Not So Big?

Never during the campaign did Wall Street seriously entertain the possibility of Democratic victory. At the last, confidence in Republican success held the stockmarket firm, gave particular strength to public utility stocks. In the pre-election session, Commonwealth Power advanced 2 1/2 points to a new high of 89 3/8. Close behind were Columbia Gas, Consolidated Gas, American and foreign power.

For the fifth successive week, brokers' loans, last week, reached a new high, mounted to $4,907,164,000. A year ago, they stood at $3,371,705,000. Traditionally, rises in the total of brokers' loans are viewed with alarm (TIME, July 23, et seq.). Reassuring, therefore, were the figures quoted by able Statistician Charles H. Platt (Prince & Whitely, Manhattan investment house), in the bullish Wall Street Journal. Wrote Statistician Platt:

"If all of the securities in the United States were available for brokers' loans, the total value would be close to $150,000,000,000, or more than 30 times the latest brokers' loan figures. . . .

"Many companies have been able to sell stocks to the public when new financing was necessary, whereas prior to the last five years, it was customary to finance with bond sales. . . . This enormous expansion in publicly owned securities could not have been accomplished without . . . borrowed money.

"New financing has been another cause for the great expansion in brokers' loans. New securities in the U. S. . . . from January 1, 1924, to date have totalled over 38 billion dollars. Brokers' loans are approximately 12% per cent of this new financing for the five-year period.

"In relation to brokers' loans, another factor for consideration, in computing their relative size, is the number and value of new listings. In the period from Jan. 1, 1924 to date, there has been nearly 23 billion dollars in new security listings on the New York Stock Exchange. The relation of New York brokers' loans to these listings is under 20%."