The Washington times., 1901-08-08

I time. 1t had 500 t1V,VO pledged at the be
! ginning and it has added several millions
/ 10 that sum in these operations. SO that
/ it has been in Il most fortunate position to
( take care of the trust stocks this time.
! The belief that this situation exists has
/ led a considerable number of investors
to buy these securities around their pres
| ent low levels and this has lightened the
! burden of the syndicate to 4 certain eX-
! tent.
| In addition to this factor the market
was helped yesterday by better advices
! from the West dispatches generally hav-
/ ing more hopeful tone on the crop sit
uation. In 4 general way the attitude
| of the conservative people on the crop
outlook may be summarized as follows:
! There has been big damage to the corn
| been discounted in the sharp tumbles
that have taken place in the granger Sc
curities. 1t is probable that the Gov
ernment report may be a trife better
than expected. 1t viii not be worse than
has been generally Looked for. Late corn
has good chance and the late crop viii
probably be from 20 per cent TO a fun
crop. Where the early corn was entirely
destroyed, farmers have ploweG it under
in many cases and planted turnips and
other crops for feed for the cattle. The
alfalfa and kattir corn crops are likely to
be good. Farmers have ceased TO fear
/ that there viii be a cattle famine. and
the carly predictions that the losses of
cattle would be even greater than those
, If corn are proven to have been entirely
! without foundation. So much for the
corn crop. The wheat crop will be
heavy one, and, in fact. nearly all crops,
except corn, win be good.
The railways have no reason to fear
a lean year in the West In nearly every
instance the officials of the granger lines
are coming out with hopeful interviews,
saying that the outlook Is excellent Tor
this year. President Ripley. OF the Atch-
ison, takes a particularly rosy view OF
the situation. He says that the gross
earnings of his system Will be fully as
large as they were last year. in all prob
ability. If not larger. Net earnings, he
suggests may be even better, as the
heavy bettorment work on the system
has been done in the past few years,
and low rate Of expenditure Will be
sufficient from now on. He estimates
rate of SSOl mile for the entire system,
per annum, the larger part TO be ex-
pended on the main line. II might be
noted in passing, by the way, that the
Atchison and Rock Island Will dement,
greatly in the next few years from the
opening of the new Indian Territory
lands to settlement. Each Of these lines
has drawn a big volume of business from
Oklahoma.
The St. Paul system has nothing to fear
from the crop outlook as far as one can
see OF the 6,39i miles of the system,
much the larger part runs through Wis
consin. South Dakota, Minnesota, and
Iowa Only one of these States Is a corn
State. -Four are wheat States. As mat
ter of fact the corn tonnage or the 81
Paul is only per cent of its total freight,
while its wheat tonnage is 10 per cent.
If the corn crop is injured 80 per cent,
which is the most extreme estimate yet
made the St Paul Will only lose ~ per
cent of its freight in corn. 1t Will haul
considerably more than an average ton
mage of wheat The Rock Island is not 50
well situated with reference to the two
crops. Its chief mileage is in Iowa. Kan
sas. Missouri, Oklahoma, and Colorado,
and all of these States are corn States.
The Rock Island wheat tonnage Is ~
per cent of its total freight. and its corn
tonnage 10 1-3 per cent, or 1858 bushels
last year.
The Missouri Pacific has given formal
notice to it's stockholders that the stock
has been increased to $i5 10000 by the in
crease of sl5,OoC.O9 last month 1t is IN
teresting to note tnat with the stock sell
ing considerably below par the rights
to subscribe to this new stock, which
were grabbed for eagerly at at one
time, are now worth about minus.
The Missouri Pacific stock is not very
dangerous proposition at its present level,
however, according to some of the rail-
way experts The earnings of the com
pany continue to increase in handsome
way and the dividend seems entirely as
sured for some time to come.
The sharp advance in st. Lawrence and
Adirondack continued Yesterday. The
action of the directors on Tuesday in de-
claring a dividend Of 2I@ per cent was
surprise and pleasant one, though the
dividend was not a semi annual as was
at first said Another story which had
the effect Of making the stock an inter
Csting one was to the effect that the New
York Central Will lease the line at
good rate This stock was selling a long
way below par month ago. The insiders
are said to have had at that time not
only all the stock Of the company, but
about 60 shares sold to them short.
Sugar was strong Yesterday. The re-
ports that Mr.. Havemeyer is ro otiring from
the trust are denied emphatically. Indeed
ii was said YESTERDAY that he was one of
the chief buyers of the stock.
The Peoples Gas Company made the
best showing in its history during the
fiscal year just ended. The company is
earning something like 10 per cent. The
stock is talked of as a good purchase by
| some Chicago people who have often
| been the right side of ii.
The Union Pacific people meet today TO
declare the dividend on the common stock.
There seems TO be no doubt as to the rate
being per cent. The stock was strong
yesterday afternoon, jumping up to above
Mr. J. ]. Hill IS one of the people who
are talking very hopefully Of the Western
crop situation. He says every crop is
good except corn and predicts that the net
earnings of the Northern Pacific for July
will show an increase of 10000.
A total Of nearly forty railways that
have reported gross earnings for the
fourth week of July show an increase of
from 20 to 25 per cent
The New York Curb Market.
NEW YORK. Aug. The volume of
business in the market for curb socuri-
ties today was the smallest the brokers
have seen since last summer. Prices gen.
orally moved downward. First National
Bank attracted considerable attention by
ady ancing 80 points in the bid price to 100
American Can preferred was only dealt
in to the extent Of 100 shares at - loss
OF l per cent over night. An odd lot of
the common was taken at 2Zis ConsuIi-
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