New-York tribune., 1900-12-30
financial.
The Financial World.

/ stocks. appears to have reached the stage
where the ST. Paul comes 90 the front Ths
heavy buying of this stock the past week which
has put It up about ten points (the price was
141 yesterday. astonished the Street. and
caused much discussion dfd the persisteut
buying which put up NortherR Pacific II was
mentioned here last week. that rumors and
something more than rumOrs we're in circulation
that new arrangements had been made which
would bring the Northern Pacific the Great
Northern and the st. Paul properties into closer
working relations. This is about all that ia
known. by any except a limited circle Of in
siders. as TO what form the new deal viii TAKE
1t may be that closer relations viii be estab
lished simply by joint ownership OF stocks: and
it may be that more formal relations ain be
entered into. But anyway. We see that what
ever the plans are, they involved the acquire
ment of large amounts of the stocks OF the COM
panies concerned; and that the requirement has
pat Northern Pacific Up about forty points from
the level at which the first buying started: while
st. Paul has gone up about eighteen In the
same time Great Northern has had a considsra-
bic rise. which. however. has not attracted much
attention publicly. because the stock has never
been dealt in much.
II We assume the rearrangement OF existing
lines into trunk line from Chicago 10 the
Pacific Coast, il is natural to suppose that il
to the Eastern seabOard; and from what is hap
pening in the market it requires little stretch Of
imagination to make the Erie the Eastern di-
vision. TO speak. OF this new line. The Oh
jeet aimed at in this combination is economy
Of operation and stability OF rates such as ex-
perience has shown to be attains Die only whea
ali parts OF a iine are compacted by joint owner
ship, which concentrates responsibility.
In the Erie securities, the assertion stfI holds
good that the money is in the preferred stocks.
The first preferred at Is to 80 is fifteen to
twenty points away from what it can be when
the payment of dividends at per cent begins
on it; and that cannot be SO very far OF. The
second preferred will naturally follow upward
the other stock; while the common viii resume
the place IL once held in the market as one OF
the popular trading stocks.
There is some significant talk about the Read
ing securities the first preferred more particu-
larIy. II is the sort Of talk which often precedss
a movement Of some Importance. The situation
OF the anthracite coal trade may account for
this. Delaware & Hudson, it Is stated. will raise
It's dividend for the coming year to 8 per cent.
and the stock has already risen in anticipation
OF it. The same state OF affairs explains the
speculation in Ontario Western. The Erie
company also. it must be remembered, is not
only a large coal carrier. but is a coal
owner
The other great coal carrier and owner among
the trunk lines is the Pennsylvania whose
stock has risen to 14T; and conservative bank
ers who know the property thoroughly. viii still
tell you IL is cheap stock. intimating that il
will go higher. There is something heard Of an
intended new issue OF stock TO be offered 20 the
stockholders on favorable terms This is prob
able. since the company in the past year Or so
has been large purchaser OF the securities Of
other companies; and the money had TO be OBJ
tanned by borrowing II made the PennsyI-
vania the largest borrower in the Street. II is
these loans which presumably win be funded
into Pennsylvania stock.
In the granger group of stocks. outside OF St.
Paul there has been no conspicuous movement
Rock Island had little lift the other day: but
it moves rather slowly. On the general situa-
tion. it ought to go higher.
About the Union Pacifcs. it is strange that the
preferred stock should be slow footed while
the common is justifying by its advance all
the predictions successfully made for II. True.
the preferred is a fixed per cent stock; but it
is as good as an ordinary per cent bond and
should sell on a basis commensurate with its
safety. The common, when it was at so was
predicted here to be good for 90: when it was
60 that it was good for 30; when it was 90 it
was said II would probably go to 50. II crossed
% yesterday. At 50 it pays per cent on the
investment-so so cannot be called an extrava-
CANT price. Meantime the preferred hangs
around 50 so. which is an entirely too low
price for IL things 60
Without knowing anything about IT, and in
deed with ali efforts to discover something quite
bafled yet one is inclined 20 predict that some
thing is going on among the Southwestern
properties which will develop into a combina-
tion not unlike that which has been made in
the Northwest In the days OF Jay Gould the
Missouri Pacific controlled the Texas Pacific
and the NJ. K. & 7. The combination was too
unwieldy for those times. and the several parts
OF the system fell apart-perhaps il would be
more correct, in view OF the way il was dona-tO
say they weye wrenched apart. In these later
days OF great railroad combinations a reunion
Of these parts would be natural and logical and
perhaps this is in contemplation. This is abso-
lutely a surmise only, and may be all wrong
but it is based on the past history of the roads
and the present buying of the stocks. Incident
ally. IL may be recalled that when Texas Pacific
was between 10 and 20, II was noted here that
the evidence Of accumulation of stock was very
plain Yesterday the stock was selling above
70 There are some issues OF M. X & 7. bonds
which ought to be good purchases at present
prices.
The steel stocks had lively but very brief
furry one dav in the week They rushed UP
and then dropped back again as quickly. Fed
eral Steel works up slowly. very slowly for a
stock which has per cent dividend coming
early next month. Sugar has done some more
gymnastics. in addition to those which were
noted last week. Some more may be expected.
II there is any truth in the variety OF runors
in circulation relating to settlement OF the
eoffee-sugar war.
The only other thing rumored concerns
MetrODOUtan- has