FINANCIAL REVIEW OK 1893. 



297 



particularly so as regards corn, which was affect- 



ed liv tin- drought ill the summer. 'I'lic win-ill 

 r-r..|i'..r isillj was estimated at only :5!Hi, 1 31, 725 

 bu>hels, tin- smallest, since 1885. Com was esti- 

 mated at \M 1 9,495,181 busln-ls. only a little 

 laix'-r than in ixyo, although early in the season 

 the indications pointed to a much more aluin- 

 lant yield. The oat crop was estimated at 638,- 

 KT4,S.'i() bushel*. The inclination to plant cot- 

 t.'n was em-unrated by a better range of prices. 

 There were large stocks of wheat in nearly all 

 the countries of the world, and notwithstanding 

 the decrease in the crop in the United States, 

 the visible supply was large and prices were very 

 low in the fall months. The depression in the 

 cotton trade operated against the price of the 

 staple, and as the year closed it was selling about 

 two cents below the figures at the end of the 

 previous year. The agricultural bureau in No- 

 vember reported average prices by farmers and 

 giant ITS of the various staples as follow : Wheat, 

 2-1 cents per bushel against 62'4 in 1892 ; rye, 

 51-8 against 54'8; oats, 2-88 against 31-7; barley, 

 40'6 against 47*2 ; corn, 37 against 39'4 ; and cot- 

 ton, 6'99 cents per pound against 8'04 cents. 



Taking prices in New York. Jan. 1, if the 

 whole of the crops could have been laid down 

 at that point on that date, the values would 

 have been as follow : 



New England, Manhattan, Whisky, and Sugar, 

 and the tone \\as more or less favorably influ- 

 em-i-d by the temporary suspension of gold ex- 

 ports and by an improvement in the condition of 

 the bnnk->. (iradually the whole list advamnl. 

 and the tendency was generally upward until 

 mar the end of the month, when a bearish dem- 

 onstration upon Whisky, Manhattan, and Con- 

 solidated Gas had an unsettling effect upon the 

 market ; and the tone was heavy at the close, when 

 it was to some extent influenced by an unex- 

 pected renewal of gold exports. Selling of Whis- 

 ky by members of a disrupted pool had a dis- 

 turbing effect upon the general market early in 

 February, but soon after there was a recovery, led 

 by Manhattan, Cordage, New England, and the 

 Grangers, and a better feeling due to the news 

 that a few of the banks would exchange their 

 gold for legal tenders at the Sub-Treasury. Be- 

 fore the middle of the month, however, the mar- 

 ket again fell off, influenced by continued ship- 

 ments of gold to Europe, by the partial abandon- 

 ment of the efforts of the banks to relieve the 

 Treasury, and by the increasing gravity of the 

 currency situation. Western railroads were more 

 or less affected by the threatening attitude of 

 some of the employees, who were disposed to take 

 advantage of the necessities of the roads and de- 

 mand increased wages ; and severe storms in the 



Stocks. The unsettled feeling which pre- 

 vailed at the end of last year continued to grow 

 more intense during the first half of 1893, when 

 the panic occurred, and it was not until the pas- 

 sage by the House of Representatives of the Wil- 

 son bill, repealing the silver-purchase law of 1890, 

 that there was any substantial recovery in the 

 stock market, and then the improvement was 

 checked by the delay of the Senate in acting upon 

 the Voorhees measure. After this passed the 

 market was irregular, growing more active and 

 stronger until toward the end of the year, when 

 prices fell off, and the tone was unsettled by the 

 Atchison and the New York and New England 

 receiverships, and the market closed generally 

 lower. 



The feature of the market early in January was 

 selling of Reading, based upon evidence of the 

 embarrassed condition of the company, which 

 compelled the borrowing of $6,000,000 on col- 

 lateral trust bonds for the purpose of meeting 

 the floating debt and to provide for payments of 

 interest obligations, net earnings having been 

 diverted to other purposes. The stock was also 

 affected by the severance of the Central New 

 Jersey from the Reading system, in compliance 

 with the order of the Chancellor of New Jersey. 

 Toward the middle of the month there was a re- 

 covery in this stock and a reaction in the whole 

 market, due to rebuying to close out short con- 

 tracts, and the most important advances were in 



West promised materially to reduce railroad net 

 earnings. During the third week in the month 

 the feature was liquidation by the pool in Sugar, 

 which directly influenced the other industrial 

 stocks, and there was free selling of Reading, 

 the Grangers, Manhattan, New England, Gen- 

 eral Electric, and Chicago Gas, and at times the 

 market was panicky. On the 25th the Philadel- 

 phia and Reading road was placed in the hands 

 of receivers for the third time in its history, thus 

 confirming the rumors of financial embarrass- 

 ment which had been current since December. 

 The receivership was precipitated by the inability 

 of the company to pay a demand loan for $200,- 

 000, and by the suspension of payments of inter- 

 est on the third preference incomes. The an- 

 nouncement of the appointment of receivers was 

 followed by liberal selling of Reading, New Eng- 

 land, all the coal shares, and almost everything 

 on the list, and the business of the 25th was unpre- 

 cedentedly large, amounting to 1,476,283 shares, 

 of which 963,030 were Reading. The market was 

 quite feverish for the remainder of the month, al- 

 though there was a feeble reaction in stocks other 

 than the coal shares at the end, due to news of 

 the practical defeat of the anti-option bill and 

 also by easy money. In March the market opened 

 excited and lower, with Reading. New England, 

 Northern Pacific preferred, Sugar and Cordage 

 weakest, the first-named property being affected 

 by reports that the floating debt was $17,000,000; 



