Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-11-01
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Professional Wall street made twc
bad dividend suesses yesterday. Con.
Adent predictions had been made fsf
number Of days Of an ''extra" Of
some sort being handed out BY the
Studebaker dirsctors. In addition si
the regular quarterly. When ,Wsil
street read the earning statement yes.
tsrday the prophets were more certain
than ever Of The ''extra." Much to their
surprise. the directors merely ieclaf.
ed the usual quarterly. The action Of
tho board should not have surprised
anyone who had paid only passing at
teuti0n to recent statements of an Of :.
fetal source. One Of these which could
have been accepted as throwing light
on yesterdays decision Of the board
was this, earnings of the company are
running well shove the corresponding
period year ago, but some Of us feel
a fat surplus y handy thing to have
An equally bad guess was made on
the General Asphalt preferred dividend,
which run,or had might bc passed.
The directors, however, were satisfied
conditions and earnings warranted the
declaration Of the regular quarterly Of
1k per cent.
Emergency Support
The forces behind the recent con.
structive movement found II imperative
yesterday to apply emergency support
IN order to check the further crun,-
bling Of security values. It was .recog.
ilized BY all students Of tho situation,
that the market was rapidly reaching
a precarious position wherein it must
do n little better or the reactionary turn
would grow great deal worse. Like
punctured automobile tire, the con.
centratcd buying checked the sinking
market, but 1t Has doubtful whether
the plus. would hold and another blow
out result.
Undoubtedly. the reaction of the last
week has done much toward correcting
however, would not be reasonable to
look for complete cure Of the excesses of
fourteen months in such short period
It looked yesterday as II the cor.
testing forces of the trading element
were about evenly divided. The bears
were looking dustriously for soft spots
to break the list, while the bulls had q
sharp eye for strong spots to bolster
up the list. A highly irregular move
ment of prices prevailed, and 1t
wouldn't be surprising If the market
was kept In excited churned condition
for some days until adjustments are
completed.
Retail Trade Figures
Reports to the Federal Reserve Boa ri
from 502 stores show an increase In
net snles Of 11.O per cent for Septem.
ber, and 5.O1 per cent from the DO.
ginning Of the fiscal year to date, a.
compared with corresponding respective
periods Of last year. Stocks at the
end Of September showed u decrease
of 3.3 per cent, but since July an
age of average stocks ut the end Of each
sales over the same period was 44O.7
per cent; and the percentage Of out.
standing orders at the end IF September
total purchases during the calendar year
Of 1921 was SO per cent.
In the boston district sales In Sep.
tember increased 17.6 per. cent over
September last year; stocks on hand
increased 6.7 per cent, against 13 per
cent Inst month; In New York and
Brooklyn they declined IL per cent,
against an increase of 1917 per cent
hast month; and in Philadelphia they
declined 4 per cent. against an increase
Of 1c.5 per cent last month.
Average monthly value Of retail trade
in 1I6 department stores was 1925 per
cent in September. compared with ~ e
per cent in August and 92.7 per cent In
September Inst year: In four mail order
houses 1871 per cent. compared with
51.3 yer cent in August, and 74,7 per
cent in September last year in sixteen
chain grocery stores 1884 per cent.
against 1874 per cent last month and
1883 per cent in September last year /:
In four five and ten cent chain stores
1861 per cent. against 1904 per cent
in August and 1874 per cent in Sep.