Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-22
FOUR OIL MEN TALK.
Ex-President Nicholson Upon the
Present Commercial Situation.
ONE WHO PREDICTED THE FURRY.
Views of Operators on the Consolidated
and Stock Exchanges.
SOME PESsIMIsTs AS TO PETROLEUM

CORRESPONDENTS OF THE DISPATCH
NEW YORK, November 21.-W. n.
Nicholson, formerly President of the Parker
and Oil City Oil Exchanges. was a visitor
on the floor of the Consolidated Exchange
to-day. Mr.. Nicholson lives at Erie, Pa,
and is now entirely out of the oil trade. 1
am told he is worth $500, 900, all made in
oil, and the bulk of it as speculator on the
floor of the exchanges.
1 had a talk with Mr.. Nicholson to-day,
and although he is apparently out of busi-
ness he keeps abreast of the blackboard, as
it were, and there is not much going on In
the commercial world that he is not ac-
quainted with. Mr.. Nicholson lately made
an extended visit to Europe and had special
opportunities for studying the business STU
alton in England.
AN ERA OF SPECULATION.
''There has been an era of new specula-
tion," said Mr.. Nicholson, ''chief1y in Eng
land, though the United States has not been
wholly free from it. And we see the out
come to-day in the distrust and anxiety
which apparently pervades every financial
community. Englishmen got tired receiv-
ing a moderate interest for their money and
branched out in the syndicate line with a
reoklessness which was surprising. The So
called industrial enterprises had fasci-
nation for them, having a start, I
think, in the buying out of the great
Guinness brewery in London. The
syndicate which purchased this enor-
nous concern probably made money,
and from that beginning has developed
the extraordinary buying craze which We
hor 1o4a in
was hardly any concern which English cap
italists were not ready and anxious to take
off our hands, from our livery stables to our
great rolling mills and cotton factories.
This frenzy to invest their money took them
into South America, where millions have
been invested. They expected to get these
millions back, with big interest, but when
the emergency came they were unable to re-
cover even a portion of their investment,
hence the crash which has overtaken Eng
lish houses. These houses have their safes
filled with Sc ecurities, such as they are, but
they are not securities that are available at
the banks"
In regard to the markets in general, Mr..
Nicholson took rather pessimistic view.
Although values were on q much lower
level than few months ago, he doubted if
they had yet struck bedrock prices. Some
things, for special reasons, might advance
from present prices; but, taking the market
as a whole, he thought prices would have to
recede. There was too much distrust In the
air for any successful bull movement.
ONE MAN HAD IT RIGHT.
A man who has been right on the market
for the past six months or more is Charley
Symmes, who is associated here on the Con-
soIidated Exchange with Harry Marlin, the
Fittsburg iron man. 1t is all of six months
ago since Symmes predicted exactly what
has come to pass. "Some of these days"
said he, "we will have a rich mans panic,
and the way things are going now we will
not have to wait many months to see il. %
Symmes maintained this position against
considerable ridicule in the Exchange, and
now sees his judgment fully vindicated. In
a conversation which had with him at the
time, and reported in these columns, he
pointed out the source whence the trouble
would come. "These bloody Englishmen, I"
he said, ''are floating all sorts of crazy
schemes in South America, and there will
have to be day of reckoning" And yet
Symmes does not pretend to be a prophet.
ALL BEARS ON OIL.
Symmes was formerly in the oil country
with the United Pipe Line Company before
it was sold to the Standard people, and is
generally we'll informed on the oil situation.
He is bear on oil, even at these prices.
For the matter of that, however, 1 have
failed to find any brokers, either in the
Consolidated or in the Stock Exchange.
who were not bears on oil. Charley Nelson
and William Lane, both prominent on the
Consolidated Board, and known in the oil
contingent to be usually pretty near right
in their calculations, talk lower prices for
crude.
"I see nothing to keep the stuff up" said
Mr.. Lane 10 me to-day, 'and l look lor
lower prices. There is absolutely no sus-
tanning power to the market, either here or
In the West. Nobody seems to want it, and
the Lord knows there is plenty of it to be
had. So far as we can see the production is
increasing all the time" Mr.. Nelson took
about the same view of the situation, and a
like opinion prevails among the oil brokers
generally. Whether the general gloom in
Wall street has impaired their judgment re-
mains to be seen.
THE DISPATCH is now regarded in New
York as the chief authority on oil matters,
and there are few brokerage or commission
houses in the city that do not keep it on file
for the benefit of their customers.
r. W. CRIswELL.