Evening star., 1923-06-14
ATTACKS ON OILS.
MARKETFEATURE
Bears Also Seize Chance to
Drive Other Stocks to Low
Levels for Year.
BY STUART p. WEST.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, June 1.-THE day on
the stock exchange began Win
another drive against the oil stocks.
These were vulnerable in the light of
the latest figures on crude oil pro-
duction, showing that this is still on
the increase despite the recent price
cutting.
There was special weakness in Pro-
ducers and Refiners al new low Tor
the year in the Mexican Seaboard is
sues and in Texas-Pacific Coal and
Oil. In the last named the court pro-
ceedings brought in an attempt 10
establish alleged misrepresentation
regarding the condition of the COM
pany were back of the selling.
The weakness in the Mexican sea-
boards was sequel to the discovery
that no new field has been opened
UP, as was thought month ago, put
that the supposed new strike was
merely an extension OF an existing
well. Sinclair was unfaVorapty al :
fected by the new S2j.0OO.OoU ot2 per
cent bond issue.
COpper Stocks Steadier.
Coppcr stocks were not as much
by the advance in the copper metal
to 49, cents, accompanied by re-
ports of heavy domestic buying
These stocks were merely steadler
than most others during the inter
walls when selling pressure was keen
est Utah and kennecott did rather
better than Anaconda. Other mem
bers of the copper group were mac
tive.
more to the per cent dividend. the
street feels, however. that the stock
should at least sell above the g per
cent debenture bonds in order TO
induce bondholders to eXchange
These bonds we're selling in the mar
ket today about 2 points above the
stock.
Fair Buying I'm Rails.
Considerable buying appeared in
Atchiscn in anticipation that this
road will follow New York Centrars
example and increase it's common
share dividend from the present
to per cent. Atchison. like Cxn-
trail. has it's lon-term bonds out on
low interest basis. 1t would be
able to show, also, that, averaging bono
interest with the : per cent dividend
the return on capital account would
be moderate This is highly de-
sirable statement to make nowadays
mon getting ready to fight the car
riers on the question of freight
rates.
Pound Oils i'm Afternoon.
Traders kept on with their ham
mering of the oil stocks through the
afternoon. The old California Petro-
leum stocks having been withdraw
from the list, the new shares repre-
senting four for one. were the only
common shares dealt in. No reason
g.
in "California New" except that its
market position was not as strong
as that of the old stock and that as
a result 1t succumbed along with the
general weakness in the oil group.
Skelly Oil was driven down under 20
Refiners. Cosden. Mexican Seaboard,
Pure Oil and Sinclair all continued
under pressure. q
But this selling of the oils failed to
have much effect in other directions
Sugar stocks ceased to be sensitive
to the decline in sugar futures The
principal strength. however. toward
the close of the day lay in the railway
list.
Moves in Other Markets.
In the commodity markets it was a
day of conflicting movements. The
speculative sugar options broke again
pretty sharply and cotton went lower.
stronger and quotations on the copper
metal were put up to 15A cents a
pound against the recent low of l43A
KellyS Springfield Tire was actively
sold again today. getting down to a
new low for the year. The decline
was based upon general market con-
ditions, lower quotations on crude
rubber and talk of a price-cutting G
war. Some people are pointing out
that it would be a distinctly good
thing for Kelly Springfield if it were
to call in its s10,OO0,00O ten-year
sinking fund s per cent notes of 1881,
which it could do on any interest date
at 110. This would require substitute
financing, but the new securities
could be put out more advantageously
and thus result in considerable saw
ing.
Timken Roller Bearing was bought
again On the strength of exception
ally good earnings, favorable reports
OF current business and the expecta-
ton CT an increase in the dividend
rate above the present SO annually.
Timken earned S1.12 per share in the
first quarter of 1923, an increase of
SO Per cent over the first three
months of last year. May showed a
further improvement and June is said
to be running ahead of May