The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-15
STOCK LIST SLUMP
NOTHING AT ALL SURPRISING
ABOUT 1T, ACCORDING TO
HENRY CLEWs
MONTHS AT HIGH PRESSURE

Shares, No Matter What the Values
Behind Them, Cannot BE Always
Maintained at Notwithstanding
Levels-Bears Have Been Await
Ing an Opportunity to Attack
the Market.
NEW YORK, May -(special.) Henry
Ciews' weekly stock letter says:
After prolonged struggle, the stock
| market has at last yielded to the pres
sure of downward influences. The bull
side has had q hard task For four
months 1t has been striving to support
the highest range of prices ever reached
| In the history of the market. There have
been extraordinary causes producing that
rise, and 1t will be pretty generally al
lowed that those causes have in a large
measure warranted the advance. But the
past weeks experience was not needed to
demonstrate that something more than
the Intrinsic merits of the properties is
| needed to maintain values. An unbal-
anced condition of the machinery of
| speculation is enough to break a market
In spite OF whatever may be claimed in
favor OF the investments. Ever since the
opening OF the year, the market has been
in state of high nervous tension. In
January, the market was taken by sur
prise with an unprecedented rush of in
vestment buying, which put up prices Of
railroad shares to a level yielding 49, to
per cent. This started a speculative
movement based on extravagant expecta-
lions, and buying was carried to ex-
cesses through reinyesting the large prof
Its yielded by high prices This always
dangerous method Of financing specula-
ton has been the weak point in the mar
ket Tor the last two or three months, and
the position became especially critical so
soon as the large operators realized their
profits.
We might easily have witnessed a smart
reaction In February had 1t not been that
new element of excitement then seized
the market. Within two or three months,
between two and three billions of new Sc
curities were issued, representing great
consultations of Industrial corporations
Ihat event was an exciting surprise. Oc-
curing simultaneously with an outburst
OF unusual business activity, 1t was at
first construed as another evidence of an
era of great national development; and
from that impression the speculative
spirit In the market received new lease
OF life; the more so as the promoters of
the new industrial combinations found it
to their interest to foster the speculative
spirit and keep up the general boom. Such
an extraordinary excitement however,
could not be long maintained at full pitch.
Dlfferences of opinion developed as to the
conservatism of the new movement. The
banks maintained an attitude of reserve
towards it; and within the last two weeks
there has been an abatement of the an
nouncements of new consultations With
turn IN the tide of the new industrials,
an abatement of speculation In the reg
ular list was inevitable The "bears''
seized the opportunity for a determined
attack, and hence the very considerable
break of Tuesday
Wednesdays market exhibited spirited
effort to rally the ranks of the bulls
fortunately, London happened to be in a
buoyant mood and on Tuesday and We'd
nesday took fully 100 900 shares of various
securities. Certain houses which have be-
come interested In the new combines also
contributed their influence towards brac-
ing the market, and Wednesdays trans
actions showed a considerable recovery
from Tuesdays decline The force of the
downward reaction may therefore be said
TO have been broken; but at the same time
the market has lost considerable of its
intrinsic strength. There has been good
deal OF compulsory selling, and not a few
outside holders have been driven ont of
the arena by the professional bears. Prob
ably not a little Of their stock has gone
into the hands of buyers whose object is
the merely temporary one Of helping their
therefore, to take it for granted that the
break of Tuesday will be followed by a
new upward boom in the market Among
the Things to be aScertained before that
can De assumed is the extent to which the
issues OF the new consultations are pass
Ing into. investors hands and into specu-
lat1ve operations and thereby displacinp
the older securities. 1t seems safe to as
sumo that quite important amount Of
the preferred stocks of the new indus
trials are now hanging over the market
for reallzat fon; and, if the holders are
willing to meet the market, it is not i'm
possible that the new influx NAV have an
important bearing upon the value Of other
stocks. In view of the entering of these
new interests into Wall street, it will be
prudent to maintain watchfuI attitude.
Provided the new corporations should
prove as successful as their friends hone
there can be no doubt that securities rep
| resent1ng our Industrial interests will in
time probably occupy a position on the
stock exchange second only to that held
by the railroad companies. The determine
alton ofithis problem, however, must wait
upon experiment.
AT later stage, the real significance of
Tuesdays break and Wednesdays rally
can be better judged. How far both
movements were real or manipulatiye re-
mains to be seen; meantime, it will be wise
buying on drops and taking moderate
profits on rises, and not losing sight of the
factor that there is a considerable amount
or new securities awaiting an opportunity
| for sale, and of kind which may prove
al uncertain asset to speculative holders.
| whatever they may be as permanent in
Vestment. AT the moment, there are no
new elements in sight calculated to ma
terially affect the future course of the
| market The remarkable activity in the
general trade of the country remains I'M
changed and may be expected to continue
| indefinitely without any ,xrltement: but
| the question is whether this influence has
not been already discounted and whether
it's effect will go beyond giving a mere
steadying tone to the market without pro-
ducing any further considerable rise In
prices.
The influence Of the crop prospects Is
at present neutral element; probably
however, the worst probabilities have
been discounted. and any marked i'm
provement on the output foreshadowed
in the forecasts of the department of
agriculture would be likely to Improve
the position of the railroad list So far
as respects winter wheat, the conditions
on May j are construed, by the statis-
tician of the produce exchange. as mean
Ing crop of 318,500, 600 bushels; which ia
10000, 600 bushels less than the indicated
crop at the same date of last year That
decrease, however is much more than
offset by the increase in visible supply
and In farmers stocks as compared with
year ago. Owing to the lateness of the
season, it Is still impossible to form any
estimate of the crop of spring wheat.
Upon the whole, taking the but partially
developed situation as 1t stands TODAY.
there is nothing to prevent the possibility
that the volume of wheat, new and old,
to be transported during the coming crop
season may prove equal to that of La