The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-14
DRIVE UPON O|L ]. |S ONLY MARKET. l SE ETBACK 0F W [ [ K.
Bears Unable to Disturb Other Issues-Raid Purely
 Professional
B, WALTER E. BROWN, Editor New York Commercial. Special Dispatch to The AEe-Hernld)

Especial Dispatch to The AEe-Hernld)
 NEW YORK, April 13.-Another bear drive in the stock market dur ing the week, directed principally against the oil group, resulted in some measure of profit for those who engineered it but otherwise it once more demonstrated the underlying strength of the market. With this exception the efforts of the bears to disturb the market have been unsuc- cessful. It preserves resliency which nothing seems to overcome For the present there Is no agsres- sive counter movement but some eX- ceedinsly well informed observers in the fianeial district are now count ing upon resumption of the for ward movement in the near future.
 The raid on the oils was purely professional operation carefully timed. The California oil fields had been producing in excess of eXpec- tations and immediate consuming re- quirements so that in the natural or der of things a decline in the price of crude was due.
 Made to Look Unusual.
 Certain Wall street operators had their eye on this situation and talk ing advantage of the fact that there has been considerable active spe, ula- ton in the oil stocks, they were all ready for a drive the moment the decline in crude was announced. There is nothing unusual about change in market quotations for crude oil. It happens a numbei of times a year without the stock mar ket taking the slightest notice of it. In this case. however, it was made to look unusual because of the rec ord-breaking demand for gasoline at the time. Accordingly, oil stocks were sold heavily, the word having been passed that it was the thing to do. Color was given to these lips by the fact that the day following the reduction by the California Pe- troleum company, Pennsylvania. Md Continent, Kentucky and other fields also announced reduc-i ions ihis was made necessary by the fact that while very little California oil finds it's way cast of the Rockies. diff rem t4al of p cents a barrel would make such deliveries pl ofitable and the re- ducticn, therefore. qulte naturally spread itself eastward,
 o O
 Two Kinds of Companies.
 It took 24 hours for Wall street to wake up to the fact that there are two kinds of oil companies, producers and refiners. That is to say. there are some companies that devote them selves almost entirely to the produc- tion Of crude and do little refining themselves, and others that purchase a large portion of their crude from outside companies and make most of their money from refining. The Standard Oil of Indiana and the Standard Oil of New Jersey are two a Il t.N. ,ttnt nte4e f,F lot fo, .,to as well as Sinclair. These stocks should have gone up because lower crude meant greater profit. just as any other industry benefits from low CT costs of raw material. Then it began to dawn upon some people that 1t was nothing to get excited abont anyway, and in due course it was laid away beside the federal reserve scare as market bogey
 There is no more reason now than there has been at any time in the re- cent past for considering an indus trial reaction imminent. Business is on q sound, substantial lt;isis, which must be the case when even Frank X. Nanderiip will admit it. Mr. Van derlip. if will be recalled. has for some time been overwhelmed by the condition of affairs in Europe and has been unable to see how this coun- try could prosper on it's own account
 
 despite the decrease in exports during January and February, general busi- ness is running to capacity. It may be noted in passing, however. that the preliminary. export figures for March indicate an increase of s42.- 100000. For the three months pre- ceding the slump had amounted to s350. .o00.0oo. There will in the course of time be q slowing down from all this activity. because we are now on eaeed in repairing war damage. It will take some time to accomplish however. more than the current year. IL would seem. for example. that the end of the building boom must be in sight, and yet March building permits fn 201 principal cities showed a gain Of bl per cent over March, 1922. or for the first quarter of 50 per cent. Estimates of total permits for new buildings and alterations issued dur ing the three months amount to $l,4n0 .0no. 0o0 Con sidering the fact that most of this will be expended in wages throughout the remaining nine months of the year it represents q spread of purchasing power that can nn h tir,., for