Evening star., 1933-12-28
NEW YEAR BEGINS
| IN STOCK MARKET
Irregular" Transactions Are
Slated for Settlement Under
1894 Account.
BY GEORGE T. HUGHES.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, December 2s.-Today
the new year begins in the stock mar
ket. Today's transactions entered into
"in the regular way" will be settled on
Tuesday, January 2, and will go into
the 1884 account.
A report from Chicago yesterday had
1t that the Internal Revenue Depart
ment had ruled that stocks could still
be sold as usual on Thursday, Friday
and Saturday and the losses or profits,
as the case may be. could be reported
on the 1898 statement. but that story
and I'D to the end OF the week will have
10 be for "cash" II the results are TO
count on income tax returns this year.
This will lift burden from the mar
ket, which will be free to reflect the
business situation and the varying
opinion as to the future Of the dollar
as it would If speculation were allowed
free play, for traders are in too much
doubt about the extent Of the regulation
Congress Is expected to impose on the
Exchange to take large chances.
Motor Stocks Watched.
The motor stocks will be watched
with as much intere"t as any other
industrial group. Tley have stood up
all through the tax selling and one of
them yesterday even made new high
for the year. There is more confidence
about the immediate future of the
motor car business than there Is in
any other line of enterprise unless 1t
I@ q %hn bot &c
any guide. Something must be al
lowed for the usual demonstration in
the automobile shares that precedes
the show season, but aside from that 1t
Is impossible to visualize general re-
covery without prosperity for the motor
car industry.
November earning statements OF the
railroads coming to hand make good
impression. A compilation by Dow
Jones shows that the first 50 roads TO
report had a net operating income
aggregating s27,546000, against s22,-
CAT 900 in the same month year ago,
an increase of ZIG per cent. The total
was also an increase of 13.1 per cent
over November, 1881. The car loading
figures for December are equally en-
couraging.
Optimism toward the railway shares
figures were it not~for the doubt about
how maturing bond issues in 1884 are
to be refunded. Washington says that,
Congress permitting, the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation can do something,
but the bankers will have to carry most
OF the load 1t is added that inasmuch
as the Government has supplied the
banks with resources by the purchase
OF preferred stock, they are in a posi-
ton to help the railroads or any other
. industry that needs help.
Bankers May Disagree.
1t is not so sure that the bankers will
take this view. The extending Of long
term credit is not a proper function Of
a commercial bank. It belongs within
the field of investment banking, but in
vestment banking is under a cloud and
the distribution of new securities to the
public, except for municipal obligations,
is out Of the question as matters stand.
| Railroad maturities that have to be
! met in 1884 have been estimated in the
neighborhood of $480, 100000. a large
sum any way you look at it. The New
York Central and the Illinois Central
have sizeable maturities to meet within
| the next six months The former has
S48, 100000 of per cent debentures
falling due May and the latter $40
600, 900 of Az per cent notes due June l.
In normal times both are strong
roads and the stocks of both have been
leaders in such recovery as has taken
place in the railway share market, but
| that does not necessarily mean that
new bonds can be sold to the public.
1t may be that the railway and in
veStment outlook will have been clari-
| fed by that time and that private capi
tai can be enlisted on reasonable terms.