The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-21
In the Market Place.

NUR1NG last week interesting
lOj reading was found in the finan-
cial and market columns of
those of the eastern newspapers that
are recognized as authority on stock
exchange affairs. The sudden death of
Roswell p. Flower put these publica-
lions on the alert; they fixed both eyes
on the stock boards, in order to see
what the slump would amount to-. 1t is
not too much to say that during the
last two years of his life Mr.. Flower
was the largest operator Wall street
has ever known; many dealers consid-
cred him reckless. That he was bold,
is nowhere disputed. 1t was necessary
that he should die before the financial
world could tell whether he was trav-
cling the solid road of safe transac
lions or merely kite-fying on treacher-
Gus margins. Certain it was that ev-
erything in the stock world that Mr..
Flower laid hold of, during the two or
three closing years of his life, turned
to gold-or seemed to.
AS was told at the time, the stock
market was tremendously raided the
morning after Mr.. Flowers death. Fol
lowing almost every exciting occasion
in the stock exchange. the public reads
of scenes 1.-The like of which Wall street
never before Witnessed" and the news
paper reader, accustomed to this ex-
aggerated talk. settles down to the
conclusion that probably ii wasn't any
thing worse than little shower, after
all. The usual story of 'unprecedent-
ed excitement" was used to describe
the stock-exchange scene that followed
Mr.. Flowers death and, by all &C
| counts, the experiences Of that day did
| in fact, make a close approach to the
| breaking of all stock market records
at least, in the first hour or two of the
| turmoil.
The event, however, was the reverse
of many former experiences in tbs
| stock market. The fearful slump OF
the early hours of trading, during
which, as described in this morning:
New York correspondence, certain
bears made fortunes, was followed III
with a rally. and from that hour til
now the market has been REASONABLE,
strong; it transpired that the Flowel
securities were safely put away ant
| that their custodian was not in position
where, in an emergency, he must make
disastrous plunge to cover margins
1t is the testimony of such market vet
Grams as Mr.. Sage, that MI. Flower wa
| nt RI, ri oh hn vat
to be; in any event, while he lived HI
could say, judged by what transpiret
on the day when his securities wer
put to crucial test: what's mine is m.
own
The important fact is that, as the re
suit of this Flower episode. the era o
speculation, which now has this coun
try's securities well in hand, gets
new lease of life and will probably pro
long its run. Bulls in the market vii
use the Flower test as a moral de
signed, as they will claim, to show tina
going prices are not speculative an
| that securities on their merits Wi
stand still higher prices and yet b
normal. The large public will refus
to believe that everything i'll this worl
that expresses itself in stock certifi
Gates is worth from fifty to a hundre
per cent more than it was a year ag
or two years ago. Nevertheless, man
ipulation tells the story; the number c
dollars in the control of those VIII
shape the markets course is practical
ly limitless; the top of the tobogga