Evening star., 1924-03-04
STOCKS co lower
IN TRADING TODAY
American WooIen Weak After
Report-Leather and 0i!
Shares Drop.
BY STUART p. WEST.


NEW YORK, March 4.-The state
ment was made ten days ago that
Wall street, after three and a half
months of advance and the snarp
break early in February. was in for
2. trading market, that Is, for period
OF narrow professional speculation.
This has been borne out by subsequent
events, and it was quite true again
today. Some stocks were pressed 1or
sale. while others were bought. In
the majority of the list, the DRIFT
was downward.
sAmerican Wooden opened up
POINTS in expectation OF 1aVordoie
report which came out at noon. Inc
actual figures were Disappointing.
The street had been talking aoou.
$40 for the common stock. whereas
tbe surplus after preferred dividends
turned out to be $S.24. Ihe oalaHce
.heet. with it's heavy addition 10 IN
ventories and it's decrease IN ASH;
was not calculated to make a soou
inruression. American Woolen stock
hrake sharply Immediately after the
appearance of the statement
Central Leather Very Weak.
THE Central Leathers made new
low records The market has not got
over the shock occasioned by the an
NAL report showing the prof1t ano
lass deficit Increased by $7.000,O00 to
a total of over $12.ooo.ooo. For a
time in January it appeared enth ana,
hide and leather prices had quite
substantial recovery. But the latest
reports are that this improvement
has been checked and that conditions
in the leather trade are no longer as
promising as they seemed to Dc
month ago.
Oil shares were sold again on the
fdea that the upshot of the Wash
fngton Investigations may be the
adoption of legislation providing LOT
government supervision OF the lnous.
try. Also there were reports OF salt
water and consequent pinching In OF
wells in Mexico. The bad break IN
Pierce Oil preferred was another
complicating factor. Selling was
rather heavy for time In STANDARD
Oil of California, Pacific Oil. Cosden.
Marland and the Pan-Americans. but
It let up later in the day.
n. and w. Again Advances
The only railway stock that de-
veloped any activity was Norfolk and
Western, which was bought by peo-
pie who were impressed by the prooa-
bility of Pennsylvania guarantee
which would make Norfolk and West
ern come ahead of Pennsylvania
bonds. Another strong feature was
New Orleans. Texas and Mexico
which crossed par for the first time
this year. The 1923 earnings. show
gest a solid basis for an advance IN
the dividend, which stands at present
at per cent. But with the acqulsi-
tion Of the International Great North
ern a further expansion in earnings
is looked for.
The one good point in the Ameri-
can woolen balance sheet is the item
Of $5,5O0.00O set down to special re-
900 the year before. The appropria-
tion of this sum was evidently made
to protect the company against losses
in it's purchase of raw materials. On
the other hand, certain other COM
parisons are not SO favorable. Cash
has come down over s2.000.000. and
inventories have increased from $751;
100000 to over $56,000.00O.
Pierce Oil Preferred Breaks.
Pierce OIL preferred broke badly.
selling several points under the final
price of last Saturday. and more than
Is points below the recent high. Just
lately certain banking interests were
reported to have withdrawn from the
company, but nothing has been heard
regarding the projected sale of Pierce
Oil assets to a stronger oil company,
as has been rumored from time to
time in the last few months. The
last annual statement and the report
for the six months ended December 81
showed Pierce Oil operating at a
deficit. but it has been reported that
operating and earning conditions had
turned for the better.
Mack Truck directors today voted
the regular 112 per cent quarterly
dividend on the common stock, which
was what well informed persons ex-
pected. The company's 1923 report
will not be out until next week. Cur
rent estimates are that 1t will show
slightly better than $50 a share.
Much of thes time today United
States Cast Iron Pipe did little more
recently. and it was apparent that
temporarily at least the campaign
which has been conducted In this
speciality had quieted down. 1t is
rumored that an attempt will be
made to secure a reversal of the re-
cent court decision and that Cast
Iron Pipe common eventually will be
split up, thereby increasing the float
ing supply. which at present Is excep-
tionally small and easy of manipu-
1ation.
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