Evening star., 1922-04-07
TRAILS ARE FIRM
AT HIGHER PRICES
Manhattan "a" Lease Agree
ment a Surprise-CoaIers
Move Up Sharply.
BY STUART p. WEST.

bh sItAHT T.. WEST.
| NEW YORK, April Interest CEN
tered today again in the security
markets.
! Heavy trading continued in both
/ bonds and stocks, but with rather
, more diversity in the price move
mcnts. 1t was evident that the specu-
! lation in stocks had got to the point
where some distribution was occur
! ring among the recent leaders
This selling was not. however. at
all pressed SO as to involve anything
; more than a small reaction, and il
was more than counterbalanccd, so
far as the market as a whole was
concerned, by the lively upbiddinE Of
the more important railway stocks
/, and of numerous industrial special
| ties as well.
Helps Interurban.
Two incidents stood out more tha n
anything else in today's trading. One
was the rise in the New York city
traction securities following the an
nouncement that a compromise has
been effected on the Manhattan Ele-
waited lease which would greatly I'm
prove the position of the INTERIOR
| ough Rapid Transit and remove th.
threat of receiverShip.
Evidently Wall street was entirely
unprepared for this news. for The
lnterborough Rapid Transit per
cent bonds had AN overnight jump of
almost points
The other incident was the strength
in the shares of railroad companies
which have most at stake in the coal
strike situation.
COaIers Arc Strong.
Reading, Lehigh Valley and Della
ware and Hudson all passed through
rr IL
Their advance was more a part of
the demonstration which was going
on in the rail@sy group generally
than it was an expression Of judS-
| ment regarding the strike outlook.
But 1t did constitute interesting teSti-
mony as to how the financial COM
munity regards the outcome of the
contest between miners and oper-
ators.
1t was the biggest railway share
market of any day in recent years,
yet there was nothing new in the
E. railway situation to account for this.
| One explanation is that, encoura gins;
| as were the February operating re-
suits, these promised to be exceeded
| by the March returns.
! Another is that securities Of
! higher grades are selling wher. the Re-
| turn is too small to suit the ordi-
! nary investor, the investment mov''-
! ment has perforce had to pay more
| attention to railway stocks. which
are still selling at prices that make
| the yield attractive.
! Sterling exchange went higher. and
SO did francs and lire, but none Of
! the advances was particularly impor-
| tant. The most interesting feature
! in this direction was the continued
| steadiness in German marks after
| the tremendous and altogether uu{
precedented paper note increase durt
| ing the past week.
| = Views Rails.
| Two views were taken of IND
| strength in the rails. One was tha4
| these stocks were being put up II
steady the list against the heavy
| profit taking in the industrials. Th3
! other was that people who had prohf
| in the industrial section were trsnt
f; ferring them into the railway grou1
T; because this seemed safer field IN
| the moment. Anthracite coal shareS
! were the leaders.
The possibility of Supreme Court
decision in the Reading case neXS
Monday was in the mind of traders irt
that stock. Lehigh Valley showed thu
effect of an accumulation long m
progress.
Both Union and Southern Pacific
were eagerly bought as they wenE
| through their previous tops for 1874
The pool in Rock Island got busy M
what was set down as a fresh move.
Gulf States Steel had one Of its
| characteristic moves today on the
| same sort of information that has ac1
companied every previous advance,
| Wall street was simply flooded with
| kilograms before the opening, urging
that Gulf States be bought at tho
[ market.
| The kilograms further stated that
/ an important deal was pending which /,
would be decidedly favorable for the !
company.
Gulf States opened at 75l=. 1.ooel
shares changing hands at that figured
| which was an overnight jump of oVef
/ four points, and moved ahead sharply
| on further heavy buying orders. Guls
States. since its last violent run-u1
| to above 80. has acted as if those il
control of its destinies were trying
! to attract a short interest and tht
advance today had every appearance
of d demonstration against the shorts
| Financial Notes.
| April sales of chain stores this yest
are expected to- show an increase oVef
those of last year because of the latef
/ Easter and the margin of profit on
! sales is expected TO be larger. Thf
president of Jones Brothers Tea Comb
pany says earnings for March are ext
pected to set a high record for tht
last five years.
! Alliance Realty. American Ice, comb
mon and preferred; Delaware, Lackf
awanna and Western Railroad. Gent
erl Motors preferred per cent debt
enture and per cent debentures. Inf
terna tional Paper preferred New
York, Chicago and St Louis, 1st ant
I'd preferred and Pittsburgh Coal
! common and preferred sold ex-divit
dend today.
The New York Cotton Exchange
| has decided to close Saturday, April
%, moving into new quarters.
| The New York. New Haven and
Hartford report for 1921 shows a mel
corporation deficit after taxes and
| charges of $14,121.623. as against 4
, deficit of $4,621 sos in 1929. This il
after crediting government guarant
| tees of s1,205,01e for 1921 and S22E
| 1858 for 1920.
/ A special meeting of stockholders
| of the Willys-Overland Company has
! been called at Toledo. April "a. to conf
slider issue of $17,500.000 notes or
| bonds. the proceeds of which woulH
be used to liQuidate bank loans ami
provide new working capital.