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Show SECURITY 'PRICES GO DOWN; SPECULATION AT LOW EBB Little Outside Buying in Wall Stieet and jthe Bankers Do Not Encourage the Brokers By BROAD AN WALL By I ernat onal In ewe Pen Ice NEW YORI Dec 17 T e stock mar kets s agnate, ''pecu atlve activity Is elt e dravn by tie od fashioned oco mo e pub ic In e est o the nodern moto t e electr c tiactor of man pu a t on O ts de buying rare v fol ow a dull o dec n ng mar et and ntll fc earn has ac cumulated be nd pub c den and no in c ease n bus ness can be expected Man pulatlon ge s ta power from tbe th rd ral of bank ng lnte ests and tbe curre t as been urnec off for the time be ng In fact a 1 activity on e floor of the ecbanise is under careful scruti y a d every effort s be ng made to pro oecd v, t a duo retard for safety first R mor had t that stoc c exchange off dais e ta dng unusual means to In sure normal cond tlons I pecu atlon un 1 1 the sltuatio a ould Improve Floor traders woo dloan y Svou d lead a pro cesslb or head a retreat are hand capped by the add t onal tax recently Imposed bv tnefede al government. Afraid of thp Risk I tl Ink Steel w 11 go down, said a trader today and if you wl give me $4 for taxes and $1 for c earance I wl 1 sell 100 si ort, but without a guarantee I am afraid of the r sk The absence of the floor t ader b lngs wide variations in pr ces Un on Pac fc moved a half po nt be tween sa es ad dropped 1 per cent on t e turn o er of 1000 shares Trading was exceed ngly limited w th several periods during the day when no pr ces were recorded. Central leather led n po nt of act vlty ft d advanced f om 2bb to 381 c os n at the top Di ecto s meet next week to act on t e d dend and one n ember of the board stated t at w e tho companj was ful y able to put the stock on a 4 per cent bas s e ex peoted that a 8 per cent rate woud be naugurated i Traders were a 1 tt 9 chary of the movenlent and the actl lty vas de elded y out of proport on for the day's bus ness Beet Sugar was stro g ad van ng to a new h gh figure of 30& r ade -eports of th s Industry are de elded y opt n 1st c International Issues Dull International Issues were dull and s lght y hea t but tho olume of bust ness was too small to g ve any d rection to trad ng Louis 1 le Sc Ivas vi le was unchanged at 12o on the announcement of the reduction n t e dividend rate from 7 to 5 per cent Wall street lo In a c rlous 1 ame of m nd when decreased ral road dlsb rsements are not cons d ered bear sh factors Stock exchange of c a s were Interested In a rumor that Go ernor e ect Whitman would, fa or tbe abol Ion of the state tax of 52 per hundred on stock sales This Is almost too good to be true Bonds were dul and 1 eavy In spots The arrival of a European maJ was re spons ble for cons de ab e se ng of in ternat onal ssues Wl en these bonds we e d sposed of the marke stead ed t e ose be ng n many cases firmer Consol dated Gas convertlb e 6s were heavj dropp ng to 1101 Coppe bonds we e notab y strong |