Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-03
BY STUART r. WEST.


! Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. July 3.-Prices con-
tinued to work higher on the stock
exchange this week. But while there
have been some notable advances
, and while some new high records
, have been made for the year, no in
| crease to speak of has occurred In
the volume of trading.
In this sense. II Is still proper to
| say that the market is not in the
| position 1t was eight or nine months
ago. There are no strings of 2,000.-
000-share days. with a total occa-
sionally exceeding the 100000 mark,
as was the case last Autumn.
Huge turnovers indicate the pres
ence of the public on a large scale.
| Many in Wall Street still think that
the outside following will not much
| longer be able to resist the lure OF
| rising prices. But so far the mill
| lion.and-a quarter share totals, which
are about the average in the
| recent trading. have suggested little
| more than a somewhat expanded pro-
fessional market. one in which the
| buying originates mainly in pro-
| fessional quarters and in which fresh
| outside participation is not large.
Bonds and Commodities Dull.
Bond men complain that their bust
| ness has fallen off and attributed it
| to the superior attraction of the
stock market. 1t seems impossible
| to rekindle interest in cotton. Other
commodity markets. like sugar and
copper. are very dull and in com
parison with the big fluctuations
| which are so often seen at this sea
son in the grain trade, the present
| fluctuations in wheat and corn are
narrow. In word, most of the
activity in the financial markets has
centered in stocks.
There is one notable exception. how
ever, and this is the movement in
French francs. The break to the low
est for all time has been accompanied
by some activity. But still the deal.
ingS in the franc are small in contrast
with the great international specula-
ton Of March, 1924. One of the fea-
lures about the fall in the franc is
that there is no charge, the way there
was two years ago, about outside
manipulation playing part. 1t seems
to be recognized that the weakness Is
due to actual selling in market
| which has no official support and from
which private capital is standing
aside.
AS ii looks from an American stand
point, the recent changes in the Paris
bank personnel, despite all assurance
to the contrary. are paving the way
for use of the Bank of France gold re-
serve to support the franc in case other
measures fail. And the international
financial community has no faith,
after the experience of the last three
years, that the French people will sub
NIT to a program of tax increases suf-
ficiently drastic to bring about
an equilibrium.
Belgian Franc Suffers, Too.
II is all very we'll to talk about dip
ping into the gold reserve only with
the greatest care, but experience has
shown that where this expedient is
tried further dilution of the paper cur
rency is probable. The gold founda-
ton upon which the paper circulation
is supposed to rest cannot stand any
weakening under circumstances in
which France is in at present. In the
meantime each decline in the franc i'm
plies a larger demand for new notes,
because on account of the deprecated
value 1t takes some increasing
amount to do the bushes of the coun-
try.
The Belgian franc is in the same