Evening star., 1924-01-28
NEW HIGH LEVELS
IN STOCK MARKET
Some Shares Also Break
Sharply as Weeks Trading
Opens in Wall Street.
BY STUART L. WEST.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK January 2S.-Another
powerful buying wave swept through
the stock market today, carrying up
y large number Of stocks to new
high prices and absorbing realizing
sales in other directions on Il very
big scale.
Steel stocks were held in check by
eleventh hour uncertainty OF What
was to be done at the United States
steel Corporation dividend meeting
Tuesday. Comparatively little hap
nened in the Coppers. and sugar
stocks felt the effect of protit-takng,
especialIy Cuba Cane preferred. ON
the other hand, American can ana
Studebaker rallied after being heavily
sold during the first hour or so.
Oil shares Very Uneven.
OIL shares paid little attention 10
he weakness in the -AmerlcahS
and Sinclair, which was due, OF
"ourse, to fears Of cancelIaiio OF
he oil leases made by these c"nlpa-
:,ics with the government lhorr
we're sharp advances ip high-prlccd
ssues, like Tidewater and Atlantic
;efning, and particular strenStn m T.,
;kelly, Shell Union and California
r'etroleum. Realizing sales were eX-
rremely heavy in Phillips Petroleum.
i'acific Oil and Standard OF California,
,et in the main We're well taken.
1t was a field day for stocks of the
linued its Xtraordinary advance.
National Lead sold at prices when
would only De justified by a cap1lal
.plit-up or some other form OF extra
distribution. The buying OF Eastman
Kodak which made that stock a Tea
Iure, was ascribed to investment "a
count. Pool SpeCialtleS which caIlc
n for attention included the Amerl-
AN Linseeds, Fleischm3nn, thlt@u
States Realty and Air Reduction.
In the last named the buying was
hased upon the calling in OF tn" last
$l,000,000 of per cent notes. "hICh
Fill leave nothing ahead 81 the stock;
Mail order Montgomery Ward
2nd Sears Roebuck-were actively
fought, and SO was Dupont and Ma
tional Supply.
Atchison Leads Rails.
Atchison was the leader of the
rails, with a remarkable advance Of
over three points. Earnings for 1873
'gill show between $li and Sl5 a share.
ut it has been repeatedly denied
tie last denial coming only lately
nat an increase in the dividend was
ontemplated. Atchison, however. Is
~olidly intrenched with IT'S present
. per cent, and this consideration has
pDarently appealed to investors
,oking for safety of income prtmari-
CONSPICUOUS weakness in the Viz
.inia Carolina Chemical stocks fol
! iDwed last week 5 collapse in the
bonds. One trouble here appears 20
"a that the capital account - not
roperly adjusted to what promises
% he permanently reduced income.
Nothing that happened in financial
and commercial affairs today equalt d
IN point of interest what occurred on
he stock exchange.
To the extent that the advance has
been the result of the employ-
neut in investment channels Of funds
piling up at the reserve ceRt"rSr II
is n healthy sign. The increase d &C
tivitiy at rising prices IN the hlSher
grade railway shares. in industrial
preferred stocks, and in other recoG-
lized investment issues undoubtedly
-epresents this money surplus pressing
uto the market.
OTHER Wild Trading Recalled.
But. on the other hand. to the On
cent the upward swing has been due
. speculating getting all the time
hoIder hacause of past successes. it
not a good t9ng. Nobody can
oolz upon such violent upbidding as
uas taken place in high-priced in
duStrialS and the rushing up, one
after another, Of stocks of the Spc-
Cialty type, without recalling the eN-
;rava gances of IL year ago and their
,eque!.
Moreover. granting that the buSi-
.'ess outlook is satisfactory, the data
indicates that the general volume is
-unning somewhat behind last Year
nd that in certain important lines
here is bound to be some falling of
n the demand. The danger is that
Inder the spur of redundant money
onditions, speculation in stocks may
5et too far away from the facts OF
he trade position.
An increase of approximately %
cents a barrel in California crud"
oil is looked for this week. Private
adviCes from the coast today were
that the quotations on California
crude would reach s. per barrel.
However. that seems remote to most
obvious in the street. Some thought
that i'm the event Of the cancellation
Of the government leases of naval
reserves il would react faVorably on
such companies as Pacific oil, ASso-
ciated Oil and Standard Oil of Cali
fornia.
1t has been estimated that so per
cent of the oil-producing acre age
under control of Pan American West
ern lies in the naval reserves fields
of California and that 30 per cent
Of the potential future production
OF this Pan-American subsidiary is
in that territory. Pan-Americau
Petroleum has spent $22,00O,000 in the
development of the naval reserve
fields and has planned to- spend
equally as much over a period of
years.
Buying of Montgomery Ward went
on consistently, partly because of
the highly favorable business of the
company and partly because of the
expectation of back dividend pay-offs
on the "A shares in the spring. In
1928 Montgomery Ward did d gross
business of apout $135.000, 900. an in
crease of nearly so per cent over
the 1922 gross, and net income also
showed decided Improvement.
CLOSE IS IRREGULAR.