New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-18
financial.
The Financial World.

forced TO the conclusion that the indications :.
for another week Of the same OF courss .,
is a time OF year when dizziness is to he .,,.
ed, because II Is a period between crop, y
winter wheat is known and has had its a.
on speculation: what the spring wheat -.
corn crops will be Is unknown; and IN. A.
men who while they cannot create Speculate
yet initiate and give IT direction are dI,,,..
to wait. This gives US waiting market: s,,a
In usually a market where only limited as
Der Of stocks are active, these being such a !.
specially circumstanced, and are less inn.
ately dependent upon crop conditions tina,
leading railroad speculatves.
Thus we have the granger group OF ,,,<.
the Pacihcs. Atchison and some others ins,,.
and rather disposed to droop-a common aec,.
paniment Of dizziness; while activity anr...
only in Sugar the fractions and the steel ,,o.,.
This brings the trading down to very nsr.-
limits. On account Of the dullness OF the ~.
ket the enormous increase In the loan Asr
yesterdays bank statement nearly sle0o.s
was a good deal Of a surprise The surpu, =
serve was cut down over s90ooOO0.-ra,b.,
heavy cut for one week-leaving It a triss "a
excess Of S30OOO,000.
The directors OF the Northern Pacific Comma,
4 u
dend on the common stock. No period ma.
mentioned In connection with the declara,,o,
as none was mentioned when the las, va. a.
clared. The time between the declaration, ia
dicates It: and 1t appears that the stock ia a.,
Ting down to per cent per annum rat,
There was much but very vague talk AZ m.
time that Northern Pacific common would NJ.
come a 4 per cent stock; and so 1t may at som.
time In the future. But evidently II Will %
through a probationary period Of 2 Ger cen,
Atchison preferred will be for the next Yea,
and most likely for the next two years A d.
per center. The probable effect OF the action
OF the Atchison directors will be TO keep the
preferred stock steady but TO make IL duv
There is little room for trading in a stock when
the return 1t will pay the buyer is known for A,
least a year. and probably two years ahead A
price is ests blished for IT, Some people Won
dered why the controlling powers In the Atch.
ison company should have adopted policy
tending to dull trading in their stock The
probable explanation is that they hold suh
large amount Of 1t that they could not possibly
hope to sell 1t without breaking the make,
price all TO pieces. unless the selling was done
very slowly and with the sustaining force under
the stock Of an established dividend. II IL BE-
lieved that the average cost OF the great hold.
ings Of the stock is not over As; as these men
were large buyers when 1t was in the 20s and
3Os. dividend of 2l2 per cent on stock aver.
aging As is good enough for big capitalists to
work with. II is rather bad for those who have
the stock above CO. All they can do Is to wait
for a bad day in the market. when everything
is slumping. and pick UP some cheap stock to
average them out
On Friday, the meeting Of the Federal Steel
directors was held, and the dividend Of IL per
cent on the common stock was declared; accord
ing 10 the promise made by the late GovernI
Flower. two or three months ago, when h
started the stock up from around 80. II vi
be borne in mind that Il was not till April I
that the Governor spoke definitely about div.
dend. Up till then Federal common had been
traded in only as a stock which might becone
a dividend payer by the close OF the year II
things went WELL In April the Governor after
consulting with his colleagues, gave out that
the first dividend would be paid In July and
that 1t would be at the rate of per cent. The
stock Immediately started up; and from that
time to this there has never been question OF
the dividend AS the time approached for de-
claring II. no one discovered that the action OF
the Board Of Directors could not be predicted
In advance: no one made the further discovery
that mo dividend policy had at any time been
announced" and no one cited as recently as
covered reasons for deferring the declaration
facts about the company which were perfeety
we'll known months ago. What Governor Flow
err said the directors of the Federal Steel CON-
pany would do, they did, and at the time nc
said they would; and no one doubted that lnsy
would from the day the Governor spoke IL
stated that in addition to declaring the di'idena
on the common, the directors have laid aA's
enough TO cover the years dividend on the PN'
ferred. which pays per cent
The meeting Of the Steel Wire Company d.
rectors is held next Thursday The sas u
feeling in the Street is still one OF great uneef'
tainty as to whether the promised dividend On
the common stock will be declared or not
could not be otherwise. In view OF what mas
been done to create this uncertainty. II us
dividend is not declared. there will be som'
things heard. For people everywhere "a"
bought this stock relying on the repeated prom
Uses that II should become dividend payer tnn
month. Unlike Federal Steel common s'ee
Wire was first introduced so TO speak, a.
STOCK Wnicn at dennlte anu HAeu ei'"N
in June-was to begin dividends. On this os'.
the stock was distributed 10 the puohe' anu
thoroughly distributed. as is quite evident rum
January last no doubt was at any time rase4
about the payment Of the dividend unt' a'O.'
ten days ago. Since then, nothing mas oeeH W
tanned from any one connected with inc .'
pany except the individual statement ma'.
Mr.. selisman) that was not calculated 10 e'''"
distrust .x.,
Now Il Is almost needless 10 point o'.
whether the dividend be paid or not 'ana
difficult to believe that It will not DEL VI.
rectors Of the Steel Wire Company nav. az.
their stock a damaging blow. and tnereV' ~.
credited themselves. They have crea'eu n,
public mind a distrust OF their good Ia'n "A
Gates declarations that the DIVIDEND shO
declared stood unchailenged from any " .s.,
from January to June. Then. and mol W. a,
1t was suddenly discovered that the 49, go.
the Board could not be predicted 10 su' ..o,
Why was not this discovery made ''e ava
~ thasa ooptla,oap knoyy what the Sttsee