The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-17

! group Of anthracite coal railroads The
| purchase Of the Pennsylvania Coal Com
p2ny in the intcrcs; CT The Erie. and Of a
| number CT smaller companies by the On
| tario and Western, not only secures a
| continuance Of anthracite tonnage TO the
| two railroads named but. what is of Ear
| mere Importance. ii resui,s in the alan-
| donment of the construction of the inic-
| pendent coal railroad which. threa eGcd 10
| break down the monopoly that now Sis
| tains tolls at very profitable rate Cor the
| anthracite-carrying syndicate. 1t means
| that the syndicate can maintain the ad-
vance in the price OF anthracite which it
| has made since the strike and even N
| crease il if necessary. There is one po-
| tent factor. however which acts as a
| check upon eyorhitan; prices for anthra-
| cite coal. and that is the abundant supply
| Of lituminous coal. Comreti ion from this
| source has assumed new phase through
The extended use o. gas for fuel purposes
! Gas companies everywhere have been
! pressing the gas stoves and ranges into
use. and they are becoming popular not
| alone for summer use, but for the winter
months as well. Through the use Of gas
| as fuel, therefore. btuminous coal has
| almost destroyed the summer market for
! anthracite coal, ana il viii make more
or less Of an inroad upon the winter de-
m2nd. Some idea CT the Importance o. the
| Pennsylvania Coal Company may be b.
| tanned BIZ comparing i; with the Philadel
| phia aud R,adins Goal and Iron Company.
| There are 100000 shares OF Pennsylvania
| Coal stock. which at s2277S per share makes
| The value of the stock s27, COO, 900. To this
| is added $40 00o. 0oG of quick assets. wbi III
| brings the total value to s37600,Oc0. The
| coal lands of the Reading are valued ct
| sci ,o1S,173. and the improvements equip
rsaynt
| valued at 1900 ,0G0 additional. or S74,-
| 100000 in ALL which is about double the
| value Of the Pennsylvania Coal Conpany's
/! possessions.
y report is current that the New York
| Central will acquire the Philadelphia and
| Reading Railroad Company. Its control is
| now practically vested in j. Plerpont Nor
| gan. who can swing il in the interest of the
Vanderbilts almost as effectually rs If the
New York Central owned it. If the New
York Central shou:': own and operate the
Buffalo. Rochester and Pttsburg and the
Reading, ii would have line from Buff
falO TO Pit,sburg. which would Offset the
new division of the Pennsylvania Railroad
formed out Of the Allegheny Valley and the
Western New York and Pennsylvania, and
also new line to t;dewater at Philadei-
phia from Pittsburg by way of the Beech
Greek Railroad. which the New York Cen
tral already owns. The Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company might countenance a move
Of this sort in order that check should
be put upon Andrew Carnegie, who has al
ready made one shipment of steel rails 10
England over the Buffalo. Rochester and
Pittsburg Beech Creek and Reading route
10 tidewcter. Mr.. Carnegie is making two
other experimental shipments; one by way
of his Pittsburg. Bessemer and Lake Erie
road to Lake Erie and thence by way OF
the St Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean
to a foreign port. The other is an all
water route via the Ohio River from Pitts
burg and down the Mississippi TO New Or
leans. thence by ocean steamer to England.
The all-water route would be the cheapest,
although the siowest. and in times Of low
water on the Ohio ii would probably have
to be abandoned
Following Is the repor: Of the Metropoli-
tan Street Railway New York for the
quarter ended September 80:
Gross earnings. 81 AS $50 Inc. .sio7 l0T
Net earnings. .sg0s55 Inc. 1905
80 ise. -'...'-'..'- 100 -" me i.o az
Fixed charges. ............ ,isss5 Inc. 45.s!s
Surplus ..-----.-..-....-.. 9A 2s5 Inc. l32,Ji9
The general balance sheet shows cash on
hand sSi1.6ii and profit and loss sur
plus of s2.o9S61s.
New York fractions. particularly Msn-
haitian, ere showing the effects of ,on-
ccn'rated buying. I: is the belief of one
OF the largest operators in Wall Street
that Manhattan stockholders will receive
dividends Of fully per cent during the
year following the installation of cleo
tricity as motive power in the system,
and there is reason to believe that in
siders are buying the stock in anticipa-
ton of just such development And IL
ft,ll mot t,xf for hat. h..s
sders" includes Metropolitan Street Rail
way interests. Nor is Brooklyn Transit
10 be ignored. Impending developments
will mean much to Brooklyn, and will dis-
close the fact thai today the property is
in very much better position than when
the stock sold at 131.
The demand for attractive preference
issues of Industrial companies ought to
broaden. II ought to include such stocks
as American Car and Foundry preferred,
Federal Steel preferred. Republic Steel
preferred, and International Paper pre-
ferred. American Car and Foundry Iep-
resents company that in three months
was able to increase its working capt. al
from $4,000, 900 TO SO, 600. coo out of earn
ings. paying at the same time dividends
on the preferred stock at the rate of Z |
per cent. Surplus earnings in the COM
pany'S first fiscal period were 81, s9s, 648 |
and throughout the summer at the rate of |
$500 900 net a month. In September earn |
ings fell of. but the loss is being recov-
cred by current business. An influence
which keeps many of these industrial |
preference issues down is the selling ey
houses that have carried large blocks |
since the organization of the companies |
and by houses that took the stocks on the |
decline following the boom of 1899. On
every fractional advance stock is sent |
into the market, and as consequence Tie |
upward price movement is slow. People |
who sell do not let the stock go on ac- |
count OF any defect in the stock, but be- |
cause the stock represents sp. culative |
accounts that were accumulated at |
cheaper prices. and because the stock was |
bought to hold until the time is ripe for |
its distribution among investors. Invest |
ors are now buying, and attractive indus
trial preferred issues are going into in
vestors' boxes at prices which :etIrn |
from to IL per cent on the investment.
Insiders in the American Stee. and Wire
Company are now claiming that the pur
chase of the American Steamship Com
pany at price which gave big profit to
the directors was really bull argument
on the stock. The street has found II
rather hard to understand how the pur-
chase by the company of a property for
IS 600 900 which cost the directors So .G00,-
900 can be turned into a bull argument.