The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-10-09
WALL STREET.
The Tremendous Speculative Fnror
AaOat Among the People.

hN@9Nt"H Sc U.s. AAASSNNSAaN hANh VAbA y ~
rious business look In their faces hurry.
ing through the streets; upllfted hands
presenting paper at the counters In brok.
erB' offices, while their possessors cried to
the clerks TO make haste these were some
Of the visible manifestations oi the mania
that the casual and unacquainted observer
saw. Largely increased dealings on the
part Of the majority Of operators; fabulous
stories as to the doings Of some Of the
giants Of the street; the cautious attitude
OF many Of the best known operators; q
vast increase In tho number OF specula.
tors; these are the evidences that were
noted by those who may be styled we'll in.
formed observers. y..,.,.
| One Of the chief features Of the week
has been the influx Of buyers. Said the
head Of a prominent firm OF brokers to-
day: 1.-THE whole community Is dealing in
stocks. Even the bOotblacks are catching
the fever" Then he added: II wish |
knew which way the markets. going; I'd
retire from the street in q months time
II Ibid"
The new Corners have bought with little
regard 10 value, and apparently without
stopping to consider the probabilities OF
the future. Perhaps It Is no worse for
them that they have; for the more nov
Ice in Wall street ponders his moves the
worse he Is likely 10 come out. The rush
has been largely OF an unintelligent char
aCter, and, generally speaking, the stocks
that have gone above the advance which
may be attributed to perfectly natural
causes owe this extra advance to the
wild doings OF the uninlormed and in.
considerable buyers who have swarmed the
street.
The advance has been general all along
the line; but where it has amounted to
exceptional figures, exceptional causes are
apparent. The most noteworthy advance
has been in Erie, and the transactions in
that stock have been enormous. The low
est point at which Erie (Common) has
stood for q week is 80, the highest 1t has
touched Is 50. Saturday it touched 37i.
The preferred has ranged during the week
from 574a6Si, and its highest point Satur-
day was 90. Various solutions are given
OF this rise in Erie OF Q per cent. One has
it that Vanderbilt and others are heavy
buyers, with the intention OF recognizing
the Board at the election in November
and making Z. D. Morgan, President. An.
other has it that Vanderbilt has scheme
Of his own to acquire, with the aid Of the
London trustees, control Of the road, and
place one OF his sons at its head. These
and other solutions OF less interest and
less probability are accompanied by ru-
mors OF strong opposition to the Van
derbilt party, and Of desperate struggle.
l asked a prominent broker this alter
noon what he Thought OF these conjec.
lures. He said that Vanderbilt had Ger.
tainly been making large purchases OF
Erie, both hero and abroad, and that this
must mean s1Inething. lie was cautious
about expressing an opinion as to it, pre-
else meaning; most men in the street are
cautious about proiessingto know the true
inwagAness Of Vanderbilt's movements.
James K. Keene's purchase OF $500, 900
Of the Erie new second bonds, of course,
tenders speculation more interesting.
The discovery that the bondholders OF the
reorganiZed Erie were entitled to vote at
the election Of Directors surprised many
operators in the street, and complicated
the situation somewhat. The belief seems
pretty general among those claiming to be
close and intelligent observers that the
management OF the road Is going 10 be
thoroughly reorganized; and the posi-
bility, looked upon by many as strong
probability, that the new management
will partake OF the economy that charac.
terizes that OF the New York Central, is
perhaps sufficient to account for the extra
rise Of Erie above the general advance.
Among the other advances that may be
accounted for by rational causes is the ad-
vance in Western railroad stocks, which
needs no explanation to any observer who
has noted their increase OF business, con.
sequent upon the removal OF the seasons
abundant crops to the seaboard. The ad.
vance Of nearly 9 per cent in Pacific Mail is
thought 10 be due to the general know.
ledge that the Indebtedness Of the com.
pany has been reduced 100000 since the
LIST oil May last. Thus rational causes are
assigned for each notable advance OF q
stock beyond the figures to which it
would have been carried in the general
craze Of speculation. Whether tho ad.
vance all along the line was not started by
the apparently well founded confidence in
the stocks figuring In these exceptional
cases is question that no one, apparent
ly, has stopped to consider.
had conversation this afternoon with
+. n. Lockwood, OF the firm Of Lockwood
& Co., who Is himself one OF the principal
operators in the street. "The primary
cause Of the general advance" he said,
lis the extraordinarily good crops in the
West this season, and the exceptionally
poor crops abroad. England and the
grain-raising countries OF the Continent
have had cause for their bitter complaints
OF the state Of the crops, An extraordi.
nary demand for our products was created,
and the result was large importations OF
specie from abroad, The, moving OF crops
in accordance with this demand Increased
TO an appreciable extent the earnings OF
the Western railroads. These principal
causes OF an advance have been succeeded
by the widest sort OF speculation, in which
all classes have taken hand, buying for
the most part on margins, and with little
regard to value. The whole community
is dealing in stocks. 1t is 1854 over again
with this difference: then II was owing
to the initiation Of paper; now it Is owing
to what may be styled-in speaking OF lis
eHects-an initiation Of gold from Eu-
ropean countries"
He was asked his opinion regarding the
future Of the market, and he replied can.
dously: "The market is generally CON.
sidered by prudent operators to DO in a
dangerous state"
The future Of the market is thought bv
close observers to be largely dependent on
causes that operate too rapidly to be con.
trolled, unless the giants set out to con.
troll them. II there should be sudden
fall sufficient to wipe out the margins Of
the new corners and leave them with as
little interest in subsequent proceedings
as that felt by the man who suffered from
an attack Of "old red sandstone" in Inc
abdomen, It is quite probable that the adj.
vance, so far as 1t Is owing to rational
cAnsea NAV hold pnnh m a. 49,