The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-25
RAIL RATE CUT
IS CHIEF TOPIC
IN WALL STREET
ny STUART p. WEST.

Wal street, new tOIh WAY 90
van street discussion today was
.sieay busy with tine effect upon
.-sIIway earnings OF the 10 per cent
rednction and the postponement of
,se Bethlehem Steel-Lackawanna
steel merger pending investigation
~ the department of justice. Opin-
;on was divided on the subject of
nc new rate schedules. Evidently
come speculative holders of rail
cocks were inundated into SELL
inc by the unfavorable comment
rbich appeared from some of the
raiIroai executives. But the best
Judgment still fastened upon the
conclusion that SO long as the IN
,erstate commerce commission
stood committed to So per cent
return on property value, there was
nothing to be concerned about. II
sthe new rates do not produce this
! return. there is an implied prom
he that they may be revised up
ward enough to repair any def
cheney.
Railway stocks and the lower
trade of bonds we're somewhat
more sensitive than they had been
Wednesday. but there was no i'm
portant decline. After losing half
point 10 Il point in the early deal
ings, the general run of these Sc
curlties was simply left alone,
while attention was directed to a
fresh series of pool operation in
the Industrial section. Naturally,
the enthusiasm for steel mergers"
was chilled by the news that the
attorney general proposed to look
thoroughly into such com binations
before giving his approval. There
was hasty unloading by the specu-
lative following in stocks like Re-
public Iron & Steel and Midvale
But this did not discourage the
bidding up of a number OF other
industrials.
The slump continued in the wheat
market, the May option getting
down over 90 cents a bushel from
its high of the year. made toward
the close of the winter This
break means in part that the grain
trade had over estimated the i'm
mediate export demand and in part
that as the time has drawn near
for settling May contracts the posi-
ton has been found to be consid-
erably over extended. The options
representing the new wheat crop
are a far more reliable gauge OF
the situation, while they have been
affected by the drop in the May de-
livery their decline has been much
more moderate.
Call money was somewhat easier
again with the rate on new loans
down to 31a per cent. There was
no change in time funds, the mar
I ket remaining on 4 to 4A per cent
basis, that is, quarter of a point
up from last weeks extreme low
The signs of halt in the invest
ment market were again quite plain
Liberty bonds, foreign governments
and the higher class of railway
mortgages were all stationary
New capital offerings, however, the
largest of the week, so far, found q
ready market.
The foreign exchange market
again showed quiet feeling OF
confidence in the outcome of the
bankers conference at Paris. Ster-
ling exchange was not changed
but there was a fairly sharp recov-
cry il Continental rates, especially
in francs and Ira. This was quiet
in keeping with the tendency OF
the last two months, which has
been for sterling to move independ-
emily of the other European cur
rencies. The fact that the days
advance in francs, like the preced-
ing decline, should have occurred
with sterling comparatively mo-
luonless only went TO show how
much more French finances have al
stake than English finances in the
problem of European recOnstruc-
ton.
The stock market early in the
week had lost its character of broad
and excited speculative movement
in which the public was playing an
active part. 1t did not show any
evidence of getting back to that
condition today Rather it was a
collection of special moves, some
Of them rejecting genuine invest
sfnent purchases. But most of them
were of a highly speculative sort
me remarkable rise in Nickel Plate
SOCKS was understandable on the
basis of the earnings of the COM
pany, but the taking up of the low
priced rail stocks of the type of
81 o. Nv-f