Evening star., 1934-09-04
STRIKE AFFECTS
CHEMICAL SHARES
Hercules Powder Is Ex'
ample of Companies Max
ing Textile Products.
BY ]. G. DONLEY.
I YAirnatch "a The star

Special DISPATCH 70 Inc star
NEW YORK, September 4.-Tht
stock which suffered most in antici.
patton Of a general textile strike, ir
last weeks dealings on the New YORK
stock Exchange, was Hercules Powder
There is a seeming but not an actual
anomaly in this fact.
The Hercules Powder Co. is an ex-
ample Of the evolution which Is con-
tinually going on in the chemical
industry. 1t is no longer primarily q
powder company, for cellulose products
now comprise its main output, and
principal among these is chemical
cotton for the rayon industry.
As a general rule Wall Street does
not sell stocks-that is, aggressively-
on strike news. The reason probably
is that. from the traders viewpoint
the bad news is out when strikes are
called. It is considered that the worst
is known at the outset, and there Is
always the possibility that a settle
ment may be arranged overnight. leav-
ing those who are short of stocks out
on limb.
Represented on Big Board.
But there is always some liquida-
ton of long stock in advance OF
strike and it was natural for this to
be more evident in the chemical group
than elsewhere. The textile industry
is an important user of large num-
ber of chemical products in processing
and dyeing: Moreover, there are few
mill stocks listed, while the chemical
group is widely represented on the big
board.
Among the chemicals, Hercules Pow
der was off 5A points in last weeks
dealings, while Allied Chemical was
down 31a points, du Pont lost 2Hs ana
Mathieson Alkai Works declined l9s'
Among the textiles, Pacific Mills, on
a turnover of only 800 shares, was
down 21h points, industrial. Rayon was
of a point and Celanese Corporation
2 points. Consolidated Textiles, a
low-priced issue, actually gained 70. to
close at "a, or 871a cents a share.
Du Pont is similar to Hercules In
one sense-that it, in that explosives
were once its leading product account
ing for 40 per cent of total sales. But
du Pont has, Of course, diversified
much more extensively than the small
er company. In the order OF then
importance, its products are now or
ganic chemicals, such as dyestuf1sr
tetra ethyl lead for gasoline admix-
ture and ethyl alcohol, fabrics and fin
ishes, heavy chemicals and acids, cello
phane, rayon, commercial explosives,
electro-chemicals and chemical spe-
cialities, plastics, ammonia and am
monia products and sporting and mill
tary explosives.
Highly Diversified Also.
The strike will affect du Pont prin-
cipally in dyestuffs and rayons. AL
lied Chemical also is highly diversified,
with so per cent of its business in
heavy industrial chemicals. But sec
ond in importance in this company's
production are dyestuffs and other coal
tar derivatives, and it is also large
producer of caustic soda, which is used
in rayon manufacture. Union Car
bide is fairly out of the textile pic
ture, for its main products are indus
trial gases and carbon and carbon
products, along with number Of con-
sumner products.
Mathieson Alkai is smaller and
more specialized concern. AS one of
the largest domestic alkali producers,
1t is rather closely concerned with the
industries largely using alkalis, such
as rayon, textile and paper.
The chemical industry, In general,
Is rather sentitive to developments
which affect, favorably or adversely
almost any other industry. The rea-
son is that, while it sells very little
direct to consumers. it supplies thou
sands of raw materials to other major
industries Because of this widely
diversified market for its products, the
chemical industry has made a good
showing throughout the depression,
for its business, representing some
thing of an average of all industry,
has escaped the extremes.
Copyright. 1934)