Omaha daily bee., 1922-04-28
Financial
Gbe Mem 1srk 6imeS.
By ALEXANDER DANA MOVES.
oMshs Nee Issssd Wiss,

New York, April 2T,-DownwaEd
reaction IN ehs stock market became
more general today. aud perhaps TO
an extent affected the course oi bond
market prices. whose movement was
somewhat irregular, New high rec
ord prices were achieved by certain
investment bonds; by Swedish os and
United Kingdom ) l-ass OF 1887
among the foreign governments and
BY halt a dozen railway securities.
But IN bonds this wa, measufably
offset by declines OF point or more
IN the purely speculative issues and
in the stock market the days trend
OF values was pretty much all one
way.
Declines oi a point or more on
the stock exchange were very gen.
eral. Speculative industrial shares OF
the oil and motor group. which were
bid up rather wildly in the recent
excited market. bore the brunt oi
the reaction. In the low priced rail.
way group there were one or Two
exceptions, in which prices rose with
the general market The March
earnings statements continue 10 show
great diversity in gross receipts,
Aichison and Northwestern. for in
stance. showing heavy decrease while
half dozen others, chiefly eastern
roads. did much better than IN 1921.
Earnings Increase.
Gross earnings on tho Delaware and
Hudson increased ~ per esnti on the
all these companies u must be remsm-
hered that the known Increase In freight
traffic does not affect the passenger
earnings. which do not show up we'll
fshruary's decrease IN gross receipts WAS
not oceasionsd By freight, total earnings
from which were az per cent larger
than In 1891. but by nearly ~ per cent
decrease In earnings from passengers,
Wall street again ss;ribed the reaction
in prices TO the natural cbb aud flow
Of speculative feeling. on the whole. II
was "a tribute to the markets judgment
that IL did not explain the decline IN
stocks or tho halt In foreign exchange
by Lloyd Georges rather gruesomo over
ton. Most people guessed that II tho
real situation w~ro quite sr alarming us
the British prime ministers description,
Lloyd George himself would have been
such a condition Of things did actually
exist In 1914. statesmen and fina nciers
declared that war Was unimaEinable.
Reserve Ratio Increases.
The weekly federal reserve report
showed an increase In the systems re-
serve ratio. practically TO tho highest re-
corded percentage. There was only a
trifling increase In gold hold
ngs. but reserves held for member banks
were reduced 3i2.e0o.o0o and noe circu-
ation $500. 900. outstanding notes reach
Ing the smallest total since August, 1918.
Todsy's weekly reports OF the Euro
pean banks may be summarized by saying
that the Bank OF England's ratio OF
reserve to deposits rose TO the highest
percentage OF any week since March 20
1920. and tho highest Tor the current
week since 1917: that the French banks
issues were reduced $4,000. 600
francs further and that the Germans
note circulation was reduced
!. .i36. 900. 900 marks, this German reduce
lion presumably indicating large tax COL
ections, since there was a similar reduc.
lion in the same week of 1921. The
French paper money seems definitely TO
have passed the high mark Of its GUS
iomary Easter expansion; last year 1t |
was reduced 1000, 900. ooo francs between |
April and the middle Of July