The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-14

with so few developments in the way of
news, with no confederation of many of
the deal stories that are afioat and with
the money outlook, as ii has been re-
Gently, far from satisfactory. AS has
been pointed out In this column hereto
fore. it is not a matter of Uncomfortable
difficulty to make prices go UP as they
have continued to do after the entire pro-
fessional talent has become bearish, but
it is entirely out of the ordinary market
experience that no violent reaction should
follow such an advance.
The explanation that Mr.. Morgan is
running the market is a figure OF speech
that means that the big people are be-
hind it with Mr.. Morgan doing the steer
ing. SO much is true beyond doubt. But
this does NOT explain the situation by any
means. People that know him to be the
leader still do not understand how he
is working, and what he expects TO do
in the end. There is a persistent asser-
ton in quarters that ought to know that
he is not selling his stocks as rapidly as
he was expected to get rid of them. 1t is
said that he sells very heavily at times,
but that he is forced to buy heavily, too.
The same is true of other large interests
in the market, the Gouids. the Standard
Oil people. and the Pennsylvania crowd.
One explanation offered for some of the
mysteries of the market is that the in
siders have not found the public nearly
so eager to BUY stocks as they hoped for
According TO this theory stocks Were
bought nedNliN ana continuously the
insiders all last summer and during the
entire winter well, and few were sold
because when an attempt to sell was made
the public was not in sight. This. it is
said, had Continued to be the fact even
during the Immensely active speculation
of the past month, when the advances in
prices have been of that particularly wild
character that usually proves such an ir-
resistible bait TO the outsider. The peo-
pie that take this view are less clear as
to what the end of the movement will be-
Some believe that the public will at last
be entlced into buying and that the in
siders will get out gradually during the
coming year. They believe that for this
reason there is no probability of large
and sensational break in prices. The same
conclusion may be arrived at if one con-
siderS the present boom to be exactly as
Mr.. Morgan planned, and if it is believed
that he is not trying to sell out yet to
any great extent and not worrying about
that end of his programme.
Another theory is that the insiders are
not at harmony: that they are struggling
for mastery in the West and bidding for
the different railways against each other
in veritable battle of the giants. This
theory has some features that commend
it The immense blocks of stocks that are
daily bought and sold at the highest lev
els must be for the very most important
interests. Few people are willing to be-
lieye that they are matched orders" A
table has been compiled showing the con-
trolling interest in $4,000 miles of railway
in the country TO be in the hands of five
groups of capitalists, the Vanderbilt
group, the Pennsylvania group. the Gould
group. the Kuhn-Loeb- H hartman group,
and the Morgan group.
York Central. Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern. New York, Chicago and St
Louis. Michigan Central. Canada South
ern, Lake Erie and Western, G.. c. g. ss
st. L. system, Delaware. Lackawanla
and Western. Chicago and Northwestern,
Chicago, st. Paul. Minneapolis and oma
ha, a total of IL .i27 miles.
In the Pennsylvania group are Pennsyl-
vania system, Buffalo. Rochester and
Pittsburg, Western New York and Penn
SYLVAN Chesapeake and Ohio. Norfolk
and Western, Baltimore and Ohio system,
Long Island. a total of i1,312 miles.
In the Gould group are the Missouri
Pacific. Texas and Pacific, st. Louis
Southwestern. International and Great
Northern. Denver and Rio Grande. Mis-
souri, Kansas and Texas, Wabash, a to-
tai of 15.2l5 miles.
the Union Pacific. Oregon Railroad and
Navigation, Oregon Short Line. Chicago
and Alton. Southern Pacific, Kansas City
southern, Chicago Terminal Transfer, a
in the Morgan group are the Reading.
Lehigh Valley, Erie, Central OF New Jer-
Southern Railway, Mobile and Ohio, a to-
tai of Is. rs mites.
The table is a good one, and up to the
present time an accurate one probably.
But it will be seen that it does not in
clude a number of the most important
railway systems of the West the North
ern PACIFIC. the St Paul. the Burlington,
the Rock island. and the Atchison among
them. 1t will be noticed also that IL is
in the securities of these lines largely |
that the most sensational advances have /
been made during the past two months, /
and that during the same time there has /
been comparatively little advance in the |
general list. One difficulty in the way of /
that the big groups are fighting /
each other for control of the grangers /
lies In the fact that such a fight is in its !
nature entirely at variance with the en- |
tire trend of recent railway history. The 4
of the past two or three |
years have all been made with the view 4
Of uniting the millionaire interests and |
It has been believed that all of these in |
terests have been closely In touch. II has /
been the theory, in fact. that competition /
was to be done away with.
The best plan for the ordinary investor
In such a market is to sell out his securf-
ties when they reach a level commensu- |
rate with their intrinsic merits as the
srangers have done now. In the end no |
matter what the cause of the present ire
mendous prices may be. these securities
VIII sell at their proper level. Stocks |
should be bought that have legitimate
advance still ahead of them. The Atchi- /
sons. the Southern Railway securities, the
anthracite coalers. many of them, the
Eries, and some of the Gouids NAV be
included in such a list ST low priced
stocks
The following table gives the prices of
the active securities IN the present mar
Het at the close yesterday in comparison
with the close two weeks ago and the
level in last September before the present
boom began. The level of two weeks
shows in a very interesting way that there
has been no very important advance re- |