The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-05
rHE GRE1T RAILRO1D Kry0.
Jay Gould schrmina TO Succccd Him-Carry
ing Costly Load.

| THE GREfT RfffRO4D HTN0
|
| jay Gould schcmiug TO Succccd Iiim-Carry-
ing n Costly Load.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-cfr. II IL
admitted by intimate friends and relatives OF
! Commodore Vanderbilt that his condition Ia
critical, and that recovery - his former ne It'll
II, to say tho least, doubtful. His Illness 4. not
| brought about by over exercise, nor Il It OF an
epidemic character. but IL the result of COM
plcation OF discusses ~ n chronic nature. Ills
constitution, weakened by ace and undermined
| by the insidlous working OF these maladies, h ~
given way, and little short OF a miracle can again
| restore him TO the enjoyment OF perfect he attn
Commodore Vanderbilt is, probably, tho
weathiest man In the United States. Unlike
Aston and Stcwsrt, but a short time ago his
| richest compac g, his fortune consists In tho
| main OF stocks and bonds. IL Is easy To see,
therefore, that wall street receives every item
Of intelligence concerning his health with no
culiar aviiity, anu that the Probable effect Of hIs
death upon the stock market Is anxlouslv DIS
cussed by investors mud ebecuatois. New V rk
Central, Hrrlcm, Lake Shore bond, aud Cannda
Southern stock and bonds, are the principal
| holdings Of the Commodore. although he has
! some Western linton stock, AMI perhaps a few
| thousand shares OF Lake snore and Mich gan
Southern. For years pack ne has constantly IN
| vested MIS- great income In New York Central
| stock certificate, which he has taken out of
loan them to y rites who SCI. Central snort, and,
as the supply OF stock In Wall street has steadily
diminish ed. tho price nus advance d.
The only partv who IA at present heavily short
| Of New York Central, SO Tar "a known, IA tue
Qomnodore's willy and forrnid Die antagonist,
| Jaw GOuid. The amount which no II short of IL
variorsly estimated at from 2O,GO to l1OOO
shares. IL is probtble that = gRUrs between
| these two estimates would be approximately
correct viz 5000 shares. A large y rt Of this
snort interest was put out by Gould lust after
the ptnic Of 1873 and In the curly part OF 1874,
| These sales were originally IN the neighborhooi
Of oar, bat ~ ever, dividend psid on a stock Ia
subtracted from the price obtained by the party
az lot nal lima IA.
bought back at ~ In order to save him from
lose. Not only naS bc been Obliged t. turn over
dividends To the parties from whom he nor ows
Cen raj, Dti ASH at times to pay premium for
Ia use, aud most oi the time II has been lJanini
nat IL Is safe 70 say That the stock whicn no
sold at par In 1873 md 1874 cnnnot oe bought
bsok at figure higher than 10 and return
Gould the money which he has y rs out In keep
Ing snort. eince TINS Original line If shorts was
| pat out, Gould has increased " from time to
time IN order TO finally strike al average. He
| sold seve III thousand snares short N tue recent
rise To III. ana has lately been trying break II
below IL, at winch figure II Is said tue Conimo-
dOre has an order To hold II.
| The reason why Jay q Juid PERSISTS In what to
all app arances Il losing game, ana which INV
| cert. iniy shows n Tremendous loss, ~ somewhat
| pccLlias. Like the lato a. I. Stewart. he has a
| ccrtain element Of the supersttious IN his ma
ture, and follows its prom tings LARGELY In his
specul tive transactions. His birthu ~ and that
OF the Commodore occurs nn the same Il AZ OF
| the wear, and long n1o Gould got m. idea into
hts head that lie was fated to succeed the great
| Railroad kiug when tae Latter should die De-
| conie too inGrm to transact business with A
childlike faith In tue correctness OF tins idea he
| has b ,Cked II nnan cialIv by selling the Comm
| res great prop 'rtv short. arguing That any
| misfortune to his ANTAGONIST must c)rrcspond-
| inglv beueh; himself, and give hIni, IN the event
! OF toe cOmnodore's de TN, thu right to assume
| his tile Of tho Great Ruiro Il King" Ills
greatest anxiery ut present Is To keen accurately
| posted rs 10 toe condition Of toe Commodore
| from hour TO hour, ana Ia accomplish his pur-
| pose he has lines OF communcatiDn running out
IN every conceivab etJirection. Friends Of the
Commodore are IMPRESSED mo the service, and
many OF them act a. ape cial messengers without
| knowing for whom they are wOrSiDg.
q 1uld does not share tho popuIir belief { hat
WIN. IL. Vanderbilt will succeed his father IN
| ability az well as IN the control OF the Central
ka,Iroad. The son he resards - aeood ta'Iro
tive ana speculative genius Tor which tue Com
| mooore - noted.
| WnN, said Gould, when cpnvcrsing upon
| this touic, II the Cpinmodore should die
aud be succeeded 10y Willitm. We would have
the regular market price OF New io.k CeLtrnl al 20
witnin six months" Ut tne same time Mr.. TO, III
| told ~ t,ansac;ion IA which William lost
large quantity OF DOnos IN speculation winch
| had been given To him rs present ny the Com
mOdore.
| There seems to De li.tle doubt hut that Gould
Is now LAYING hts pians To " step into tue shoes"
| Of the Commodore ana to make the operations
as lucrative IS possible.
Let us see how the death OF the Comm Odore
| would sfert the market The list OF specui -
tive securities on the stock Exchange MS teen
greatly reduced by tbs Bankruptcy OF different
railroads, ami comp rativeiy few speciaities re-
man to DC Affected. New YorN Central, tue
| pital stock OF $JJ,(o1OUO, on. Of which the
| Commodore aud his family probably own SOL
| OON,UO mere Woutu Lhus De leit 0u,UJO shares
OF Investment aud speoul,ti stock, when
would oe nll that could ny any possibility be
| offered Tor sale.
| when John Edgar Thomson, the President
| Of the Pennsylvania, Railrot I'd, died, two yc r.
ago, the total amount Of stock OF That cJmplny
waicn was thrown upon the market was not r
| FROM 3OUUO shares, ana as New IOrS Central and
| Penn, yivania Railroad stO Ks are held by very
much the same class of people, IL ~ probable
| that no larger quantity OF Investment stock
| would he thrown on the Wall street market Ia
| the Ease OF the death OF the Commodore than
| the Phil ldel llta Exon an owing ID
| the death Of John Edgar fnomsln. l.. ri iu-
| rly would this be the case II the C1mInodOre's
| lness should be protracted, "a the neet would
be practically discounted. 50 far as Lake Shuie
/ and Western Union are concerned u j. not likely
for to the best Of my information the holdings OF
| the Commodore in these corporations aro mercy
nominal. Besides they nave been forced down
| about twenty per cent. frOn the qnotlttOns OF
| few mouths ago by rdllro d and telegraph hos
! tiliies, and IN their largely over.old condition
/ would ue fullY a. ut 10 20 up ~ o 10 dow u.
| Ohos, Erie, Hannib i and 81. joseph, aud
| Paclnc Mau too low To he aIec ed,
! while the Northwestern stocks knock about
| on basis pecuniry their own. Erlo would
| be more apt TO 20 up Lh u anythihg else,
| ton could be kept up against u Dy anybody else
th n By Commodore Vanderbilt. An order to
| hold New Yore Central at given nglre-say lUi
| or On the event Of ms uet,h given ny tue
| proper deposit OF securities. would no doubt
! check any pane whatever. and leave Ma son
clear Held IN winch to look Ont Tor the vast IN
terests winch, IL Is generally believed Will DO
/ conn1ed 10 ms care.
jay Gould would then be compelled to walt
| longer PERIOD before ho assumes ths tite Of
"hailrOad King" witch the Commodore now
holds put "hien ms adversary exp cts o. TALL 10
| him IA a short time. SrIKAbOur.
COMMODORE en- iRLEs MORGAN.