The times., 1899-03-19
The bank statement shows:


wild. the tendency was upward distinctly.
The situation in the Sugar mystery re-
mains unchanged The Hayemeyers and
the Doschers and the Arbuckles persistent
ly deny that there has been any combina-
tion or agreement of any kind. The street
as persistently continues to state its belief
that the sugar war is over. The action OF
the stock goes far to uphold this belief 1t
i snot thought possible that any mere
fright of the shorts in Sugar could have SO
great and so permanent an effect on the
stock. 1t seems reasonably certain that
there is an end of the sugar fight, and in
dications point strongly to the presence of
the Standard Oil crowd in the buying of
the stock of the trust. 1t has been the
belief of careful observers of the market
for long time that the Havemeyer and
Rockefeller interests would in the end form
one great capitalistic aggregation. Such
consummation may not be far off now.
Steel and Wire common went as low as
SO, the lowest price for several days. 1t
closed at 60 is, or 3-S off from the open
ing. This fact caused some surprise, but
it is probable that 1t is fully explained in
the fact that the lenders of money are
more and more inclined to discriminate
against the stock. This fact should not
prevent the purchase OF it, or of the pre-
ferrred stock on reactions. in the opinion
of most people conversant with the affairs
of the company. After an advance of SIT
a share in a comparatively short time, it
was to be expected that there would be
some recession. II seems likely now, how
ever, that the decline will go very little
If any further. A statement given out by
President Lambert, of the Steel and Wire
Company. is most interesting in this con-
nection, when 1t is taken in conjunction
with the recent declaration of per cent
dividend on the preferred stock, and the
fact that this dividend in full was prac
ticallly earned in two months of the year.
Mr.. Lambert says: Our mills are located
at Worcester, Mass; Allentown, Pa; New
burg. n. Y; DuncansvilIe. Pa; Cleveland,
Ohio; Salem and Findlay. Ohio; Beaver
Falls, Pa; Pittsburg, Pa; Braddock, Pa;
Joliet, ILL.,; De Kalb, ILL.,: Waukegan, Ill;
Anderson, Ind; Crawfordsyille, Ind; Law
renee Kan, and Kansas City, Mo. These
various plants are SO located that We can
handle the business to the best possible ad-
vantage, and save largely in freights by
shipping, say, from Joliet, H., to territory
naturally tributary to it, and by shipping
from Worcester. Mass, to territory tribu
tary to Worcester, and so on down the
line, SO that you will see that, so far as the
locations of our plants are concerned, we
have all the advantages that are possible
to be obtained All of our plants are
thoroughly up to date. Each of the plants
is running full. and with prospects of
large and satisfactory business assured for
this year. 1t has been our policy to put
ourselves in position to take the ore
from our own mines, transport 1t in our
own vessels. convert it into pig iron in
our own furnaces, roll 1t into steel billets
in our own steel mills, and finish 1t into
u rld dc in nttr n,Tr1 N Eyfe
1t into plain and barbed wire in our mills,
and all the different kinds of wire used not
only in the United States, but all other
countries where wire is need. We own
one OF the best ore mines in the Massauba
range. We have our own coal mines and
coke furnaces"
The action OF the grangers was reassur-
ing yesterday. The early trading show
ed some weakness in the stocks, but it was
noticeable that inside buying and buying
for investment were going on continually.
When the bank statement appeared the
level in this group was advanced with that
of the remainder of the list. Every move
in these stocks indicates one fact very
clearly-there are comparatively few of
them in the market. The investment de-
mand for Burlington and st. Paul has been
phenomenal and the same buying has
been going on TO a lesser extent in Atchi-
son preferred and Rock Island. The bene-
fit of this movement to the stocks cannot
be overestimated. When the shorts begin
TO cover and the public to buy, all the
group will advance rapidly to a much high
er level, according TO all theories express
ed In the Street. For conservative specu-
lators these stocks offer inducements that
can hardly be duplicated elsewhere
Brooklyn Rapid Transit was very strong
yesterday, again reaching a new high lev
Ell. The traders have made frequent turns
in the past week in the stock, taking ad-
vantage of the comparatively wide fiuc-
tuations which have accomplished the rapid
advance. 1t is doubtful, however, If thi.
plan will work much longer, as in the
opinion of people who have been careful
observers of its movements, IL is getting
ready TO make spurt. The skepticism over
the advance in Brooklyn is rapidly giving
place to overconfdence There will almost
surely be long advance from the present
level, but, as in all such cases of manipu-
lated stocks, no matter how much merit
there is in them. the public is likely tc
be in at the wrong end of the move
| The coal stocks were neglected yester.
| day, as they have been for several days
past. The situation is. in brief as 1t /.
learned from an entirely trustworthy sourc,
that syndicate has acquired controllin.
| interest in all these roads. There is NJ
trust and apparently nothing that tn,
/ interstate commerce law or the New Jer
sey Legislature can touch. The syndicate
owning the control of the roads, will die
tate the management in such a way tina
they shall mine and haul coal in the fu
| ture al profit This will be a thing tha
they have not done for any long periot
at one time in the past. 1t should maxi
the Reading and Ontario stocks especial,
| very desirable, and there is every indica
tion that they will advance in price In tn
near future. AT the same time no forma
| announcement may be made of this ar
rangement at present. One reason for reti
| cence seems to be fear that the Trenton
I Legislature, in its present mood, inimica
TO combinations OF capital. may attemp
| to thwart the plan in some way, although
1t is not believed that 1t has any groun
TO work on. The Street is little concerne
with the Justice of such syndicate t
control prices, but 1t IS keenly alive t
any possibility of danger to them.
In the local market yesterday one OF tn
chief matters of interest was the advanc
in the price of Metropolitan Railway stoc
when IL became known through The Time
that the sale OF the road has been accom-
plished The convertible bonds and tn
stock both sold at 220. or considerably
higher than at any time since the beiie
became general in the street that no sal
would take place.
One of tine noticeable consequences of th
present good demand for local securities
49,.