Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-02-06
BIDS FOR BONDS
Exceed Anything Expected by
Outsiders or Insiders.
morgan Syndicate Expects to Get
About co Per Cent. of Issue.
Will lake Weeks Of Labor 10 Sort and
Schedule the Offers.

Washington Feb. 5.-The treasurv ia
partInent was simply overwhelmed nv the
enormous number of bids for bonds re-
celved. Fifteen expert clerks were at
work scheduling the bids until 6 O'Clock.
Tonight, having worked incessantly sinoa
., this morning. Twelve hundred bids
remained unscheduled. They will be
copied, tomorrow. 1t Will take manv
hours OF hard work to straighten out the
tangle rs to the bids received and the
exact prices offered.
In spite of the care exercised bv the
| committee, which opened the bids. MANY
unavoidable errors were made in an
nounclng the bids. A number of offers
from prominent Eastern financial institu-
lions, all apparently acting in concert.
were read out as being at l10.75. This
progressed for some time, when the
correction was suggested by one of the
parties in interest, that all those bids
We're at llo.Oio In the future readings
they were so announced The official
analysis OF the figures will determine the
results, but this will require weeks of
labor.
Inc great feature of the bond bidding
was the offer of ]. P. Morgan's syndicate.
winch a now composed, include only his
own banking house, the Deutsche Bank of
Berlin, Germany, and Harvey Fisk & Sons
OF New York They propoed to take the
entire issue at ITO. 6S77. Only one other
bid of anything like al equal amount WAS
received.
Plerpont Morgan, after figuring on the
bids received, said, tonight. that he esti
mated that he would be awarded On his
old about 90 per cent. OF the 500, 600. 600.
de reached this conclusion simply from
hearing the various bids read, as be did
not mink that more than $40, 600, 900 In
bids above that figure had been made.
scarcely more than one-third of the
actual bids received are included in the
imperfect lists published. Several tbous.
and bids below the obvious limit of ac-
ceptance are omitted
Bids for many millions of dollars. com-
ing from nearly every state of the Union.
were thrown into an homogeneous state of
Juxtaposition, and quite "a number of offers
from Canada were received at prices rang
ing from 100, downwards.
The number of small bids was quite re-
markable. The $50 offers ran M into
the hundreds, and at fairly good prices.
over 1000 small banks and private in
dividuals, whose offers at the highest rates
OF acceptability ranged from $500 IN TO
$SOoo or $4,000, are not included In the list
published
The offers by classes of small bidders be-
low l 10 and a fraction limit, which seems
to shut off the issue, were still more
numerous.
An encouraging feature in these offers
was that so many of those of large
ranging in many cases up to one
or more millions of dollars came from
hduciary institutions, which thereby in
dictate that they had better outlet for
money than that afforded by the United
states bonds at the price at which thew will
undoubtedly be awarded.
One of the curious incidents of the dav
was the fact that the bid of the Union
Trust Co. of New York for $76, 900. 900
1t 1l0.O75, almost escaped notice in the
lnonotony OF reading, while the bid of the
Morgan syndicate was received with an
plausc.
Among the bids Were: Maine Savings
Bank, Portland, $4,000 at 10: First
National Bank, Lewiston. SIS. 900; Port
a nd Trust Co., Portland s275, 600 at 1909:
Bar g r Savings Bank, $40, OoO, at l1..7Sl4:
First National Bank, Dexter, S12, 600. at
Il2.7sl4; Maine National Bank, Bath.
10, 600, at ITO.