The Indianapolis journal., 1899-01-30
SPECULATION IN STOCKS
LAST WEEK THE LIVELIEST EVER
KNOWN IN WALL STREET.
Steady Stream of Investment Orders
Increased Earnings of Railways
Responsible for Part of the Boom.


history of that institution. Mondays sales
beat all previous records: 1721,o0O shares
were reported as having been dealt in, and
it is fair to assume that J0O00 or more shares
beyond that went by default during the ex-
ctement prevailing. The previous largest
number of transactions was Feb. 20, 1S9S
when 1.474,000 shares were dealt in. That
was the memorable Philadelphia e Reading
day when Mcleod got supreme control of
the anthracite coal output For the first
four days of this week the transactions ag-
gregated 5,775,O0O shares; for the same four
days of last January the sales were 1,461,lO
shares.
These totals may in some degree, repre-
sent the large increase in late years of the
amount of securities dealt in on the ex-
change; but they still more express the
pitch of enthusiasm to which the current
expectations of national development have
raised the public mind. Wall street has
never before witnessed such a flood of buy
ing orders as has been represented in these
operations The extraordinary volume is
not due so much to the manipulative ma
Eeuvers of professional operators as TO
continuous stream of orders coming from all
parts of the country. The main cause of the
activity lies in the mail orders from the con-
siderable class in the interior cities and
towns who have been making money for
the last two years of abundant crops, while
New York has been grumbling about un-
satisfactory business. Those profits have
gone into savings much as into increases
of ordinary expenditures and the current
excitement is bringing out the boards partly
for permanent investment but perhaps more
for speculative ventures. We have therefore
an outsiders" market in a sense and to an
extent never before witnessed; and it is the
Iargeness of this sanguine element, much
more than any purely local speculation, that
accounts for this extraordinary buying Vlr-
tually irrespective of prices. For many
months past the prosperity of the West and
Southwest has shown itself not only in in
creased earnings of the railroads, but also
in the unprecedented amount of funds in
the interior banks and in rates of interest
almost as low as those current at New
York This has led to a steady stream of
investment orders from those sections; and
row these accumulations are being drawn
| into the speculative movement of Wall
! street with rush that creates wonder as to
where all the money is coming from.
HEAVY ORDERS FROM LONDON.
London for some time past has been sell
| ing to an almost unlimited extent calls on
American securities, and the rapid rise in
| the NanuerDlItS mas completely UPSET lIlcli
equilibrium. Immense orders from that
| quarter came in conflict with the accumula-
ton of orders over Sunday from all parts
of this country, which made the competition
on the buying side last Monday morning
greater probably than was ever expert
enced on the floor of the exchange. The
natural conditions prevailing at the present
time in this country are, of course, in favor
! of the bull side of the market to an extent
| greater than at any previous period. When
| VIM. H. Vanderbilt sold to a, syndicate 800
| coo shares of his New York Central stock at
! an average price of 100, the company was
| paying 8 per cent. dividends ana Mr
! Vanderbilt guaranteed a continuation OF 3
| per cent. for three years. At that time II
| required a stock to pay s per cent. dividends
| to justify its market price to be 130. Now
| dividends and the stock sells at 14O. The
money and business conditions or this
! country have undergone a change in the
| same proportion since that time. 1t is due
! to this change that a per cent. stock now
| sells as high an per cent stock for
| merly did The investment interest rate
! has gone down to stay in this country, to
! be in keeping with the rate prevailing in
/ the European money centers. Tne reason
! for this is the general confidence, both at
! home and abroad, in our maintenance of
! the gold standard, together with the recog-
milton of the vast resources of the country.
| When William Jennings Bryan nomi-
| mated for the presidency the depression pre-
vailing was so great Gas was the despair
/ cduS6U ny lIJ lildl II IllduG IlOSl peDpic
| desperate. 1t was no wonder, therefore,
| that so many voters wanted the country
| deluged with 16-to-1 silver money. They
were really like drowning man snatching
| out for a straw to save themselves, but
| with the marvellous change in the money
! situation that now presents itself the coun-
| try has gone to the other extreme by being
| overburdened with gold money. The United
| States treasury, as well as the banking in
! stitutions of the country, are perplexed to
| know how to take care of their huge loads.
! 1t is the return Of confidence that now
/ makes a per cent. property in this coun-
! try sought for by everybody who has
money to invest both at home and abroad
| and this change has come to stay. Under
| such conditions, therefore, anybody who
| now advocates 16-to-1 silver must be non
! compos mentis.
THE RISE IN PRICES.
The effect of the extraordinary influx of
buying orders has been to cause entire
| ly unprecedented scale of prices for the bet
| ter class of securities. The following state
ment of present prices of twenty leading
stocks, compared with the highest figures
reached during the bull campaign in the
fall of 1897, will afford some indication of
the present comparative scale of values: