The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-29

NJ STUART r. WEST.

sHAil Street. New York, Aug. 20
THE recovery today on the stock
exchange was not due so much to
\ any favorable outside develop
ments as 1t was to more cheerful
Ntev taken of the strike situation
O. home and the financial prob
lens abroad.
The more the proposed shutdown
Of the Ford plants was looked into,
the more 1t seemed to be regarded
as an entirely special case. II a
temporary coal shortage forces the
closing of Industrial plants during
the next few weeks, the number OF
these closings will be very small,
was the conclusion which Wall
street drew from the information
received over night.
Elsewhere at Washington and
elsewhere to picture the coal trades
condition in the light of great ma
tional crisis have been very much
overdone. Soft coal production is
already back two-thirds and three
quarters Of normal. The remain
ing deficiency will be made up with
in the course OF another fortnight.
The one dubious feature is abil-
ity. of the railroads to provide ade-
quate transportation facilities. But
coal will be given the priority in
the assignment Of cars and. bar
ring possible cases of congestion in
certain localities, there is very lit
tie doubt that the cOuntry's indus
tries will be getting their full sup
ply of coal by the end of another
week or two.
In the light of today's happen
ings, Mondays decline in stocks
seemed to be due far more to in
side than to outside conditions. The
market, after a weeks continuous
advance. was in line for reaction
and outside news was used as a
mere excuse. With conditions in
side the market strengthened.
prices came back very easily over
the ground lost. 1t took less than
an hour this morning for the list
to retrieve all of Mondays losses,
and in the afternoon the upward
movement was renewed in large
number Of industrial and public
utility issues.
Railway shares, while not as
prominent as the others, rebound
ed with scarcely. less readiness. 1t
hardly needed this recovery, how
ever, to prove that Wall street has
never been at all perturbed over
the shopmen's strike. The weekly
figures on car loadings, and now
the July traffic returns. have made
II entirely clear that the strike was
doing no harm to railway revenues
or to the general freight move
ment.
Steel and copper stocks, railway
equipments and oils all did better.
Some of the advances in the public
utility group were extraordinary.
In the case OF North American and
Western Union the advance was
manifestly anticipating higher div
idends. In the case Of American
Telephone 1t was merely a read
justment in accord with the lower
investment returns required by
present money conditions.
Recovery continued in the Eu-
ropean exchanges. Francs were
quoted in the late afternoon quarter
Of cent above their low of last
Friday, and marks, which last week
soid below .05 were back to .07H.
TO what extent this was merely a
natural recoil after an unusually
violent downward movement and to
what extent 1t expressed a genu-
inely better telling over the finan-
cial situation, was a question. Prob
ably the correct reading of the ad-
vance was that cpeculators for the
decline in German and French ex-
change were covering in their COM
nitments not caring to take the
risk that the reparations commits
,ion would decide in favor Of grant
ing German moratorium.
In the dealings of the final hour
hore attention was paid to two or
three of the low priced railway
stocks. There was special buying
movement in the western Maryland.
The Wheeling and Fries were taken
up alphabetically, and there was
an unusual amount of interest in
he Missouri, Kansas and Texas
shares.