Evening star., 1923-04-19
PRICES GO LOWER
ASSUGAR TUMBLES
Market Slump Soon Checked
by Heavy Buying Orders
in Many Stocks.
~ STUART l.. WEST.

Erec.sl Disps tch to Tho star.
NEW YORK, April 19.-The stock
market started in today with tufthcr
active buying in some OF the ra'is
and industrial specialties that had
been conspicuous in Wednesday
dealings 1t quickly encountered heavy
realizing sales. however. which thre"
the price movement into considerablc
lrregularity.
Sugar stocks had opened strong.
such leaders as Cuba Cane preferred,
Cuban American and Punta aleSre
gaining three-quarters OF "A point 10
a point on the first few transactions.
The announcement ii half hour be-
fore midday of the Attorney Cen
erals application to restrain the
sugar exchange on the ground that
il was interfering with trade came
like q, bolt from the blue There was
sugar stocks under which these We're
carried down 10 2i2 points from the
early high marks Then substantial
buying orders were met and sharp
rally followed
Sugars UnsettIe List.
The commotion in the sugar stock
had a somewhat unsettlins effect
upon the rest Of the market, Dut uld
not bring about any weakness.
The upward movement in the rali5.
which had looked rather promising
on the previous days, was checked.
Oil shares continued in the main 20
preserve the better tone thdt lney
had shown on Wednesday,
The outstanding incident IN the
markets today was the sudden check
upon speculative activities IN three
directions sinlultaneously-in stockS'
in cotton and in sugar
OF the three movements the break
IN sugar prices was the most interest
ing. In stocks ii was merely a DAY OF
realizing sales in a narrow protes-
sional market No change was inol-
Gated in the main position. and the
most significant feature was that as
prices stopped going up trading grew
dull.
Wall street Surprised.
Wall street has been surprised
enough already that the Department.
of Commerce, with. the data IN hand
SUPPLIES present and prospective,
could have taken the side OF the
politician agitators who were charg-
ing that the recent rise in prices was
a piece of market manlpulaioh.
But this was nothing to that occa.
stoned by the restraining action or
the Attorney General which couia
hardly have been taken except with
the approval Of the entire admins
tration. ,.
have differed as widely as 100000.
but as the centralS have been gradu-
ally shutting down--that is, complet-
ing the seasons output-the testi-
nony has borne more and more on
the side of lower estimates. In any
unprejudiced view it has been plain
that the Cuban crop is going to turn
out considerably below the eXpecta-
tions at the start OF the year
Even before the reduction in estimate
of what Cuba would turn out the De-
Dartment of Commerce calculated un-
der date of February 9 that the world
surplus this year would be only 4'o'ooo
tons--that is, only about ten DAYS sup
ply and an altogether abnormally slim
market These are the grounds upon
which advances in the sugar market
have been based, and they seem rea-
sonable enough TO the impartial OBJ
server.
Southern Railway Active.
Favorable earnings and prospective
dividend action continued the main in
centives for buying in Southern rail-
way common. 1t is understood that the
current rate OF earnings approXimates
$40 share.
Some of the oil shares were taken
up in the afternoon and the coppers
did better. Operations for the rise
In the oils were taking cognizance
of the fact that the selling movement
of q week ago was more IN the ma
turc OF a market ISdQJuSIHleht tHdu
of any change for the worse in oil
trade conditions. Overproduction OF
crude oil is admitted. Figures for
the California district were published
today and showed a daily average
turnout of 632,522 barrels in March.
as against a daily average of 5S6.6I0
in February. the latter an extremely
high total of itself.
But, on the other hand. Wall street
went too far in assuming an imme-
diate reduction In the midconttnent
area and 1t also overlooked the point
that many of the stocks that were
selling SO hurriedlv. represented COM
panies doing mainly a refining busi-
ness. which stood to benefit by lower
prices for the crude article.
Copper Outlook Better.
Improvement in the copper stocks
followed logically the signs Of hard
ening that have occurred recently In
the copper metal market. For nearly
two months the quotation has hung
around II cents, producers not wish
ing to press their advantage for fear
of checking demand. But in the
meantime the surplus has apparently
been going down. not. of course. at
any such pace as six months ago, but,
nevertheless. enough to have an ap-
preciable effect upon conditions.
nnTT0N DpInCc 0Ec