300 



FINANCIAL REVIEW OF 1893. 



of the Lackawanna was sought in the interest of 

 the Vanderbilt trunk lines, and then Lake Shore, 

 New York, Chicago and St. Louis, and Michi- 

 gan Central sharply advanced, stimulating an 

 improvement in the whole list. The tendency 

 of the market was very decidedly upward until 

 the 30th, when realizing sales, bearish pressure, 

 and European selling brought about a decline, 

 and the market was irregular at the close of the 

 month, although the repeal bill passed the Sen- 

 ate on the evening of the 30th, and it was con- 

 curred in by the House on Nov. 1, when it was 

 signed by the President. The failure of the 

 London market to respond to the news of the 

 passage of the bill encouraged bearish demon- 

 strations upon some of the specialties, notably 

 Louisville and Nashville and Chicago Gas, and 

 the tendency was downward until the 8th, when 

 there was a sharp recovery, stimulated to some 

 extent by news of the elections, and it was 

 claimed that the decided Republican gains in 

 Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts indicated 

 a popular feeling against tariff revision. When 

 the short interest in the market was closed out 

 prices fell off, and then the bears operated 

 against the stocks of Western roads on the the- 

 ory that, the World's Fair having been closed 

 on Oct. 31, the railroads would show a decided 

 falling off in revenue for the succeeding months. 

 The tendency was irregularly downward, with 

 General Electric, Reading, Sugar, and Louisville 

 and Nashville weakest, until the 20th, wheh there 

 came a recovery. The coal shares were favor- 

 ably affected by a strike of employees on the 

 Lehigh Valley, on the theory that this would 

 restrict the output of coal ; the Grangers were 

 influenced by a smaller decrease in earnings 

 than was expected; Sugar, Chicago Gas, and 

 Western Union improved in consequence of 

 manipulation ; and General Electric was about 

 the only really weak stock. The bullish feeling 

 was encouraged by indications of an improve- 

 ment in general trade reflected in an important 

 auction sale of domestic dry goods, and also by 

 the extremely easy market for money, which in- 

 duced investment purchases. On the 27th the 

 news of an agreement by the Democratic mem- 

 bers of a subcommittee of the Ways and Means 

 Committee of the House of Representatives upon 

 a tariff bill had a specially disturbing effect upon 

 Sugar and the other industrial stocks, the bill 

 providing for a reduction of one half in the tax 

 upon refined sugar, the gradual abolition of the 

 bounty upon raw sugar, and important changes 

 in the tax upon lead and cordage. But the 

 market soon reacted under the lead of the 

 Grangers and other railroad properties, and the 

 tone was generally strong at the close of the 

 month, and one feature was a good demand for 

 railroad mortgages and dividend-paying stocks 

 for investment. The tendency was irregularly 

 downward early in December, influenced by re- 

 alizing and speculative sales, disappointing traf- 

 fic returns of important railroad lines, and evi- 

 dence of an increase in business depression. 

 There were rumors from London that the Atchi- 

 son, Topeka and Sante Fe would be placed in 

 the hands of receivers, and until this story was 

 officially denied the stock and bonds were free- 

 ly sold. But on the 23d receivers were appoint- 

 ed. The catastrophe was precipitated by the 



death on the 20th, of Mr. George C. Magoun, of 

 Baring. Magoun & Co., the fiscal agents. The 

 suspension of the St. Nicholas Bank, on the 20th, 

 had a disturbing effect, encouraging vigorous 

 demonstrations by the bears, and during the clos- 

 ing days of the year the whole market was 

 weak. The New York and New England was 

 placed in receivers' hands on the 27th, and this 

 stock and Atchison fell to the lowest prices on 

 the 30th. 



Total sales of stocks at the New York Stock 

 Exchange for 1893 were 80,977,839 shares, against 

 85,875,092 in 1892 : 69,031,689 in 1891 ; 71,282,- 

 885 in 1890, and 72,014,600 in 1889. 



The following table shows prices of leading 

 stocks at the beginning of the years 1892, 1893, 

 and 1894: 



The following shows the highest prices of a 

 few of the speculative stocks in 1892, and the 

 highest and lowest in 1893 : 



Foreign Exchange. The imports of mer- 

 chandise for the year ending Dec. 31, 1893, were 

 $64,185,274 below those for 1892, and the ex- 

 ports of domestic and foreign merchandise were 

 $62,272,637 less. The excess of merchandise ex- 

 ports over imports for the year was $99,402,342, 

 against $97,489,705 for 1892. The excess of ex- 

 ports over ijnports of merchandise, coin, and 

 bullion for 1893 was $134,362,942, against $170,- 

 820,397 for 1892. Gold exports were $7,001,965 

 in excess of the imports in 1893, against $59,081,- 

 110 in 1892. 



