The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-23
THE WEEK IN WALL STREET.

The WEEK TN WALL . ! REEi.
NEW YORK, Feb. 22-Henry Clews, in
ais weekly financial circular, says:
'The hurricane of excitement raised by
last weeks announcement of the anthra-
cite com mbination has abated. Fortunately,
it has left behind no wrecks; nor has it
disturbed the even tenor of securities not
directly affected by the operation. The
anthracite issuses themselves however,
are left in anything bat settled position.
The large holders of them directly asso-
ciated with the amalgamation no doubt
expected to unload the major portion of
their holdings upon outsiders; but the
very magnlfcence OF the scheme alarmed
rather than fascinated ordinary operators,
and excepting perhaps a few unwary
Toom-traders) the rank and file have pru-
IDENTIFY preferred TO wait until they better
understand what the surprise really means
and what is likely TO be ITS upshOt-a fact
which illustrates the conservatism of cur
rent speculation to which we have had
frequent occasion to refer. The symp-
toms Of a desire to unload these
immense holdings have been very mani
fest in a steady decline in Reading from 90
to 81. The prevailing feeling in Wall
street towards anthracite stocks is natur-
ally one of distrust. The amalgamation
is regarded as a dubious experiment. 1t is
viewed as a fresh attempt TO galvaniZe
Reading into life, after the failure of one
equally sanctioned by great names, boil
stored by splendid promises and executed
at a cost Of some millions four years ago.
In fact, after many years experience of
reYamped corporations Wall street has
come to regard all tinkered railroads with
severe caution, as not one in five of them
realizes the large promises made for them
10y the highly reputable galvaniZers. Add
ed to this, the aim of tins combination has
been TO create, if not a trust, yet virtual
monopoly: and it has been found in al
most every instance of monopolistic or
ganizations that they tend to dangerous
initiation of issues and, by the law of their
operation, work out their own ultimate
defeat. Many of these industrial organi-
cations today stand out as a distinctly
discredited group of investments on the
exchange, too yenturesome for transient
operators and at last TO be thought of for
prudent investment. The formation of
this anthracite combination adds $780,
100000 to this experimental list of security
issues. That fact viii in future range
these properties among the most fiuctua-
ting and uncertain on the market
and for that reason they may be ex-
pected to promote an increase in
speculative transactions and impart addi-
tionaI activity TO the market. But that
result can only be expected when the
quotations possess less transparent manip-
Qlatloa than at present, and when the
present powerful holders have unloaded
In Judging when these stocks may be ex-
pected TO prove an attractive speculative
purchase, IL must be- taken into account
that the intrinsic weakness of the scheme
will not be developed forthwith, and that,
Tor possibly one or more years, affairs may
be so managed as to make the results ap-
proximate the promises now made by the
promoters of the combination. The fire.
quent violent fluctuations of the an
thracite stocks may attract speculative
purchases. but, excepting on the i'm
portanJ declines, prudent operators are
likely to discard buying them.
The Reading excitement has not mater
tally affected our relations with the Lon
don market. Some orders for those recuri-
ties have been received here, but the sales
at the high prices "A good deal more than
offset the purchases The London market
shows more steadiness and some symptoms
of returning confidence in the Barring
group of investments. The total amount
of new loans and new companies brought
ont in London since Jan 1 falls about
Sl9,OOO0O0 below that for the same period
of 1891; Change which would seem favor
able to an increased demand for foreign
Investments; but il may be expected that
England will discriminate against Ameri-
can issues until il becomes more apparent
what is TO be the future basis OF our cur
rency system"