Evening star., 1923-08-08
VARy|NGP PRICES
NOTED IN MARKET
Suspension for Harding Fu-
neral Services Causes a
ListIess Early Session.
E1 STUART T.. WEST.

SncClal blSlltcil to lhe
KEW YORK, August S.-knownG
that the stock exchange was to be
closed from IL tC 1880 o'clock. the
time of the late Presidents funeral
services at Washington. the market
started out rather listlessly this
morning. Prices opened slightly
higher, then sagged off to about last
nights closing. Special weakness
again appeared in the leather issues.
carrying them down to new lows.
This was further response to the un-
favorable statement Tuesday of Amer
lean Hide and Leather for the second
quarter and half year. AS the Cen
trail Leather Company has been doing
almost as poorly, these stocks also
went down. The preferred at AL was
off 5ig points from Monday.
Weakness in Burns Brothers stock
appeared to be due to special market
Burns Brothers affairs have said
positively that earnings were very
satisfactory.
The Eries again were strong
feature. The Vice President of the
road was quoted as saying that traf-
fc the first seven months had broken
all records and that the prospects
were good for continued large busl-
ness.
Price Movement Mixed.
Price movements IN the various
markets today were good deal
mixed There were points OF strength
and points of weakness among Speclal
stocks. the latter, however more
numerous.
with the August report of the agrl-
cultural bureau on the growing crops
issued after the close Tuesday. 1t
was very unusual for corn TO go
through July and show no deterlora :
ton In fact, the government estl-
mate places the probable total of the
Crop at 1850 000 bushels above
what it was Il month ago: TINS Is a
remarkable performance IN month
which in the past has often WitheSSeu
devastating drought and crop fail
ureS.
Prices Are as Expected.
The market of the day showed,
however. that both the corn heures
and those for wheat were in line with
auticipatiCnS. Even such a fall as
that in spring wheat condition H-.i
To 69.6. hayd little effect upon prices
because it meant no more than ~
0o0 900 bushels taken off the produc-
tinn estimates of July l, and this was
insignificant as an offset to the Dig
increases in the foreign wheat harvest.
After such "A violent advance as
last week ii is not surprising thal
a setback should have occurred. The
weekly weather bureau report, while
1T disclosed severe damage from dry
weather and heat in the southwest
did not make up. as a Whole' so uh-
favorable picture as the cotton
trade had been drawing during the
past few days.
Foreign Exchanges Weak.
OF more interest than anything
else was the weakness of the for
cign exchanges. With the German
mark quoted around 6,O0O,OOO TO the
dollar. as against 100000 week
ago. il was easy to see the basis for
the reports that the Berlin govern
mcnt was about to repudtate the
present paper currency altogether
and substitute a currency resting on
gold. but how the new gold currency
would function while the huge eX-
cess of government expenditures
over receipts is running on is a
question.
In the meantime the fall in French
francs continues. Another new low
record for all time was established
when the franc was quoted here close
to $50. as against its old-time par of
1913. There is much difference of
opinion as to the causes for this de-
cline. Some critics attribute it to
speculative selling.
Fear Reparations Failure.
Others maintain that il reflects
genuine apprehension over the abil-
ity of France to collect sufficient sums
in German reparations to balance her
budget In this event the sequel
would be either further piling of the
enormous internal debts or further
currency imitation or both. The sig
nifiCant point in deciding between
these two opinions is that the market
for franc exchange has persistently
refused during the last fortnight to
he influenced by the official attitude
of optimsm in French government
civ