Evening star., 1924-02-01
STEEL SHARESARE
|LEADERS IN STOCKS
Southern Railway and Mo-
tors Also. .stong-Weak
/ Spots Crop Out.
BY STUART p. WEST

Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, February 1.-lnde-
uendent steel shares were more prom
ihent than any other group IN the
stock market--today.
Bethlehem Steel, with rush across
90. reached the best prices since last
spring, Undoubtedly there was some
connection between this and the OF
fer of z per cent preferred stock to
employees. But more largely IL re-
fiected the recently published annual
report, showing that the per cent
dividend had been more than covered
In 1923, and following this the op-
timistic expressions in the steel out
look by the Bethlehem Steel chairman.
I Republic Iron and Steel. SloSs
Sheffield. Crueible and Gulf States' an
we're strong at best prices 80 aa
Reached on this movement. Nahaoiunl
Cornoration shares, which usually
move with the steels. were Drawn
along.
Motor stocks Also strong.
Motor stocks continued strong. al
though there was consideraple Zen
eral Motors for sale as 1t got apoNS
I6. Dupont touched new hlsh. wen
above i4O, and Chandler was strohs.
The advance extended for time TO
Mack Trucks, and Hayes Wheel was
hought again, despite the dlsappoint-
ing dividend actipn.
It was a field day for STOCKS OF tne
spectalty type. Allied Chemical was
hid up along with the American LIN
seeds, but for no fresh reasons Co
Iumbia Gas, across 81, stood at a new
high. Interest was revived IN East
man Kodak under buying ascrlbed 10
investors Although there has been
much talk about dissolution or the
pool In Cast Iron 1'tpe, the stock had
a sharp run-up.
United States Realty was another
feature because of it's relatively hlgh
Weld and the favorable outlook for
the construction industry. flelsch-
mann stock was bid up again, and so
was American Ice, the latter on the
usual ground of the mild winter ana
unfavorable effect this would nave
upon competing natural ice supplies.
Southern Railway Stili Higher.
Among the rails the rise In South
arm Railway common across ~ for
the first time was the chief incident.
Tihe Western Pactfics were bought,
not on account OF their own earnings.
which are only sufficient TO barely
but because of the advantage fore
seen from the joint operation OF the
Denver and Rio Grande. There was
some activity at rising prices In
Western Maryland second preferred.
but Wabash preferred A seemed to
run into lot of stock just above So.
After rallying somewhat at the
start, United States Rubber issues
and Kelly Springfield were heavily
sold, the latter getting down below
2S. Their weakness was the more
noticeable because of the strength in
the motor stocks. Reports were go
ing around that the Kelly Springfield
statement for 1923 would show a con-
siderable deficit.
Sterling Exchange Higher.
OF the developments favorably af-
fecting financial sentiment today, the
most important were the further in
crease in the federal reserve ratio.
the reporting out of the Mellon tax
plan by the ways and me6fls COM
mittee, with it's main features intact.
and the continued. recovery In ster-
ling exchange All these were al
legged as incentives to operations for
the rise on the stock exchange.
The ability of various copper pro-
ducing companies to combine IN
more stable financial basis for oper-
ations. has another. side to it. which
Is regarded as Important: The pro.
posed merger Of Ray Consolidated
and Chino Copper is a case In point.
The value of such combinations.
whenever they are satisfactory to
the government, lies In the effect on
total copper production. Compet!-
tion. to produce the metal. when the
world markets are flooding. is les
sened, and the result is helpful to the
statistical position.
OIL and Motor Gossip.
During the past week another in
crease in the prices of California
Crude OIL has been expected. follow
ing the o5-cent advance of about ten
days ago. OF approximately 100000
barrels Of crude oil produced daily in
the United States at least 100000 bar
rels come from California fields. and
as In the case of Mid-Continent Oil,
price increase in that section is ex-
tremely important.
The growing disposition to look
more favorably on the motor group
and the leadership of General Motors
were features again today. One COM
1nent made about Chandler was that
it was probable that 1.-The first stage
of the advance in Chandler may de-
velop at the expense of a short in
terest, with production and earnings
figures providing basis for higher
prices later on" The increase in
Cadillac prices was thought to be the
forerunner of further increases In the
list prices of General Motors models.