Evening star., 1924-07-25
WALL STREET LIST
HIGHEST At CLOSE
Mail Order Stocks Extra
Strong on Advances in
Commodities.
BY STUART =. WEST.

Special Dispat tch to The Star.
NEW YORK, July 25.-The stock
market ignored every piece of un-
favorable news and gave one or the
most impressive demonstrations OF
its bullish character that has beer
seen since the beginning of the
present advance. The passing of the
dividend on the common stock OF
the largest independent steel com
pany and a series of poor railway
monthly traffic statements would
have been depressing influence ir
technically weak stock market. But
today'S market maintained its op-
timistic attitude toward the future
and showed the effects of an increaS-
ing overflow of surplus money into
investment and speculative channels
Railway Shares Very Strong.
The gains in the railway section
exceeded as a rule those in the in
duStrial quarter In fact, the rails
went ahead with little interruption
to the highest prices so far in 1924
Nothing in the June or first six
months revenue statements could ac-
count for this. Gross and net in the
majority of cases Were lower in Junt
than they We're in the same month
last year. The one redeeming feature
of these reports was the apparent re-
ductionS in expenses which some OF
the carriers were able to show. Della
ware. Lackawanna and Western
Lehigh Valley, Baltimore and Ohio
and Chesapeake and Ohio were among
the strongest.
These include the coal-carrying
roads which recently have been ia
rored. Union Pacific reached new
top and 50 did Pittsburgh and West
Virginia and Chicago and Northwest
ern. Pittsburgh and West Virginia
was one of d number of stocks repre-
SentlnS companies which are believed
to be involved in merger negotiations
The copperS and sugars were in
especial demand. Kennecott Copper
got to its best price for the year and
cerro de Pasco and Anaconda also
down sharply, but later the stock re-
bounded. The sugars. with Cuba Cane
Sugar preferred in the lead, also Were
bid up rather sharply
SpeclaIties Very Active.
There was Il large list of specialties
which either surpassed their previous
hlghs or were in persistent demand
They included Texas Gulf Sulphur
William Wrigley, Peoples Gas OF
Chicago. Cuyamel Fruit, Park &
Tilford. Reynolds Tobacco B." Inter.
borough Rapid Transit and Montgom
cry Ward, Wilson & Co. stocks and
bonds broke badly on reports of ar
impending receivership, which were
denied. The oils were active again
most of them at higher levels Trans.
continental Oil made new top fol
the present move. while the Pan
Americans were unsettled.
Operations for the rise went OF
with little interruption in the after
noon. There was partial slow dowr
as the final hour began, but there
followed another wave of buying
This took in practically the entir,
llSt. Particular attention was paiC
to the American Agricultural Chemi
cal shares and to the stock of mail
order companies.
Mail-Order Stocks Gain.
Their upturn was the result Of tn,
sharp advance in commodity prices
and reflected the improvement in tn,
buying power of the farmers, VIII,
need and can now pay more readil,
for the things these companies pro
duce.
cuba Cane Sugar was feature il
the late trading. Atlantic Refining g
on the other hand, sold off in antici
patton of the passing of the dividend
early in August. Atchison broke be-
low 105. as against it's final of 1861
on Thursday. There was nothing tc
account for the drop in this stock
Western Union went ahead briSkly
and so did Consolidated Gas.
Bethlehem Steel selling was due, in
part, to the covering-in of short con-
tracts, which had been put out in an
ticipation of just such action was
taken. Bethlehem earned only II
cents a share on the common in the
second three months, compared
with S1.91 a share in the first quar-
ter. 1t would have been necessary to
draw upon surplus to make the quar-
terly $1.25 disbursement at this time
Gulf Sulphur mt Peak.
The upturn in Texas Gulf Sulphur
carried that issue to it's highest for
Gulf has been based upon the
likelihood of an increase in the reg
ular cash dividend rate. At present
the stock pays Sc. 1t has been the COM
pany's policy to distribute extras
The Street looks for either a 81 or ss
regular rate at the forthcoming
me- ting of directors.
Cuba Cane Sugar preferred's rise
was in anticipation of generally i'm.
proved sugar trade conditions, but
at least s1.75 quarterly dividend
declared at the next meeting Specula.
tive interest in the sugars has in.
creased materially the past week.
Conditions affecting money are moi
normal, as the most casual examina.
ton of the weekly statement of the
Federal Reserve Bank shows Tota
gold reserves now stand at the higf
of the year, S3.16o, 900, 600 More sig.
nlhcant stlll, the gain this week Of
$7,000,oO0 compared with gain o.
the whole year of only $4,000, 900
At the same time discounts and cir
culation have dropped to new low
points. 1t will take extraordinar,
business expansion to make much i'm
preston upon these huge accumula
tionS.