psc h.
don't Topping o, Republic Iron ana
steel, AZ the anuGal meeting OF his
Steel rron,s rn,ntisrnrt"ry.
Topping, who Is widely recognized
for his rare ability ana for"s. -ut
pointed out that sinco January
operations IN IA" steel trade, both
from the viewpoint OF production aud
pronts. had been unsatisfactory. mat
rroturtIon lat averaged "n!y - per
cent Of capacity, resulting ia .luu--
mally h!ph costs, despite tn" .cduc-
ton OF 20 per cent in wages That
prices Tor the urst three months OF
1921 dropped. 33 per cent compared
l92U He said he believed ,EI, sts "a
result uI tn" radical shriUEalu IN
prices and liquidation of rt,CSs 81,
steel amt iron tn. worst phase OF the
that demand was Slow, Improving.
tH@t there hId Aecn some recovery n
prices that relief troM lugh 'r-isht
rates appeared in st=nt aud must
come before tier. could ." "a return
10 Iormal q 'teu aidri. bIt Ono
oUtl"ok for a,r,l and non tu- 49,,
dicatc It year OF normal proAts, -
trade throughout Tho world NIl
DOUBTLESS require further .caltust.
ur before :T!I demand for steel c-n
T.ackawannn Steel published It's
earnings today for thy first quarter
Of 1921. The surplus after drpr.ciI-
ton and taxes. amounted TO q barc
$S.'@5. The annual dividend calls Tor
$g.iUG,noU.
Railroads Are Weak.
Great Northern and Northern Pa
weakness in the railroad shares with
the stock Hast named the leader. AT
y"Stcriay'a annual meeting OF share
holders, Chairman Elliott stated. in
answer to question, tnat Northern
paclhc oil land prospects were uu-
certain Many spcculators bought
Northern Pacific on It's oil land pros
poets ana hence that stock has been
selling higher than Great Northern.
Great Northern has been trailing
along. both M ana down.
|, should be added. however. that
great deal OF nervousness is being
expressed by holders OF railway
shares over dividend prospects.
Northern Pacific. for example shows
an operating deficit for the FIRST two
months of 1921 OF Si1l2,00O. against
year of $d,o36.Oo0. However. from
bankers closely connected with the
nEroPGirti .yd :, was s learned today ,hat
ahead a. can now be seen.
cut Kerosene Prices.
Standard oil OF New York an
lpNHttu tl cut oil cent Il gallon to-
day In the wholesale price OF kcrc-
scHc to - cents.
National City Bank has engaged
S2,5"0.0 GOO gold in Australia for ship
mont mere. Figures published today
by The Federal Reserve Board at
Washington show that for the month
OF March we imported SlGO.3z2, 900
gold.
FOR the week ending. April = the
plumber of loaded freight cars
handled by tn" railroads of The coun-
try dropped 2i,2i0. compared with the
week before, according to q statement
given ont today by The American
halfway Association. For the week,
GGG.GiO ears were loaded with rev
cuuc producing freight. decrease of
ig2.isj. compared with the same
period Of 1920. and a loss Of 2l.925 for
the same Week of 1919. Grain and
grain products We're slightly largcr
FOR tho week IN quest On. but all
other freight fell off. the .lrgcst loss
being in coal. and the next largest in
merchandise and miscellaneous traf-
lie THIS il Tn" first weekly loss re-
ported this year in merchandise and
miscellaneous traillc, The class Of
business which brings IN the largest
r.tGrDS 20 IN" railroads
SU!i Discuss McSSaSr.
wall street is still discussing prcsi-
dent Hardings mcSsag. To CONGRESS.
and one part which attracted much
attention was that which dealt with