Evening star., 1922-08-23
STOCK MARKET IS. :
AGAIN VERY FIRM
By STUART r. WEST. {,

By STUART r. WEST. tS
NEW YORK. August z3-Fhs mar.
kets today treated the failure OF the
anthracite conference with the SAINT
indifference they had shown over the
discovery that expectations Of q gen.
eral railway peace were not justified
Of the misunderstanding railroads
down to three-quarters of a point
This brought a slight reaction into
the rest Of the railway list But on
the market. As q whole. the news had
surprisingly small results.
The prospect OF . winter without
hard coal was not seriously regarded,
in view Of the certainty that within
the next week or SO soft coal pro-
duction will be strained to its max
inum. Tho inconveniencs Of individ-
ual consumers Is OF slight moment be-
side the fate that the normal coal
supply for industrial purposes is now
assured.
Generally Strong.
Consequently with few exceptions
and these due to other causes than
stock market was decidedly strong.
Facing tho threat Of an ocAan rate
war, shipping stocks were weak again
and for special reasons there was
some selling in the sugar and rubber
shares.
The rails. save for the soft coal
carriers. which were higher from the
start. went off a half-point or SO dur
ing the first hour. but rallied sub
sequently.
Meanwhile, the greater part o fth.
industrial list was consistently strong
and special buying operations KEEP.
on with as much assurance as they
have shown at any time.
Equipments Firm.
The tobaccos made new high prices,
as did Pullman and Lima Locomotive,
among the equipments. Mexican Pc
troieum and the related sotcks ha d
one of their characteristic run-ups.
Shares OF the leather and boot ard
shoe companies were actively IN de-
mand.
Nothing further happened in the
steel shares seemed to be still en-
deavoring to appPaise the true sig 4
nificance OF the announcements OF
wage advances.
The Wage Increase.
steel industry, having gone a longer
distance than the rest on the down
ward readjustment, was naturally
the first to give its employees the nd
vantage of improved trade conditions,
but this was discarded in the street
today in favor of the view that the
steel companies had been forced to
raise the pay of their ordinary laborI
to prevent ii drifting back to the re-
opened coal mines. the railway strike
centers and the harvest sections
where the demand this fall will be
uncOmmOnly large
The question now is. as pointed out
in the weekly reviews OF the steel
trade, how far the wage increase will
react upon prices and what effect a
products will have upon demand.
Marks New Low.
German marks touched = new low
Of .007 and francs got down to their
low Of the year.
These. declines did not shed any
fresh light upon the situation IN
the international money markets. But
they did show that the more the un-
compromising attitude OF France
forces down the value OF the German
marks, the more does 1t result in
currency. ,
Soft Coalers Firm.
B. and o. and C. and o. were strong
ana an dClISe OuyiHS movement Was
launched in the Western Maryland
issues.
The argument in favor Of the to-
bacco stocks, accompanying their
further advance. was that they were
entitled to sell higher on their in
vestment return Improving trade
conditions were the sole reason back
of the rise in the leather stocks and
the shoe stocks
The special strength of Cosden Oil
revived talk Of larger dividens. The
remarkable jump in Pullman. like
that in American Car and Foundry,
Tuesday. was the result Of Investment
absorption so reducing the available
supply that II took only a moderate
amount of buying to force q violent
advance.