Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-26
MEN AND MONEY
By NJ. S. Rukeyser.
Copyright. 1927

an IT'S D1Silly SeieCJlVe CnEf dCtSTs Iho
stock market is currently mirroring
conditions in the world of business.
The current prosperity is being en-.
joyed primarily by the big and efficient
producers and distributors rather than
by business men generally, as was the
case during the war prosperity and
during the subsequent post.arnlistice
imitation. Operators in the stock mar
ket sense the extraordinary competi-
tive character Of present day business,
and are wisely enough attempting to
show high degree Of discrimination
In their attitude toward particular is
sues. There is. therefore, no uniform
ity TO stock price trends. In single
session some stocks reach new peaks
for the year, whereas others simulta-
neously sink back to the lowest levels
thus far attained in the present specu-
lative cycles.
Continued Easy Money.
There is, however. one dominant
theme in the current speculative over
ture. and that springs from the factor
OF continued easy money. Long-term
interest rates are still declining. The
effect of the falling wages of capital
is to be found not only in the rise of
bond quotations but also in the prices
or stocks which possess investment
merit. Shares whose dividends depend
on a continuance of a high level OF
prosperity are not as sensitive to the
influence of changing level of in.
terest rates as high grade shares
whose dividends seem assured IRE
Specuve of prospective changes in
business conditions. The shares Of
the strongest railroad and public util-
ity companies and a few of the pre-.
mier industrial stocks are conspicu-
ously in this class.
In the industries, with few excep-
tons, the current period is notably
favorable to the earnings of the larg
est and most powerful company. Ac-
cordingly, spectators are disposed to
single out the shares of such COM
panies and to switch to them from
weaker holdings. The wholesale
switching helps to explain strength in
one direction and weakness in another.
The strong railroads are favored not
only because of the factor OF interest
rates but also because 1t Is felt that
even If industrial profits slump the
RAILROAD will continue to get large
volume Of freight to carry. There is a
tendency in business to keep up vol
ume at the expense of profits. AL
though that policy may be reflected
in reduced industrial earnings II will
not seriously affect the income of the
railroads, which, with their fixed
rates, are primarily concerned only
with the physical volume of goods
moved.
A market, subject to a variety of
cross currents. is g. particularly haz-
ardous one for the unframed lay
operator.
Struggle for Patronage.
In the new and heightened competi.
ton there is a struggle among com.
modities for the patronage of con.
sumers. In sense, automobiles COM
pete with expensive fur coats, and
there is still more direct competition
among coal, Oil and water power.
Recently there has been a slump in
the consumption of white lead as
pigment in paint as a result of the
increased use of zinc oxide, which
was offered at an attractive quota
ton as a result Of price war in that
industry.
Incidentally. the development of
new fuels since the war has been at
the expense of coal, which has lost
out to a. degree.
While the coal industry continues
to dissipate its energies in squabbles
between capital and labor. other in
dustries have learned that co-opera.
ton is a form of conservation. There
are no present indications, however
that a breach will be prevented on
April l between operators of union
lied soft-coal mines and their workers.
Nevertheless the scientists have
been active. The way has seemingly
been found TO produce artificial pc
troleum out of coal.
The process has been invented by
Friedrich Bergius, a German, whose
hackers now are erecting two plants
in Germany to manufacture artificial
petroleum.
Herr Bergius has been carrying on
experiments along this line since 1910.
Transforming Coal.
The object of the so-called Bergian
process is to transform coal. which
is a solid, and hydrogen, which is a
gas, into a liquid by combining them
in a container under very powerful
pressure and an exceedingly high but
absolutely constant temperature.
According to the Berliner TagebIatt,
up to the present petroleum has been
produced in quantities by the Bergian
process only at the experimental COM
mercial plant at Rheinau. Coal paste
and hydrogen are delivered simultane-
ously to the heat.raising retort, which
contains a mixer for producing the
closest possible mechanical conlbina-
ton OF the two substances. From this
1t Is pressed into the reaction retort.
where 1t remains until II is converted
into petroleum products. The latter
are then conveyed to a receiving vat,