Evening star., 1922-08-28
STOCK LIST SOFT,
. MANY GAINS LOST
Working for Profits on Short
Side-French Securities
Are Weak.
BY STUART y. WEST.

ny STUART u. WEST.
NEW YORK August 2S.-Todays
markets were called upon on the
one hand to measure the effect of the
emphasis laid over Sunday upon the
coal strike and on the other hand to
figure on Germany's reply later in
the week under the final call of the
rcparations commission for plan
Of taxes.
1t was altogether an important and |
unusually interesting test FOR the
financial situation.
Had the cue been taken from the
foreign exchanges. one would have
said that financial sentiment was
more hopeful over the German posi-
ton than it had been. This hope was
based on the seemingly good chance
that the majority of the reparations
commission would vote for mora
tcrium through the remainder of the
Year.
French Securities soft.
But as against the best rally that
either the mark or the franc had had
in over week. there was tle sharp
est break that has yet occurred IN
French government securities.
The l.s of the external dollar loan
dropped nearly two points. They
sold within less than two points of
their extreme low in the early part
of the year. and We're off points
from their top. At the same time the
French municipal bonds and the de-
partment of the Seines touched the
lowest they have ever sold for since
listed on the New York Stock EX-
change.
1t was hard 10 reconcile these di
verse movement J except on the as
sumption that tie market for F'rench
10. 80 n -ira ttAh
awakening to the dangers of the sit
uation from the French standpoint.
Marks Better.
The German currency panic-judE-
ing by the recovery in the mark from
last weeks extreme low of .O0O45 to
today'S quotation, .UOO65-waS Tor the
moment checked.
But the prodigious strain which the
German financial system has been
under was indicated by the latest re-
ports of the Reichsbank, showing an
expansion of nearly ten billion marks
in note circulation-the largest of
any week so far. Another factor
was the advance for the second time
in month in the German bank rate.
This rate now stands at I per cent
and the intensity of the crisis is
shown in the circumstance that the
highest rates found necessary IN the
wartime was the per cent fixed IN
December 1914. which was maintain
cd uninterruptedly up to July Is last.
stocks Go Lower.
The stock market opened somewhat
lower. Then followed an hour or so
of uncertainty. during which Wall
street pools had the courage to bid
ND a dozen or so Industrial issues.
These experiments were not success
full, however. in sustaining the gen.
cral list. and in the afternoon. under
what was evidently sharp drive,
prices gave way all along the line.
,f a
favorites. the downward turn was
rapid, while the rails at their low
point in the later trading were on
from one-half to two-thirds or their
advance.
Market Nervous.
lust how much this downward
movement was an expression OF con-
Germ about the oVer-Sunday develop
1nents in the strike situation. to what
extent il reflected uncaSineSS over the
European outlook and how much II
was natural readjustment in spec
ulative market that had had pretty
steady and extensive rise were open
questions The more sensitive posi-
ton within the market itself was un-
doubtedly d good deal of a factor.
Gna s:urEs.
Winding UP Saturdays sensational
+. nerformance Consolidated Gas got
above I4O The whole question, be !
Iievers in the recapitalization plan
saw is what Il : per cent gas STOCK
ought to be worth. The minimum es-
innate is 20, the maximum so.
ON the basis of two shares of ne"
FOR one of old this would meal, l4O as
the low for the present stock ana lou
the high.
of Consolidated. and Peoples Gas
Brooklyn Edison, Laclede Gas ana
North American all made new hlshs. !
Approaching 1873, Columbia Gas seem |
ed to be running into n iot OF s'och.
the same as il did whenever thdt
figure was reached last week.
American Tobacco.
People in touch with American To- |
1,.cco affairs say -F"t tNcr- is no H. |
ing out of the ordinary to explain !
the rise in the best stock They
claim, as they have all along. that
as an investment proposition Amer
can Tobacco has been underyalued !
and that II is simply seeking Its
proper level in sympathy with the
general rising tendency of investment
values. Even at l60 the stock re-
turns J. per cent.
Motor Stocks Lower. |
The selling of the motor stocks. fol- |
lowing the Ford announcement. came |
mainly from professional sources. The |
street was inclined to be very |
skeptical about the whole business
In some quarters 1T was character
there any fear that the motor indus |
try or any other industry would be
crippled for want of coal now that
the bituminous mines have reopened.
Studebaker. it is understood, still has
enough reserve to keep Its plants go |
ing for another month, and the ex-
Dectation Is that by that time new
coal production will be back to nor /,
NAL.
Weakness in Rails.
1t was scarcely reasonable to ex-
plain the weakness of the railway |
stocks as due to the shopmen's strike |
When all the evidence points to a |
steady increase in the number of new !
employees and when the hgures on car /
loadings, supported by most OF the
July traffic statements that have ap- |
peared so far, indicate that the strike |
Ias done little harm to the railway |
freight movement.
The interesting comparison lies, OF
course, between the July hgures ana
those for June, the month before the
walkout of the shopcraft unions.
But this comparison must De
oualifeC oy the remembrance that
July is normally a smaller traffic :
month than June.
Atcheson's July gross was only
slightly less than June, while net IN
come was nearly S5.0O9.OOO against
$4,000, 900. Northwestern's net oper-
ating income in July was $3,267,00O,
against $2,3S9,000 in June