The Washington herald., 1922-08-26
FINANCIAL
STOCKS WEAKEN AT
CLOSE, FOLLOWING
DELUCE OF SELLING
Rail'Position Reversed as
Executives -Trainmen
Conference Fails.

NEW YORK. Aug. 25.-The stock
market. after presenting at least
the appearance of strength during
most of the day. turned weak dur
ing the last hour, In the face of a
! considerable volume Of selling. An
nouncement that the conference
between the executives and the
chief OF the Trainmen's Brother
hoods, acting as mediators. had
ended without any agreement being
reached regarding the settlement
of the shopmen's strike, caused
traders to reverse their position on
the rail stocks, the equipments and
the steel issues. on the theory that
these three classes of industry are
likely to be most affected by a pro-
longation of the struggle. The
marking up Of call money rates
was also q factor in the late sell
ing.
This mornings stock market pre-
sented q somewhat nrmer appear
neglected with changes of less than
a point in the majority Of issues. but
the industrials were higher. Not
only were there advances in sew
eral groups, particularly the steel
and motor shares, but several
groups of the stocks that have been
notably weak during the past days,
recovered substantially from their
cent low points. There was
strength also in some of the equip
ments and among several OF low
priced oil shares.
Leather stocks.
Another group of stocks which
displayed distinct signs of strength
this morning were the leather is
sues. Endicott-Johnson, which Is
generally included among the
leather stocks, was up more than -
point, while American Hide and
Leather preferred advanced l II. En-
dicott-Johnson's strong cash POSI-
tion and high rate Of earnings have
raised hopes of an increased divi-
dend on the common in some quar-
ters
The public utility isues and par
ticularly the gas company stocks.
had another good day marketwise.
Consolidated Gas advanced nearly
points to a new high price and
Columbia Gas was also strong. The
short interest in Consolidated Gas
which was counting on a consider
able increase in the floating supply
of the stock through conversion Of
the company's Z per cent notes.
have not Jared very well. the stock
having advanced some 10 points al
most without interruption since an
nouncement was made that the
notes would be called for redemp-
tion early next month
General Asphalt.
General Asphalt. which has been
one of the more uncertain issues
during the past week or two, was
steady this morning at fractionally
higher prices, although the turn
over was small. Reduction IN the
production of low-grade Mexican
crude was accounted by traders as
a bull point on Asphalt, and this
view was confirmed by the an
nouncement that the company, in
conjunction with Royal Dutch in
terests, have decided upon the i'm
mediate construction of a pipe line
from the shores Of Lake Caracaibo
to tidewater, thus facilitating ship
ments from the Venezuela field.
A reaction Of four-tenths of I
per cent in the reserve ratio of the
combined Federal reserve system
reflects small Increases in note cir
culation and deposit liabilities and
a small loss in reserve. The changes
are of no great significance, COM
ing as they do shortly before the
na fa
now known that Britain Is about
to resume the movement Of gold
in this direction.
Exchange.
With sterling still holding Arm.
the currencies of the Continental
allies continued to lose ground
rapidly in sympathy with the de-
moralization of the German mark.
Thus. with the latter lowering
around a new low Of o.05 of a
cent. French francs dropped 1s
points to $50 cents and Belgian
francs and lires suffered comparable
losses. The decline in francs
brought them not only to new
low for the present year, but to
price nearly 2 cents below that
reached during the latter part of
last April. Cables from Berlin an
nounced the departure of repre-
sentatives of the reparations COM
mission after inability to agree
with the German government on
the mater Of the guarantees to be
given in return for a moratorium
and rumors were current in London
Of independent action by the French
and a break in the entente. Well
posted Observers were disposed.
however, to regard these rumors as
greatly exaggerated. Despite the
weakness in the other allied cur
rencies, sterling was hardly changed
at s447%, while the Czecho-Slo-
vakia crown maintained the re-
markable advance, reaching $50
cents. The exchanges of the for