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Show WALL STREET WAS flRfl IN THE STRIKE SITUATION Market Not Disrupted by Threatened Trouble; General Business Conditions Are Favorable Favora-ble to Great Progress. By W. S. COUSINS, Editor The American Banker. NEW YORK'. Sept. 1'. Throughout all the discussion of railway and labor problems at Washington during the past weeks, Wall street has maintained an attitude of confidence in the ability of the conferees 1 to arrive at a satisfactory basis of settle- , ment. During all the accumulation of 1 unfavorable reports and rumors, and at times when railroad peace seemed most improbable of accomplishment, the stock I market never lor a moment lost its sense 1 of security, and any bear drive against j the railroad shares was quickly nipped in j the bud. The larger hanks and brokerage broker-age houses have kept a very close eye upon the situation, and, being constantly constant-ly In touch with daily and hourly developments develop-ments at Washington, have been in an excellent position to guide the movements move-ments of the market. Stork exchange authorities have advanced ad-vanced the opinion that rigid adherence to the principle of arbitration will be construed as a bullish factor by the holders hold-ers of railroad securities throughout the , country. Certainly no railroad security ; will be benefited by an absolute, surren- der to a demand for payment of a ten- j hour day for eight hours' work, and the consequent chance of obtaining less than eight hours' real work from employees who have but their own personal axes to grind. Moreover, should the demands of 400, OnO men be recognized on the scale of eight hours as a basic factor, the same 1 argument must necessarily hold good for I the more than I'.uuu.utji) other emplovees, who, while not so rigidly organized, are as necessary to the niainteiience of the public service. Earnings Satisfactory. Meanwhile, reports of earnings which have recently been made public have been j very satisfactory, the principal ones be- , ing Canadian Pacific, Union Pacific and , Pennsylvania. The net earnings of tbe I Canadian Pacific railwav for tiie past; year, ended June 3u last, were $19,22.-',-120, according to ihe road's annual financial finan-cial statement, mailed to shareholders. The gioss earnings were $129.41 ,fjS5. of which approximately fS(i,2.V.,0n0 went for operating expenses. Tiie directors announced an-nounced that "in consecpaence of the cx-t cx-t laordinary conditions created by the present war, it was considered advisable to posipone the effective date of the agreement entered into" between the road and the Allan Steamship company and the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, Ltd., fur t cquisliion by the last-named companv of the capital stock of the Allan Line now held by tbe railroad. It was stated that the ships will, however, be operated by the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services, Ltd. The Union Pacific svstem, in its financial statement for July, showed an increase in operating revenue of more than $1,290,000, while there was an increase in-crease in opera 1 ing income, after allowing allow-ing for taxes, of over $600,000. For the same period, tho Southern Railway reported re-ported an increase in gross earnings of $181,01)0, although net earnings over expenses ex-penses and taxes siiowed a decrease of over $S2.000. The Pennsylvania Railroad company announces that the quarterly dividend will be paid on August 31 to 00,772 stockholders. Tiie May dividend was paid to 94,169 stockholders the largest lar-gest number of stockholders of that company com-pany who ever received a dividend. Money and Business. Without doubt the most remarkable feat u re of the financial situation is the I continued ease in the money market, in I the face of the heavy demands for financ-1 financ-1 ing both from home and foreign sources. Within two days after subscription books 'opened for the new ?2o0,000.000 British ; two-year notes, the entire issue had been disposed of, and it is understood that the subscriptions greatly exceeded the amount of notes offered. This was one of tbe most successful offerings ever made in the American market, and established a new record in the disposal of a big security secur-ity offering. The rapidity with which important domestic do-mestic issues are absorbed is ample evidence evi-dence of the fact that American investors invest-ors and Institutions have funds in abundance abund-ance for the investments which appeal to them. While it is generally understood under-stood that there will be other substantial foreign loans before tiie" close of this year, the bond market, as a whole, has been quietly advancing. A t t his time of the year bond houses usually record the smallest volume of business during the twelve-month period, so that the present dullness Is no exception to the rule established estab-lished in the past. There has been an unusually heavy demand for municipal bonds during the past week, New York City issues in particular commanding more than ordinary attention as a result of heavy trading. Little New Financing. In bond circles predictions are made that there will only be a comparatively small amount of new financing by American Ameri-can corporations during the remainder of the current calendar year, partly because be-cause the maturities are few and partly as a result or the comfortable position enjoyed by most organizations as a result of the unprecedented prospciity that has prevailed during the past year and a half. Many corporations that would have experienced ex-perienced considerable embarrassment in meeting their financial requirements, have been placed in a sound financial condition condi-tion and are not in need of moneys other than the amounts that have been added to the working capital from earnings. Some companies have taken advantage of the betterment and redeemed parts of outstanding bond and note issues, and also established reserve fun-Is to insure against contingencies that may arise later on when business conditions are more normal. Reports from the Important business centers are highly encouraglnc, and in certain Industries there Is as much rush work as there was last year, with a total volume well above thai which ts usually seen at the latter part or August. The general trade outlook Is quite reassuring, reassur-ing, but will naturally be governed by the great world events, some of which are now clouded with uncertainty. Within With-in tlte last two years the United States lias come to be a world power in trade affairs, which means that it has new responsibilities and Is exposed to a variety va-riety of forces which were not influential influen-tial before. The continuing prosperity of our foreign trade is one of the most hopeful factors. It is evident now that Kurope will be forced to purchase heavily In the United States after the war ends. Negotiations under way show that this country will probably do a larpe business with Russia as soon as trade channels are opened. |