The evening times., 1899-09-01

Fears of a poor bank statement and talk
in certain quarters of the prospects of
tighter money in the near future, aided
by bear attacks on Brooklyn Rapid Transit,
and one or two other specialties caused
prices TO decline during the early trading
this morning. The level was off half a
point or more in the active list before the
first Two hours were passed. 1t was no.,
ticeable that stocks were fairly well taken
at the lower level, and il seemed probable
that the decline would not extend far. The
bad bank statement, which will probably
come, is being discounted, and unless II
is worse than there is any reason 10 ex-
pect, rally tomorrow may be looked for.
Another cause OF some selling this morn
ing was the new yellow fever scare. South
ern Railway and Louisville were some
what heavy. The list in general, however,
did not seem to be affected by the fever
story and il is not believed that il Will
have much influence on the market unless
the situation proves to be much worse,
than is looked for.
Brooklyn Rapid Transit was sold heavi-
ly all the morning and was soon off nearly
to 104, the lowest price in several days.
Several stories are current regarding the
stock, one of which is TO the effect that the
advance during the past few days from the
| low price has been the work of insiders
who are now unloading on the public and
the shorts. Brooklyn is not a very good
stock TO trade in, not much safer than the
tobacco issues, but it seems probable that
at this level there would be less risk in
buying than in selling. The company Is
earning good profits at the present time
and, as Mr.. Flower points out, its future is
full of excellent promise. The property is
one of the most valuable in the world.
Through the courtesy of the Street
Railway Journal" several interesting facts
regarding the Metropolitan Traction Com
pany Of New York may be here given
from an article to be published In that
magazine tomorrow. 1t is stated that the
figures of the article are taken from the
private cost sheets of the railway. The
company ran its cars $4,000, 600 miles dur
Ing the fiscal year just ended, as against
80, 600 in the previous year, the track
age being the same. This showing is in
creased in significance by the fact that
the recent large additions to the car
equipment are of a much larger patterns
and nearly double the capacity of the old
cars. The passenger receipts jumped
nearly 25 per cent, while the receipts per
car mile were increased from 29.7 to 30.7.
or nearly 3 per cent. The chief signif-
canoe OF these figures is in the fact that
they reflect directly the introduction of
modern motive power and other improve
ments and the increased patronage that
these have given the system. The traffic
of the cable lines fell of about 10 per cent
and OF the horse lines about 80 per cent,
while the electric lines carried three times
as many passengers in 1899 as in 1898 and
their receipts per car mile increased from
20 80 TO 31.23 cents. Taken as a who,e. the
system operated last year at 15.1s cents
per car mile as against 1888 in the pre-
yious year. and the earnings from opera
tion have become 15.5 cents as against
1887 for 1898. II will be seen that the
operating expenses per car mile were less
than so per cent of the receipts. The per-
centage of operation to receipts on the
electric lines was only 3S.3. 1t is stated
that the extremely severe winter and the
great loss of traffic consequent to chang
ing OF motive power during the year have
prevented the showing from being even
much more satisfactory.
The statement of the Pennsylvania sys-
TEN for the month of July and for the
seven months ending July 81, has been
made public. 1t is highly satisfactory
| showing The gross earnings of the East
ern lines for the month Of July were Sc
OS1, ,695, an increase of $919, 400. A very
large part OF the increase in gross was ex-
| pended in betterments, so that the net
earnings made an increase of only s129.
200, the total being $1,S31,131. Both the
gross and the net for the period are
the largest in the history of the company.
The gross of the Eastern lines for the
seven months was $3.50, 706 and the net
s10,314,6S1. On the Western lines the gross
increase for July was s759 200 and the net
! increase 1891, 400. The gross gains for the
entire system for the month were 81. 1.67S.
600 and the net gains $3.50, 100. Including
the operations of the controlled roads the
| increase in the gross earnings of the sys
! tenn was 81 ,S50, 200 and the net A462. 500.