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Show WEEK IE STRESS Slump in Columbus Hocking Coal & Jron Makes Street Nervous. AGITATION AS TO COST OF LIVING ALSO AFFECTS Feature of Final Session Is Heavy Trading in United States Steel. i BY RALPH EMERSON. Ry Leased Wire to The Tribune. -NEW YORK, .Tan. 22. This was an acute week in tho stock market and the tremendous influence exerted b-the b-the sixt3'-point slump in Columbus Hocking Hock-ing Coal and Iron was felt for many days.'- Coming so soon after the Rock Tslaud flurry Hie street is extromcly nervous under the possibilities of the future. Never in the past has the public, been allowed so clearly to sec the working hands of the big speculators in the street. The effect of this is feared. Coupled with this js the popular agitation agi-tation against lhc hig-h prices of necessities neces-sities o'f life, the attitude of tho government gov-ernment in retail roads and trust litigation liti-gation and the political controversies which have a ramifyiug effect upon Wall street. Strange to say. in the face of conditions, condi-tions, tho corporations report cheerful conditions and a bright, outlook for the future. Currcnc3' still continues to pour into Now York from the interior, and the Bank of England and the J3ank of Germany both reduced their discouut rates hall' of one per cent. Gross earnings of twenty-five railroads rail-roads for tho fourth week "in .December .Decem-ber amounted to .1H.-KH,90(). Arrangements Arrange-ments have been completed for an American loan of Sr.oTJO.OOO for the anKow-Szecliuen railroad, iji China. Dividends arc being declared in the Xicklc Plate assuming a three per cent drive upon its common stock and the United States Steel corporation planning plan-ning to issue an extra dividend of three-fourths, of one per cent upon its common stock. Tho name of .Tames Ii. Kecno is mentioned men-tioned conspicuously in connection with the collapse of Hocking Coal, but even if the governors of the cxehange should show up Ir. Keenc in the role of. a violator of a "gentleman's contract,'' he cannot be punished, because he is not a member of the exchange. The governor? have two investigations on their hands that of Hocking Coal and Hock Island. Hoching is the more serious se-rious for already four brokerage linns have collapsed with liabilities of ."rlGV OOO.fiOi). Hut aside from Wall street. 1 cannot see why nervousness would pre-ail pre-ail in the market. The industrial kings profess to see nothing but pros-penty pros-penty for years ahead aud reports from all directions are good. The. copper industry is playing an important part in the gcncral tonc of business. The demands for copper are good, but in face of them the output, last month was 2.), 000, 000 pounds less. The I'tah, Nevada, Amalgamated. Boston Bos-ton Consolidated and the C'ole-Rvan properties shared equally in this fiill-ofV. fiill-ofV. But this state of affairs is not natural. The contributing causes are tho litigation over the copper merger, scarcity of coal and the uupropitious weather, The railroad situation is not such ns to give the slightest alarm. The Uar-riman Uar-riman securities have been a little nervous nerv-ous over the government dissolution suit which will be pushed. But through the western states the most favorable conditions con-ditions prevail. The stock market rebounded two ways in the short session of trading today, first up and then down. Excited trail ing in United States Steel common, with nearly 20.000 shares changing hands at from '$7 lo was the feature. The strength of steel was due to tho report that an extra dividend of three-quarters of 1 per cent was to bo declared on the common and the supplementary report that the stock might be put on" a o per cent basis. , The tone at tho close was irregular, with net advances in many securities. Among Ihe stocks which closed higher were American Can preferred, up l:,s: Bethlehem Steel, up I; Delaware ifc Hud son. up '-': Tennessee Copper, up 'it National Lead, up ; General Electric, up . Generally speaking, price movements were narrow. There was an excited opening when lS.nOO shares of steel were dumped on the market, with steel then ranging (5 points from the low market, first three days' trading in the week. In Ihe first fifteen minutes I hero was a lively tone, with gains in Consolidated Gas, Utah t'opper. t'hesa peake A Ohio, I iiterborough and others. At the end of the lirst fifteen minutes steel still held slrong. but the balance nf Ihe market was not supporting it. ' Chicago, & Alton next claimed attention by declining .'! points. This was strange in the light of trading, as only 2t00 shares of stock changed hands. London was not. a factor in he early Iradiug. nrbit ration brokers doing no business at til. In the fifteen minutes steel fell 1 points. This issue was mainly dealt J in during the day. The sudden col- lapse after touching SO was due to professional pro-fessional selling entirely. The market ivould in all probabililv have ended bet-er bet-er than at any other time during the ivee.k. but for the sudden selling fren.y ii steel. This movement carried down ither stocks aud wiped out all the early ;aius. The effect, of the Hocking Coal col-apsc col-apsc was not felt upon the market to lay. Speculators were wining to leave in-1 a vestigations and punishments with the I governors of tho exchange and attend I to present, day's business. Cotton, advanced sharply during the short session of the cotton market, E which also helped materially. Government bonds were unchanged; railroad and oilier bonds wore firm. j Imports and Exports. Uy Associated TresH. u NKW YOUIC, Jan. '2. Imports of merchandise mer-chandise ami dry poods at the port, of New York for the week ending January i5 F were valued at $l-',SS'.o.'t5. I Imports of specie for the port of Now i York for the week ciuIIuk today were J ?5.lt7 silver and 5C2.P70 sold. I Kxnorts of specie from the port of New I York for the wcrk ending today were I $1,-103.200 KOld and $1, 103,'JOl silver. 2 |