The Washington times., 1901-09-13
Government Ronds.

U. s. IS. X, 1904. ................ ivs ly!,
u. S SIS, c. ltoi, q. F-.......... ive 'o'
The news from the bedside of President
| Mckinney Is uf SO reassurinS nature
| that from stock market point of view
| IL has ceased to be the matter OF most
| moment. All day yesterday the question
| of the action of the St. Paul directors
| at their dividend meeting was the topic
chiefly under discussion. and market
| prices for the most part moved in ac-
| cordance with the tenor of the gossip re-
garding the dividend. Early in the day
! there was a rumor that after all there
would be no increase in the rate ana
from that time st. Paul and to a lesser
extent the entire market sagged When
the announcement was made omclaiiy
that there would be no extra shortly al
ter o'clock there was an acceieratlon
of the decline which lasted until the close,
though except in ST. Paul the losses were
not very heavy. The market was dull
until the last half hour, and the total
business Of the day was small.
The day was not an important one. The
announcement of the St. Paul dividend
rat cannot be considered to have changed
market conditions greatly. Some people
/ that chronically take the peSslinlstlc
point Of view expressed the OPINION az
the close yesterday that the incident Will
prove the turning point in the market
and that there will begin now bad break
in prices, but such a belief seems iiilWar-
ranteL IN view OF the IaCl lildl Tue
tempted murder of the President did not
cause break of any Importance. Care
full market people look for a rather mar
row market for some time to come Ihey
believe that the inside interests could
force up prices materially if they wished
but that such policy is not likely to be
pursued because of the possibility OF
monetary stringency. On the otner hand
general business conditions are so good
that IL is not believed there Will be much
desire to sell stocks. or much decline in
prices while the insiders are waiting Tor
easy money.
The s.. Paul matter is an interesting
one, even if it is not Of any particular
moment to the general market. A month
ago there had been no thought of an ex-
tra dividend, according TO one OF the dl-
rectors. Immediately after the shooting
of the President 1t was whispered in the
street that perhaps the directors might
declare larger disbursement than the
regular per cent. either in the form of
Il regular increase. or an extra per
cent. 1t now seems entirely probable
that this gossip was circulated to help
counteract the effect of the tragedy at
Buffalo 1t is likely that the extra divi-
dend would have been declared in fact
if the news regarding the President 5
health We're not so entirely reassuring.
As to the view that investment holders
of the stock will take. il is hardly possi-
BILE to believe that they will consider il
advisable to sell out The stock is re-
cSiNluE % per cent 4UnufIi- per cent
more than a year ago. The company is
earning double this amount and larger
dividend is only ueslion of time In any
event. The outlook for earnings this
year could hardly be better with the
wheat crop prospects so fine and the
general business condition in the North
west excellent. St. Paul is quite as good
a stock, as far as actual worth is con-
cerned. as Burlington, and during the
pasG year the Burlington holders have
turned in their stock at 200. The stock
broke yesterday to $50 nd a fraction and
made only small recovery before the
close.
The monetary situation is not bad.
Secretary Gage has purchased $1,000
bonds. His offer to buy $40. 600. .0o0 at his
sip put out regarding the st. Paul diyi-
dend. 1t was made to prevent a panic in
the stock market, or possible panic
rather. Now that this danger is over to
a large extent, 1t is extremely probable
that the Secretary will continue to ad-
here to the prices for bonds he fixed
some time ago, which up to the present
have not resulted in many sales TO him.
The fact that the internal revenue re-
ceipts to the extent of s5.0o0.o01 will be
given to the Government depositaries
the country is of more i'm
portance really than the bond business
because this move VIII, without doubt,
give the New York banks scme addi-
tional cash. and at the same time will
prevent quite so heavy a drain on them
from the interior. Cali money rates
fuctuatod somewhat widely yesterday. at
one time being as low as 2I2 per cent and
later advancing to per cent.
The weakest stocks on the list yester-
day with the exception of st Paul were
Copper and Smelters. There
has been inside selling of both stocks. but
of the former. for some reason
that the outside public has not yet learn
cd. Some authorities say that the outlook
for the copper business is poor Others
consider the weakness of both these Sc
curities due to manipulation, and they
talk Of the probability that there will be
a good rally after some of the outside
stock has been absorbed.
In this connection there is much talk re-
garding the statement of the Shelters
Company printed in fun in this column
yesterday, On the face OF the statement
ii is a fairly good one, Z per cent being
shown for the common stock as the re-
disposition to go behind the face of the |
figures however. 1t Is noted for instance
that 100000 Of treasury stock was dis
posed of during the year. and that at the
for this in the form of cash. The total
of cash. bills receivable and accounts
receivable is much less than s5.c00.0c0
The stock on hand is inventoried at an
immense figure. more than 81 000,000
showing an increase for the year of
Sll, ,0c0 600. 1t is possible that large part
OF the treasury SlUCh soil may nave gone
into stock on hand" in the shape of
metals and ores. 1t has been said that
the company was buying heavily to hold
up the market prices Such a campaign
may be a, winning one in the end, or it
may not.
The recent strength of the Junior Van
derbiIt'' securities has given rise to a
rurnor that a subsidiary company is to be
somewhat after the Pennsylva-
mia plan to hold the stocks of the Wander
hilt companies not included in the New
York Central Company. The plan is feas-
ible, II is said, but there has been no ofii- |
cial suggestion of anything of the kind.
The Steel securities were weak all day
in sympathy with the general market, and |
perhaps to a certain extent also because |
the rumors of the ending of the strike !
current on Wednesday were found TO be |
without much If any foundation The |
outlook is NOT bad for the stocks. how |
ever, and many careful people will buy
both of them on reactions.
The Republic Iron and Steel securities |
were weak all day account of the |
statement of the company, which was bad |
and even worse than had been expected. !
The common stock went down to Is and a |
fraction, and the preferred TO &C. In this |
case however, there is really less cause |
for pessimism than there is regarding |
the Smelters statement The present bust |
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