Evening star., 1922-12-18
RAIL SHARES WEAK
|NSTOCK MARKET
Great Northern Dividend
Cut Changes Trend-Many
Strong Spots.
BY STUART p. WEST.

y
Special Dispatch to The star
NEW YORK. December lS.-An eA-
tremely confused movement on the
stock exchange. heaviness in bonds.
reaction in the foreign exchanges and
a new high record for the season III
wheat were the chief episodes in the
financial situation today.
At the outset and fo- the frs hour
or so the stock marke: WAS strong
and even bouyant. Trading was more
active and prices moved forward more
vigorously than at any tiHH Stree the
return for the better came at the De
ginning Of the month. Then the iall-
ure OF an important western mouse
was announced. and this led To nasty
rnlo aiding of oil shares IN which the
tirm in question was supposed to be
interested.
Railway shares Weak.
The weakness in railway shares and
the downward drift in railway bonds
became as the session went on. quite
as much feature as the buying oil
the equipments, of United States steer
common and of the coppers. For this
there was no explanation. Railway
managements feel that they already
have regulation enough. yet they race
Il still greater trial in the agitation
for reduction of rates on tarm proc
ucts. The justice of this agitation
is admitted, but the roads cannot re-
duce their tariff on farm produce
without getting compensation else
where The only two possible ways
they could secure this would be hrst
through an increase in rates on other
commodities. or else. second. a lower
ing of wage scales. and neither OF
.,f rS1i iaf -
moment at all promising.
Great Northern.
The reaction which all this has upon
the attitude of railway directors was
disclosed today in the action of the
Great Northern BOARD. \ fortnigh
ago il was supposed that the I per
cent rate would be maintained. but
the street was not greatly surprised
when it was announced that the divi-
dcnd had been cut to per cent
basis Not only Great Northern. but
all the other northwestern stocks
gave way on this news. and the rest
of the railway list was in one degree
or another unsettled.
The heavy selling in the oil stocks
today broke out Immediately after
the announcement of the failure OF
the big Kansas city house. Although
this failure was thought to DC due &c
short position in wheat. the house
in question was credited with having
large lines nf the oils. which their
correspondents in the east hastily
threw over when the news of the in
solvency reached the street. This was
the explanation assigned to the
abrupt dumping OF such stocks as
Sinclair Oil, Invincible and Phillips
Petroleum.
Copper stocks Hold strong.
Copper stocksy today continued to
respond to the rising tendency OF the
metal Cerro de PaSco made new
high. Anaconda crossed 81. Utah was
strong. anticipating an early increase
in the dividend. Nevada Consolidated
was bought following the statemen,
made on several occasions. that the
stock was in line for dividends dur
ing the first quarter OF next year.
Buying of Iron Products during the
last few days and again today ap'
peared to be anticipating an early
declaration of dividends. With the
enormous business being done in pis
iron and the high prices as compared
with six months ago the company l:
making more money than at any tlm'
in its history.
1t has been wonder all along why
most of the motor accessory stocks
should have been so backward while
most Of the automobile shares wer.
going up. Stewart Warner was al
exception, and so was Stromberg. But
today other members of the group be-
gan to make up for lost time. Se--
eral times the statement has beer
made that Bosch Magnetic was earn
ing we'll over Sc a share and the
prospects were favorable for dividend
resumption next year.
German Loan Puzzling.
Sterling. francs and marks al
came down rather sharply. In any
undertaking of such vast nature
and with so many complications a
an international offering of German
government bonds. it would be quite
to be expected that there should
be the utmost difference of opinion
regarding the outcome and also rapit
shifts between hope and pessimism
The actual news of the morning
was not discouraging. On the con
trary. ii confirmed the fact that the
reparations question had been taker
Judgment had been consulted as tC
the feasibility of loan. But there
was still vagueness about the whole
matter which was bound to affect 8
situation SO highly charged with
speculative element as the foreign
exchanges of last week.
Wheat Prices Soar.
OF more Importance than anything
happening in the security market!
:" ''>e ~ oNei . cents d puSne
in wheat and the extraordinary show
ing in the November foreign trade
The figures relating to exports were
given out today. The advance il
wheat. bringing it to much the high
est of the year. was not due. like tn,
first recovery of three months ago
to sudden expansion in the expor
movement. But it did have in view
the certainty that foreign require
ments will be greater than usual or
account. of diminished production IL
Europe. and it was also Influenced
by the comparatively unfavorabl
start of the new fall-sown harvest a
home. The advance of some 80 cent
a bushel since September cannot bu
have an important bearing upon tn
entire business outlook 1t could no
go on much longer without removing
much of the ground for the conten
ton that farmers profits are alb