Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-03-26
THE BULGE IN RAILROADS.

IA -
railroad stocks and bonds over a SER
les of recent years presents
some interesting statistics of the rapid
rise in value of the securities OF the
O prominent roads. 1t appears
that in less than a year and a half the
of the middle west have in
creased in value from 40 to so per cent.
for bonds, that the general apprecia-
ton has been from IL to 20 per CENT.
for. high class bonds, and Is to 20
per cent. for dividend paying stocks,
while stocks of some of the reorganiz-
ed companies have increased from 100
to $50 per cent, with an exceptional
advance, in Frisco. of 400 per cent.
Missouri and M, X. & T. have gone UP
IT'S per cent, Southern Pacific $50 per
cent, Erie common $50, Erie Second
preferred 225, Erie first preferred 125,
Reading common, Reading first prefer
red and Union Pacific common 100,
Southern railway common 1870, and At
kison 100 per cent.
IA financial authority has this to say
of the situation, and it is well worth
cheson 100 per cent.
Present prices are the fulfllment OF
the widest optimistic dreams or Two
years ago. They are the ample real!za-
ton of the most ~extravagant bull1sn
prophecies, yet the singular phenomenon
Is observed of a. bulliSh element swollen
into a mighty army pressing forward as
though the upward movement were just
beginning, as though the future were all
nianism. Yet it is a mathematical cer-
tainty that quotations are nearer top
than when the dizzy ascent was COM
mence daway off down there in the val
The gospel of doubt and pessimism is
in diSfavor and the appearance OF a
raven will dispel any Wall street crowd
and scatter an average ticker group; yet
thoughtful operators are asking them
selves and one another in all seriousness
if the increased business and economies
of operation upon which the wonderful
stock boom is predicted, nave not been
discredited in the rise already scored.
They are asking if the lipit of legitimate
advance in prices of securities has not
been reached and speculation taken on
the complexion of rainbow chasing and
tulip trading. There may be temporary
profit in swapping jack-knives and mark
ing them up day after day. The pastime
finally savors of the Mulberry street
poker game in which the players gamble
10 per cent. cash. The game is 80 per
cent. wind"
And later on the same writer adds:
Not since the halcyon days of railroad
expansion, 1s6S-75, has the like been seen
in Wall street. Many phases of the cur
the greed for swallowing every bait are
familiar to the veterans who passed
through, the earlier excitement and con-
sequent collapse, the effects of which were
felt for twenty years. The experience is
new in the rising generation and the re-
mark is frequently heard that no such ex-
element and fantastic exploitation was
ever witnessed.
THE country is richer than it was
fhifty years ago., and operations on a
of Wall street and public adventure was
even stronger then than at present.
Schemers got rich then as now, and the
public quite as hungry and indiscrimin-
ating in it's pursuit of good things in
the tinsel line. If anything the public
bought more largely on rainbow promises
than now, according to it's means; And.
bauchi
THE one strongest speculative argument
Tor a p~rolorgation of boom times is the
fact that the Leading banking interests
are committed to that side, and would be
sadly disappointed with conservatism
Promoters and modern day financiers
AdNo pht VI Qie lSdUlilS DdHkS anu
trust companies, and, at the present time,
the conduct OF the majority of these insti-
tutions is open to the charge of being
shaped to help through colossal fotation
projects set on foot by insiders. A look
under the lid into the works causes a
chill to run down the backs of the old
fogies. But this is no time for slow boys
to be at large"
The meaning of all this to the eau
tious man is, caution. There will be
an end to the present bulge one Of
these days, and when that end comes
those left holding the bag" will
weep and lament. Prices cannot go
UP forever. 1t is a long lane indeed
that has no turning, and in this mat
ter the turning point means loss piled
upon losses. With prices inflated as at
present the situation is well worthy
of careful study.