Evening star., 1924-02-10
FEAR OF CONGRESS
NOW LESS ACUTE
Wall Street Reassured Over
Railroad, Banking and Tax
Legislation Prospects.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


NEW YORK, February .s.-'Paying
, less and less attention to politics, the
stock market appears to be increasin-
ly disposed to look strictly to the fu-
ture or business, concentrating at
developments" says James B. Clews
In reviewing the financial situation.
He adds:
whether rightly or wrongly, the
fear of hostile political activity has
declined. Word comes from WASH
ington through authoritative chan
nels that nothing is to be expected on
the railroad question, due to the vari-
GUS divisions Of opinion which have
sprung up. and that even the Senate
likely to be able to muster enough
votes for any decisive action, even if
the controlling element could agree
upon program which it was willing
to adhere to.
bank Changes Held Unlikely.
on banking and currency the re-
port Is equally clear cut that nothing
VIII De done at the present session.
some unwise measures are expected
to- be reported in one house or the
otner. one of them next Monday, for
the revision of the national bank act,
put tnere appears to be no reason for
anticipating any action on them. As
80 ici eHce Win STOCK exchanges
or win speculation, that now appears
70 pc out of the question so far as
washington is concerned. unless there
should be some new phase of the
prospect not yet visible
On tax reform the chance of get
ting something that would be salts
factory Is quite as good as it has
been, even though it might be neces-
sary TO pass through a stage of con-
cession to various individuals who
want TO get what they regard as glory
by attaching their name or party
iabel to the proposed enactment. The
interesting thing is that the repub-
ilcan majority in the ways and means
committee has committed itself to a
definite taX-reduction bill. for early
passage through the House of Repre,
sentatives. Certainly the prospects
that some measure of relief will go to
the statute books this session are i'm
proving. This in itself is a highly
encouraging factor from the stand
point of general business
Bank Troubles Only Local.
Careful inquiry during the mast
week, both at Washington and else
where. has shown that the reported
trouble with the so-called North
western banks has been highly To-
caliZed and has no general irnpor-
lance: The action of the Secretary of
the Treasury in suspending the issue
OF savings certificates is little more
than concession to expediency. TAX
ing the country as a whole, banking
is in an excellent situation, while
the abnormally strong position of
the reserve system is emphasized by
the ratio reported for the past week
as 81 per cent SO extraordinarily
high is the holding of gold that re-
serve banks have now taken to diyid-
ing it into two parts, showing two
independent reserves, amounting to
over 100 per cent against notes, the
other of SO per cent or SO against de-
posits.
Public absorbtive power for securi-
ties is undiminished and the strong
position of the government is illus
trated by the rapid advance of liberty
bonds to point closely approximate
ing par in most instances. With
brokers loans held well down and
the banks keeping their lines of
credit within moderate limits, the
financial and credit outlook in most
of the states is uncommonly salts
factory"