New-York tribune., 1900-12-09
financial
The Financial World.


morning, when Steel Wire broke and sh
raids were made on other stocks during ~
day. They succeeded in giving verv roiv.s
look to things before the close. But the rav,
morning. the market stood firm under a clear ,
point drop in Sugar. which followed the =,
nouncement OF the dividend at the regular rata
without an extra; which. 1t would seem. bas
been expected by some people That an an
parently weakening market could stand praef-
cally Unmoved a shock like this. was good proo,
that it was not so weak as it looked. Commi.-
sion house customers. who practically are all an
the bull side. took courage; and though the
market since has been irregular. with spells n,
dullness. there has been little to weaken faith
In 1t. Fears of trouble in the money marka,
have exerted some depressing influence. II wa.
rumored. when call rates stiffened up as tha
week drew to a close. that very bad bank
statement was coming The loss in surplus re-
serve. it was rumored. might reach to seven
millions. When the statement appeared yester-
day with loss Of slightly over Ave, the stock
market strengthened. A little help win be given
the coming week by the Government interest
payments. but not much. II is quite possible
that between now and the first of the year. thers
may be a temporary furry in money. while the
banks are preparing for the January disburse.
ments. 1t may not come. but it is the part Of
prudence to assume that 1t will and to be pre-
pared accordingly
The large amount OF money available for in
vestment at this time. despite the low reserves
of the banks is strikingly shown in the public
purchases of bonds. Two OF the large bond
houses report that their over-the-counter bus-
ness in the East month has broken all their
records for any similar period. The unsold rs-
mains Of old issues have been cleaned up, and
the recently advertised new issues have all been
taken. The Ten million issue OF Third Avenue
bonds, advertised by Kuhn, Loeb & Co, went
Immediately.
Among the old bonds in the market, the Erie
general lien As attracted attention by going
from 20 to 81 between Tuesday and yesterday
thereby depriving this column OF an anticipated
bull point for to-day. For. casting about for
some new good thing to speak of. It seemed
that these Erie As. offered the best subject; but
even while the figures were being put together to
present attractfvely. some party started buying
the bonds. and they marched up steadily six
points. closing at 81 yesterday. AT the same
| time the Erie stocks moved up. and these. with
the bonds. have been one OF the prominent feat
u.es OF the weeks market. The buying is
credited to the Morgan interests. Two per cent
comes of the bonds the first Of January. As to
the security Of the bonds. it needs only to
state that the Erie company in the fiscal year
ending June last. earned surplus over all in
| terest and rental charges. OF about S19O0OOO;
and this on the high ratio of 751z per cent work
| ing expenses.
After an old bond has walked Up six points in
less than a week. one hesitates to predict what
| it may do in the next week; but II may be said
that the talk is the bond will go to S5 on this
| trip.
On Wednesday the Atchison directors declared
the seni-annual dividend on the prferred stock
The declaration had Strengthening effect on
the general market. The books close on the
10th prox- The main consideration speculatively
in respect TO Atchison now, Is how soon the
earnings will justify the payment of dividends
on the common stock The preferred being
safely established. on it's per cent basis. as ths
earnings are watched the calculations made on
them refer not so much to that as 70 the COM
mon If the gross runs up, as it Is estimated il
viii. to not less than s5OOOOOO0 this fiscal year.
IL is easy to see that the common stock must
be promoted to the list OF dividend payers
What has taken place with regard to the
Atchison securities. will be repeated in respect
70 the securities OF the Southern Railroad. No
matter what the temporary Illustrations Of the
week may be in the stocks of the Southern. the
| fact 20 be borne in mind is that this Is a great
and growing property. AS President Spencer
recently pointed out in his talk at Louisville.
while on inspection trip. the gross earnings
|
past five years. The comparison IS made on
substantially the same mileage. the earnings Of
the properties taken in during that period being
reckoned in for comparison With the present
up-to-date management continued this means
| that Southern preferred stock will progress from
| it's now per cent dividend to 4 per cent anu
| from to s. which is it's full rate the same as
Atchison preferred When this has been at
/ tanned. the common stock viii be traded IN Win
an eye to it's becoming a dividend payer. as
Atchison common is at this time. If this pre-
diction seem too sanguine. let it be eonsiaefeu
| how comparatively short a time il Is since Il
seemed impossible the Atchison earnings eouid
ever promise a dividend on it's common stock
| Furthermore. IT can be calculated that Southern
common will move up to the dividend list . per
cent being paid on the preferred. all the while
the working expenses OF the road are steadily
maintained. because of expenditures from earn
| ings for improving the property, at a rauo h0'
less than 50 to 20 per cent.
/ Among the minor incidents Of the week may
/ be mentioned evidence Of accumulation OF sioeA
by some interest in Texas Pacific; also an ap-
/ pearance OF something having broke loose IN
Amalgamated Copper
\ In the face Of the bad break in Steel Wire anu
the occasional heav1ness of the market thS
strength OF Federal Steel has been specially no.
| ticeable- Whenever the stock broke % tnel'
appeared to be scale orders to take it, Ine laii
/ inference from this. is that the January diV'
dend will be all right Naturally the directors
must feel that they are particularly watched os
the public at this time. because OF the per
formances in the other company II the diVF
dend comes out as intimated. there is no reason
why Federal Steel should not go up into tnS
Cos again Tennessee Coal followed Steel WIRE
in it's dives. and director of the COMPANY
/ ~