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Show big" Increase in sale of 6t0ck5 during 1915 United Slates Mas Novel Iixperiencc of Acting as Banker for Nations of Luirope; Wide Demand De-mand for High-grade Securities. By W. vS. COUSINS, I Editor The American Banker. Nl ;Vi VOUK, ' ii t, 31. '"'nmpfirfFOnfi nf i hi'i vf.ir's miIoh rf-nri! on tin"' j New Vurk Hi iic R fixrllttnKft with tlint or' laM rnr riveaJH tlio f : tint Tnr nil equivalent trailnC P'ilt.il thr- ,iv.t;i.i turnover of 191 r 1m n ' ( -).' Mian I o u li 1 ii that of 1914. 1'Yfi i n j '"i;i:iiy 1, .)), to July 30, when tlm e.x-r.t e.x-r.t w a? oi'.lrrel cloFpil, thn nuniher o:' .iutren .iflt In miis 4o,ll-t,70o. a monthly month-ly fivrrii.i;p of C.41),JU:i. 1'Yom .luinmry 1, IT'lo. to t'Jc;oi'.er ?7 of thin year, tlm roe-i oi v) is K.:'i;v70fl, a monthly "avej-aKo of iffirlv 1 l.iiriii'dOO f hares. j rr;iii,.ii'Mlon.( In bonds. In eo far n:t the Stoi-k erhnnsro list la concerned, do not show Mi'-h wldo rllvorqenco. In tlm first t seven months of 1DH, or until the clon- Ins of the exolio.njf, the avernpn month-Iv month-Iv tti mover of bonds was $(iO,72G,8r5, as 'ompared with a ten -month averase of J. TOT. 30 In Tho average high 1 rate nf ilie 40 "sr at IsiirnJ" loiula for this year i,s t.'r; j-nil ihr- low fil.tM. corn pii. red , with S'.'.l:' and N. tspet!'ely. In I'M'i. It shouM n.nt'd. Itowevnr, thft bond sales on th .stork e hiine. are but one, of tli inny tmnnrtant avenues for the dint r I hut ion ol t his tiann of pecnrltlea. MnnlelpH I l mh h. with t he exeption ol th New York L'lty corporate Bto-'k. Rrn no t 1 1 p i ed on tho ' ' b 1 1; boa rd . " No a c - rount ran here he, iiiken either of the :n:in millions of dollars' vortli of Anier-h'.n Anier-h'.n n bonds repurt'ha ,uH from Kuropean investors, or of the lame jniblle puhsi-rip- j tlons to tho "eternal credit loana" ot tli Kuropean nations. Other Loans Made. The Tatter ts a phnpo of tho financial situation whh'h fw investors have at. yet realized. Many pr-ople are distinctly! unaware of the fat that In addition to the nllie.s' riedlt lonn, American capita) Jinn been placel at tho disposal of the governments of Canada, Norwav, Rwe-den. Rwe-den. Swliicria nd. Germany, Italy and Russia, as well oh to a number of the Soma American republics. This Is a novel experience, for the people of this enuntry, but one which should prove very hpn'-flriaJ. In addition to providing new avenues for the employment of Ameri- ra n capital. It will be the strongest ln- entie to a inoro complete understand- i ln of the customs and business methods of nnr new d"htors. It Is stated that the ' foial amount of, our ne,w crftiit: to ten1 foreuru nations Is over $S2S,000.0nO, in 1 addition to which -we have purcliasel h. billion dollars' worth of the American securities se-curities which, prior to the outbreak of the war. reposed In the etronp; boxes of foreicn investors. There aro not no who claim that In addition to these, the Ameiban people have, either in cash payments pay-ments or by commodity exports, liquidated liqui-dated nearly on billion dollars' worth of miscellaneous debts held by Kuropean creditors. Ready Market Found. One of the most marvelous features of the present season is tho ease with which sales of American securities by European investors aro beinR absorbed here. The liquidation will probably continue, in a measure at least, during the entire war period; but It Is causing no apprehension and there is no reason to fear future disturbance dis-turbance from It. A good portion of the securities returned by Kurope within the last veer, variously estimated at from 5son.00,'M0 to Jl.0O0.0iHj.000, has been taken by the jri eat life insurance companies com-panies and other investment Institutions. This buying has heen of the best and indicates in-dicates that tho securities will not come upon the market axain for months. If not for years. it is believed In expert bankinir circles that as soon as the largo war Issues are out of the way there will he new financing undertaken on a large prale for the raiiroad and industrial companies. com-panies. Arrangements to that end have been under way for a long time. The time would seem to he opportune, as during dur-ing the whole of next yea r only ?500.-000,000 ?500.-000,000 in corporate securities will mature, ma-ture, as compared with $S60. 000,000 in the current year. Already a number of important im-portant industrial concerns, as well as prominent municipalities, are making plans to that end. Investment bankers from the important financial centers report that such has been the demand for high-grade securitie?! that In many instances it has been found difficult to meet this demand. This refers re-fers particularly to railroad, municipal and public service and utility Issues. The bond houses have, accordingly, turned their attention to securing a good supply of modemle-p,ized blocks of nrious bonds to meet the demand. thiiR Hiving the nmr-ke,t. nmr-ke,t. a stronger tune and a. docld'-dly active ac-tive appearance. .Special Isaues of bonds are at I racl ing much at i en tion, both on the pari, of private Investors and of Die hairka and financial inoUluttons generally. gener-ally. Steel Business Good. The financial district in the early part "f the week awaited anxiously the third qtiarierh' report of the l.'nited Si. ties Sti-o! corporation, which was made public pub-lic on Tuesday afternoon. Though dis--appointing to those who have. Ih-mi pr'--dl.'ting iiiiHrterly earnings of from fort five to ttlty milllniiH of dollars, the re-ord re-ord of tho giant st .et enmpa ny en.pha -sizes the in.irve.loiiH prosperity that 1s now being mijoyed by the Irmi and iee Industry. Tho teo) corporation curtied nearly thirty-nine ndlli n dollar:! ne! In the quarterly period ending Hep t ember '0, as corn pared with t w e n t - - e i 1 1 r millions mil-lions In the seennd quarter of 1016, and twenty-two millions tu th third quarter of 1014. After allowing for fixed rhargn and the dividend on the preferred Mo, k, thero was Wt a Mirplus of over clliin million dollars, an exeptionally favorable showing In this respect. A RtroiiK sidelight on ihr rising tide of prosperity In tho steel trado was tho net rarnlngs for tho month of Hcptember. wlilch amounted to ,VSA,Z'll this is t he larK cs, t mon t hi y total si nco M y of irt". In fact, the recuerv in wetlvltv and tho increase. In ear nines of the Steel corporation In the past yrar have, been e-traoidmary. e-traoidmary. Probablv never In tho history his-tory of tl.e bit; corporation lias there been sucli a remarkable transition In Its earn ins? power from comparative poverty to prosperity as has been shown hlnee the first of tho current year. Whereas a year aso t ho Income of the Steel eor-pomtlon eor-pomtlon was on a sharplv declining scale as a result of the war, in recent months it has been moved even faster In the other oth-er direction for the same reason. A veritable ver-itable flod of orders for the steel that Is going Into munition making and war orders, as well as tho Increased railroad and other demands, has accounted for the phenomenal improvement. Recovery Unprecedented. In tho October ojuarter of last year net earnings dropped to $C'J.27fi.O0O and the directors reduced the common stock dividend divi-dend to a 'J per cent basis, coinpured with a previous annual rate of 5 per cent. At tho same time Judge Gftxy declared that tho step was necessary on account of business conditions. In tho December quarter net earnings dropped to $10.33f.-toO, $10.33f.-toO, the lowest In tile history' of the corporation, cor-poration, whereupon the directors deemed it advisable to pass the common Mo. k dividen-K That was done at the .January mectim?. Since 1hn tl recovery in earnings has been unprecedented. The -Hteel corporation lias srradually Increased its output, first to 00 per cent of capacity, ca-pacity, then to 70 per cent, and lately to 93 per cent, or full capacity. Neither surprise nor disappointment was shown at the action of the directors in passing, for the present, the dividend on the common stock. If the present record can bo con 1 1 nurd, it Is not unlikely un-likely that the dividend will be ordered resumed at the next quarterly meeting, which takes place on January 26, 191 tj. West Is Prosperous. There is no doubt of the Increased activity ac-tivity of general business in all sections of the west. The past three weeks have brought larger pains In sales by manufacturers manu-facturers and jobbers than any previous time this year. Those who have been complaining of "slowness" now tako a cheerful view of the situation and report re-port increased sales. Sentiment is decidedly de-cidedly better, which has assisted In making mak-ing the tone heal tiller. Activity In the steel trade and the advance In grain C rices have had the most to do with ringing about this better feeling. More buyers for all kinds of goods are being heard from and. with larger orders, there Is a visibly greater distribution of merchandise. mer-chandise. The bank situation favors this movement. move-ment. The city of Chicago alone shows an approximate Increase of STO.iXiO.OO in bank deposlLs between September 2 and October 20; this haa never been known to occur before in recent history. It has swelled tho total deposits In Chicago to high record figures, $1,200,000,000. Last October it was the war scare which induced in-duced Interior banks to withdraw deposits. de-posits. That has not been the case at all this year. Such deposits 'of other banks are now about J26O.O0O.flO0 larger than at this date of last October and S2rtrt.nan.ne-0 above two years ago. |