Evening star., 1922-11-22
|B. 80. SHARESLEAD
SLUMP IN MARKET
BY STUART p. WEST.


BY Special Leased Wire to The Star.
NEW YORK, November 22.-The
chief feature in today's stock market
was weakness of the railway shares.
This had its effect upon other parts
of the list. although number of the
| induStrialS stood up we'll.
Losses in the railway group. ex-
tending from = to S points. were to
be ascribed to several causes.
Factors Lowering Rails.
In the first place, despite their sub
Stantial decline in october and the
early part of November. they were
not as well liquidated as other sec
tions of the market.
In the second place. banking in
terests and outside investors and
spectators who would ordinarily be
attracted by the low selling prices
compared with two months ago are
deferred from buying by fear that
Congress will SO amend the ESch-
Cummins act as to deprive the roads
of their present 51a per cent guaran-
tee. and at the same time force a
reduction In freight rates. In the
third place. there is likelihood that
in many cases October operating eX-
pense accounts will prove to have
been swollen by extra expenditures
shopmen's strike, and in this way
the earnings results will not be as
favorable as was anticipated
Bear Attacks Effective.
Among the industrials the losses as
a rule were not as large as in the
rails. Still the unsettlement caused
by the weakness in the latter en-
| boldened a fairly general resumption
| of the professional selling which was
h.,1f tod nv-l ii. Nf In. al
At the same time speculative syndi-
Gates which had been working for
! higher prices in special stocks were
! inclined to suspend their efforts.
There was nothing in the outside
news of the day to affect sentiment
| unfavorably. on the contrary, out
side happenings were entirely of a
helpful nature. The foreign eX-
| changes. after starting in lower. went
on with their recovery. The weekly
| reviews of the steel trade spoke of a
! further increase in activity that has
brought operations Up to nearly SC
| per cent of capacity as compared
with 70 per cent month ago and Sc
| per cent during the summer, wher
the steel industry was at the worst
J of the fuel crisis.
! II. l. d. Leads Decline.
Baltimore and Ohio lead the railwa.
! list on it's downward path today. The
! selling followed Immediately upon the
! statement by President Willard thai
the railway shopmen's strike had cos
| the road more than $4,000, 900 and hi:
intimation that this had done away
with any hope for resumption of div.
| idends, at least during the presen
year. The president did say that the
outlook for business was bright anC
that the present traffic volume is wei
| up to the largest ever handled at thi!
| season.
The strength in Beechunt Packing
today was based on the belief tha'
something will be done before the enc
of the year about putting th'
it is entitled Beechnut Packing a
the present time is paying cents :
| share monthly, or at the rate of Al
| cents a year. 1t is the feeling in GER.
| tain quarters now that the stock will
probably be put on So dividend basi:
| at the December meeting.
| Sterling Products declared anothe
| 75-cent dividend today which will
| bring payments for the year up t
S2.15. This company was recapitallZet
! last spring and public Offering o
: the stock was made at Sc in the earl!
summer. In the third quarter Sterling
| Products earned close to $1,000,00
after taxes, which is at the rate o
better than IS a share on the 500.UO
| shares outstanding. The report is tina
! the stock will be put on a regula
dividend basis early next year and tn
/ rate may be IS.
Directors of Columbia Gas and Elec
trio Company will meet tomorrow
and the earnings statement for Octo
Der and perhaps for the first tel
months of 1922 will be published. Cos
sip has had it that some action will
| be taken on the dividend at this meet
! ing, now that the election is past
The earnings for October will show ;
| substantial increase over the SAM
! month last year.
| Leaders Join in Decline.
! The break in Baltimore and Ohi'
| stock was particularly severe, and IL
| other dividend payers. like Rocl
f! Island, New Haven and Missouri Pa
/ cific. the selling was extremel.
| heavy. The so-called standard divi
| dend payers were quite as weak a
\ the rest. Such, stocks as Union Pa
| cific, Southern Pacific, Reading ant
| Great Northern preferred had as bat
! a sinking spell as they have had OF
| any day since the elimination of th'
great downward movement in 1920-21
| In the industrial quarter the sharp
| est declines occurred in some of thu
| equipments, like Baldwin Locomotive
and American Locomotive, in Stude
baker, Pan-American, General AS
lphalt. Marine preferred and severa
| of the Coppers. In view of the i'm
proved statistical position in the cop
| per industry and since it is expecte,
the returns of the porphyry coppe
| companies for the third quarter will
| disclose that most of them are nov
| making money, the weakness in thes
metal stocks was notable. 1t rnerel,
| showed how entirely the decline wa!
| ignoring present trade conditions.