Evening star., 1923-12-19
STOCKS DO WELL
IN LATE TRADING
National Lead Soars-Cuba
Cane Sugar Strong-Drop
in French Francs.
BY STUART Il. WEST.

% BY STt ART 4. "ESh.
/; Special Dispatch to The star
! NEW YORK. December 19.-Today
T., stock market at the outset hau u
J absorb further selling, partly In the
I nature of belated realizing by those
+! who still had profits from the recen'
! advance. and partly for the purpose
! Of establishing tax losses. be''ei
resistance. however. appeared at once
! and after an hour or SO of irresu-
laritv the market began to pick up
! especially in the industrial stocks.
( cuba Cane preferred crossed 60 1ot
! the first time on this move ana Ins
/ rest of the sugars promptly zen ny.
/ line This was tardy recognition thal
: the reduced estimates of the 1924 crop
z hold out the prospect of another pros
( porous year. In this event. Win oailh
! loans all cleared up and most OF tnt
: companies having SubStantlai caSil SUI
dividend distribution would be lneVl-
; table.
CuyameI Fruit Jumps.
Cuyamel Fruit. which belongs 1artls
70 the sugar group, had another jump
J Above 20 il is certainly too high Tor
81 stock which II is at present. Also
it is too high for s. stock.
Latest earnings We're 1aNorable
showing an increase in net income al
; 1927 900 during the six months ended
; August 81. Whether or not this Is
( enough of a gain to warrant tht
. shares being put on 50 basis Whlci
; their market price would call for, Il
4 question.
oDera ationS for the rise We're vigor-
ously resumed in special issues. stan
: lard Oil OF California stood out prom
. inently among the oils. getting uL
e fr-Gt
1he strength of Industrial Alconol
! vas seized upon by the speculative
: element as an indication of the stan.
. dard Oil attitude toward the marker
T. in general. c.on5. 81
o;1,. lsd the war when the decline
Z started last Arril. and that Industrial
: Alcohol at that time went down lnuch
. further and faster than seemed Mal
, ranted either by general market con
; oiirions or by the position III the ai'o-
-hol trade.
National Lead Higher.
The old story which circuiatts
s,.arv tim. there - a move in Ma
tfonal Lead attended the rise IN tne
stock today This story Is TO .ths
effect that the war rrrohts OF tnlteu
states Cartridge COMPANY. OF WniSn
National Lead is sole oWnti' w ntonI, *
distributed in the form OF a St0ch
dividend or perhaps. a capital Spiil-
mn There has not yet been any suo-
stantial corroboEati"n oi this report:
The most conspicuous single mel
dent in the financial situation todaS
Has +ha new low for all time estab-
lished for French francs ,o .bo;,
when French francs maze lHeii
nreyioIs low. in the middle OF NoEeiiic
Der. the British pound was Selrt"s ~ :
cents below where it was today any
nn+s me ieaiaan arainst IS" the present 4.s$h
uhus this latest sinking spell IN tne
franc can not be considered as /.
could then. part of n genera uo''iNe
IN the European exchanges
Wall street Features
The completion of one of the larsesl
hvyins- orders In the oil stocks ever
oiacaS in wall street attracted IN.
rarest TODAY. 1t is said thal dpou..
three weeks after the declaration VI VI
the extra dividend on on st steel coiil,.io. nri,,
me dnn1estic oils was begun. The
huving included Marland, Cosden a,i1
Sinclair. while Houston also "ds Ioi. , ;,
cerned When the buying nssh q,
there was talk of ne" lhahoihe ~
different oil concerns ~.
,Tbis played into the hands OF the
onerating syndicate. Then tne neM
Of sharp curtailment III prouuStt.pr :,
the disclosures that new nnailc tlIs .I
u,o,1,d be unnecessary in many cases
all favored the bull SIDE.
moderate amount of Selllns lately
In Reading Rights and new fe'allt
coal has been attributed TO Nc" oi
Central shareholders Wh" nav stouu
m benefit because Of New YORK Cen
trails holding Of Reading tompah:
Rights. An authority on i;eadlnS
affairs has pointed out tha1 tnere dp-
pears to be no obstacle in the way
Of Incorporation of any anount OF
Ea ctr nf "a
Reading Coal Company into a holding
company.
ally good business is done by the
operating units Of Associated Dry
Goods and May Department stores
and the market for their efia res has
been taking this fact into account
Associated Dry Goods is expected To
report between $17 and SIS share
for 1923. which would be. in EXCESS
IF last wears record earnings. May
Danartment Stores is earning over SlZ
per share against the current %
dividends. In spite of the prontaDIe
conditions, directors of the'companies
continue in their conservative poiios
Caution in Late Trading.
onerations for the rise continued
in a cautious way in the afternoon
hut was still limited to industrial
specialties. Railway shares were
taking their cue from the course oil
Sortbern Pacific. which was prepar-
-. itself for the dividend announce
nent oil shares were not as promi-
,sapt as they had been on other days
although there appeared to be an
ample demand for them whenever
they sold off at all.
-The active buying of steel by au-
+omobilo companies as set forth iT
The steel Trade Review. led to some
buying of the motor stocks, especially
Chandler, which ran up over point
Ind Maxwell A. which was up oVel
Two points in the last hour.
Steel shares were not affected BY
the statement in the Iron Trade Re
view that December business nae
i,een better than looked for. Ordi'
1larily, bookings fall off in the las
month of the year, with the inven
tbry taking in prospect But thi.
year they have been nearly as larg'
.fS in November 1t does not appeal
that the activity of the radicals 1,
Congress has had deterring effect