New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-18
f,nantidl:
The Enaneia! World.

The most frequently asked question IN The
street now is: "i;ow far can this msrXet g9r
,rhe underlying doubt which the question I'M
plies arises more from the speed or TIE advance,
and the Immense volume OF TRANSACTIONS, than
from the absolute level OF prices the majority
OF the standard stocks Of the Tnarxet' nave at
various times in the past soid at hlgher prices
than now, and some at greatly hlsher' AFTER
Rock Island was doubled. IT SOFA az ifs Bur
fngton has sold at f50; st. Paul at ioo: Sew
York Central at 1J5; Canada Southern at ~.
Western Union at 10: Missouri racine at fl5.
This carries US back to the boom TIMES or fsf,-
80 and 81. Since then some barge properties
have passed through CONGRATULATIONS, anG we
cannot compare their stocks as they are nUv
with what they were then, because or me
changes which these reorgarizatfons nave e.
fected. Since then also, the whole class Of m
dustrIaI stocks have come on the market. hence
they afford no material for comparison with
that period.
But We may fairly ask what were the condt-
,,o,. which made the stocks above named teh
~ thoye srices: and Of course. all the other
act,ve securities IN the market Of that period.
.eu relatively as high! The answer Is, that the
conditions were the same as the country n now
beginning 10 enjoy. VIZ. an imnfense demand AZ
good Brfces for all our exportabhs products.
and large volume ~ these products. which re-
suited In an expansion Of our foreign trade 10
PROPORTIONS previously unheard Of. secondly. a
corresponding expansion Of domestic trade.
That was the whole business. The large I'M
portations Of gold large foreign buying 81 our
securities ard abundant profits on domestic
trade. were simply effects from the causes
stated Everybody IN these days Is talking
about the wonderful figures Of our foreign trads.
IS given out by the Treasury Department; the
volume Of bank exchanges as published every
week shows the constant growth OF domestic
trade; and the earnings OF the railroads testify
TO IT, ana are OF It, since the degree OF
activity In the transport Of products, Is neces-
.arAy the measure Of business.
II the conditions Of 1s79-'s0 and 81 are ~
produced now, as they are, why should we not
see in the coming year prices relatively as sigh
as those conditions produced In the former
period? There can be only one logical answer
we shall them.
This may help to answer the question-'How
far can this market go?' 1t will go as far as It
ala In 1880 and 81. And es the population OF
the country IS larger than then. the needs
larger and the volume Of products to meet
these needs larger. so is the mass Of securities
on the market larger. as representing the En-
largement Of INDUSTRIES and 1t must follow as
a consequence that the average az business done
ON the Exchange, vii. be larger than any pre-
vious record.
That is the outlook Not necessarily however,
for the coming week. There must be fuetua-
tons The movement the past two weeks has
been rather rapid. pause is about due, and
with that some recession in prices, though u
will not be much. probably Tor the puoAc
seems abnormally anxious for stocks Inc
HEADQUARTERS Of all the bull speculation Still ap-
nears 70 be Governor Flowers office, from
whence the A1chison and Federal Steel issues
get their most lively support. The hrst part OF
the week it was all Atchison; the latter part all
Federal Steel.
The extreme trading in the Federal steel Is
sues on Thursday and Friday, rather disquieted
some operators who had lines OF Stocks ana
dispossd them to tighten ship a little This
gave the market a small setback FRIDAY AFTER
noon and yesterday morning. The way Atchi-
son went up before the boom started In Federal
Steel was surprising: and still more surprising
was the way It held It's advance when the gen
eral list receded Its highest figure was o2>s;
and when il crossed 81 on the way UP Tuesday
morning. they say the shout from the crowd IN
the Flower Office might have been heard across
broadway The stock closed at 5lA yesterday.
The 4 per cent Adjustment bonds attract less
attention than the stock. but there ought 10 be
more points in them than in the other at going
prices
The deadest corner of the market Is where
the Northern Pachcs are traded in. The dl'i-
dend on the common was declared as expected
bue neither dividend. nor show OF earnings, nor
the general bull enthusiasm seem able 70 %
anything for the stocks They have persistent
w refused TO move. except slightly downward
The public seems TO have been scared away
from them On the other hand. Union Paclnc
has been exceptionally active and strong: ana
the company is the latest addition to the ISL OF
purchasers Of the Chicago & Alton road.
The first of these it will not be forgotten-not
very roadily--was the Kangaroo road, when
now seems in need of purchaser FOR ITSELF, ana
will probably find him eventually in receiver
The other day we had the Michigan Central
buying the Chicago & Alton; and as all the
Vanderbilt stocks were advancing sharply al
the time their advance was cited as PROOF tha'
the bargain had been made. Other people
thought that it was rather more a PROOF tna'
the preliminary annual statements which VIII
be given out at the Vanderbilt meetings this
week will be Of very favorable character;
and there IS much talk Of increased DIVIDENDS
The Panhandle stocks (but these belong to the
PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM are also going UP, and "
is claimed they will so very high
or the industrial stocks Other than Federal
SteeD there is not great deal TO be said sugar
and Tobacco are both so tied up that Quotations
either way in them seem 10 be made at the VIII
of the insiders. In Leather there was more Iiie
than il had shown for quite time, and peopie
who have large interests in the property arc
confident the preferred stock. as dNide"a
payer. will sell higher. The head or we"
known Broad Street house, who is a large h'ius'
of the stock recently made a thorough examha.
ton of the companys affairs, and was wen
pleased with what ne found. Rubber common -
lower on rumors that dividends on IL VIII not