The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-19
STRIKE THREAT
BRINGS SELLING
OF RAIL SHARES
ny STUART p. WEST.

n wall, Street. new tork, June IL. ,
IT was a reasonable observation
20 make regarding today's stock
market that had the position not !
very much strengthened by the de-
cline OF the previous fortnight, it
would not have stood up the way it
did against outside incidents which
ordinarily would have been discon-
certing. There were two important
happenings over the week end One
was the formal notice given by
the railway union chiefs to the la
Dor board that is the vote among
the employees was in favor of
!. strike il would be put into effect
on the first of next month. The
other was the continued severe de-
cline in sterling and the continent
tai exchanges on selling which or
iginated on the other side of the
ocean and which had had its in
fluence npon rates before New
York was opened for business.
The strike threat resulted in a
little selling here and there, especi-
ally in low grade railway shares
which have recently been the OBJ
ject of pool speculation. But taken
as a whole there was no weakness
to speak of in the railway list and
the rest of the market was wholly
Indifferent. Several times before
in the last few years the country
has been confronted with a ma
tionwide rail tieup," only to find
that in the end nothing of the sort
materialized. Doubtless this was a
reason why Wall Street was not
more concerned about the matter
today. The more persuasive argu-
ments were, however, that a strike
brought about by the refusal of la
Dor unions to accept the findings of
agovernment body, set up by laws
, for the purpose and on which rep
resentatiVes of the public have their
say as well as those of capital and
labor-cannot command popular
support. Without public sympathy
mo great walkout of the sort has
ever been successful. 1t has never
lasted long enough to do serious
harm to companies earnings,
Sterling exchange which only a
little more than a week ago reached
s4.51, dropped below the $40
level, net loss of four cents on
the pound from Saturday. French
francs at $50 were off over a half
cent in the franc within week
and were down nearly two-thirds
on the entire ground gained since
the first of the year. German
marks almost touched their abso-
Lutte bottom. 1t is apparent that
France is not thoroughly aware of
what the abandonment of the Ger
man loan means for the PREPARATIONS
program. The latest suggestion
emanating from French sources,
quite as much as from Germany, is
for a loan of much smaller di-
mensions than the one which the
recent Paris conference had in
view. This, of course, would be a
mere drop in the bucket postponing
the crisis for another few months
perhaps, but that is all.
A Sensa tional advance in Mexican
Petroleum was the feature of the
day in the stock market. To what
extent this reported squeezing of
the short interests and to what
extent it was due to real changes
in the business outlook for the COM
pany was a matter of doubt. If it
is true that an entirely new pro-
ducing territory has been opened
up to take the place of present
wells, which within a year or so
will run out, even such a jump as
the stock has had since Thursday
would not be excessive At all
events the punishment inflicted up
on venturesome short sellers in
Mexican Petroleum had its effect
upon the short interest elsewhere
and as the day went on there was
Baldwin Locomotive and other lead
rush to buy back contracts in
ers. Along with this went re-
sumption of pool operations In
some of the American oils.
The way Mexican Petroleum
moved as the afternoon went or
with violent jumps between sales
naturally led to the discussion OF
something approaching a corner IL
the stock. At least there was. ar
increasing scarcity as the advance
continued and premium was
charged those who were borrowing
ASi hNliN ~ AtaI 1AAS Sok VI
the market was concerned 1t Was
the stock in which there was rea-
son TO suspect a short interest as
causing the main advance. In 9th
er words the rally reported the Re
cent sellers of the decline rather
than renewed activity of the Gle
ment that there were so prominent
on the buying side last month. IL
stocks where the open short &C
count was small, the recovery was
ntmportant. There was certainly
no suggestion OF any immediate re
Flval of the speculative movement
which eliminated fortnight ago
call money again loaned at "a Pei
cent, the bottom figure of the year
The wheat market went lower bu
me cotton market kept on strong
with its advance following report:
OF more wet weather over the cot
\ ton belt.