New-York tribune., 1900-03-21

Third Avenue met all expectations. going UP oy
leaps and bounds. and all the other tracuon
stocks also advanced sharply in sympathy with
ii. AT the opening of business on the STOCK EN-
change the galleries We're filed with spectators
and around the Third Avenue trading post was
the largest crowd of brokers which had gathered
TO trade In any single stock in years. Al io
O'Clock the whole crowd began yelling and ges-
ticulating at once, the brokers for the hapiess
shorts bidding wildly and desperately in the
effort 10 effect purchases which would enapie
their customers TO close out their contracts ana
escape threatened further loss. Third Avenue
closed on Monday at So but yesterday morning
opened wide at minimum advance OF hNe
points sales being effected simultaneously IN
different parts of the crowd at prices ranging All
the way from 90 to 100. These transactions
represented the transfer Of nearly six Thousand
shares. The first regular sale Thereafter was al
az and then on profit taking the stock declined
10 90 the low mark of the day. advancing again.
however. par by the end of the nrst hour
under renewed buying pressure from the shorts
At noon IL was selling at 941s, at O'Clock at o''
at O'Clock at 99s4, and il closed after touchine
10l7s at 10lA. net gain for the day OF 1ot
per cent and a total advance Of 33 per cent from
Saturdays closing price
SCARCITY OF FLOATING SUPPLY
The scarcity OF the floating supply Of the stock
was evidenced by the fact that as high as per
cent premium. or about S400 for one hundred
shares was paid for the use OF this stock TOT
the day Metropolitan. Brooklyn Rapid Transit
and Manhat ttan followed the lead OF Third Ave
nue the short interest in each property adVanc-
ing the price by heavy covering purchases. Met
ropotan which closed on Monday at looA'
opened yesterday all the way from lo41z TO 100
rose TO 171k and closed at 16S, net gain for
the day OF ~ per cent Brooklyn Rapid Tran
sit opened is points up. at &C. and after selling
as high as 721k closed at 71ik, net advance OF
65k per cent Manhattan opened 1s per cent
above Mondays close sold between 931s and
e7@. and closed at 9614 net gain for the day
OF 3ls per cent Consolidated Gas, with which
the Whitney syndicate is prominently iden-
titled made a net gain OF per cent, closing at
1S5 and Brooklyn Union Gas, which is con-
trolled by the Standard Oil associates Of the
Whitney interests in Consolidated Gas, advanced
s per cent These the chief gains of the
day although the general list, with few excep-
tions also showed more or less substantial gains
MUST HAVE BEEN ENORMOUS
In the phenomenal advance Of the last few
days in Third Avenue it is inevitable that the
losses suffered by some Of the shorts must have
been enormous and that the troubles Of those
who have not yet been able to cover are still
far from over The entire outstanding capital
is 100000 shares Metropolitan interests declare
that their holdings at the lowest 10000
shares one of them putting the amount as high
as 5000 To this must be added Henry Harts
2S,gW shares and also, Il is estimated, 2o0Oo
shares held by estates and by stockholders not
likely to sell any price. The difference be-
tween the aggregate of these holdings and the
total 100000 shares represents the scanty sup
ply of floating stock available for covering short
ho,-a
gated yesterday morning 10000 shares. Great
interest was manifested yesterday in James R.
Keene's relation to the corner" Mr.. Keene
himself declined to make any statement about
Third Avenue, but his friends asserted in the
afternoon that he has suffered no losses by the
operations of the last few days in Third Avenue.
However it may be with Mr.. Keene it is gen
orally understood that another large operator,
whom many of the rank and file have followed
as the young Napoleon of the Consolidated
bears has been hard hit, having had to settle,
it is alleged, yesterday, at heavy loss short
contracts aggregating many thousands of shares
in Third Avenue Brooklyn Rapid Transit.
Metropolitan and certain other stocks.
OF INTEREST TO FINANCIAL DISTRICT.
Now that the Metropolitan has secured the
Third Avenue the question which interests the
financial district is how the former company will
resolve the financial difficulties of its acquisition
There reports in the Street yesterday
that il might not attempt to cope with them at
ALL but might sell its holdings as ii had bought
them, the acquisition of control being. according
10 this theory, simply move in a colossal stock
jobbing game. But, while this rumor found few
supporters and fewer believers il is undisputed
that in purchasing the control of the Third Ave
nue. property the Whitney interests have made
themselves liable for the payment of a corre-
spending part of an enormous debt With the
status OF the Third Avenue company as it was
last week il is argued. the creditors would have
compromised on a reasonable percentage of their
claims but that the control of the prop
erty has passed into responsible and strong
hands the creditors will probably ask for full
payment. the aggregate unfunded debt now
amounting to about S20OO0000 The property
cannot be taken out of the receivers hands until
the debts are paid, but the principal cred
itors are on the friendliest terms with the Whit
ney syndicate it is entirely reasonable to sup
pose In the view of Wall Street that immediate
payment of the claims Will not be pressed
1t was admitted yesterday by interests not
affiliated with Mr.. Whitney and his associates
that the Metropolitan. going concern" Of
high credit, would probably be able to take care
of its acquisition but it predicted that it
would in time find that in taking the
debt ridden Third Avenue IL had made possibly
an unwise move. But Mr.. Whitney and his
friends have been in the street railway business
for time, with what may be called at
least a fair measure OF success. and although
making provision for a floating debt Of
s190000o0 or S20o00o00 in addition TO raising
the several millions necessary for completing
the electrical equipment of the Third Avenue
system. is a tremendous operation, still the
Whitney group generally credited with
htS cj1Y- e1-7u bo,,