The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-19

COme-you know now eoluS
hang on.
Wen end you lit,le to Try, If you Ike.
| SCOTT & BOVINE, 4o9 Pearl street, New York.
predicted that there will be further de-
| clines of Importance, in fact, that the end
| of the boom has come and will be sue
| cecded by a steady recession in prices for
| a long time in the future. 1t remains to
| be seen If this is what is really occurring.
| Many people believe that II is not, and
conservative people too. They take the
| opposite view that the insiders look for a
much higher level and that the short SELL
| ing and profit taking by small interests
are entirely responsible for the recess
| sions. The business conditions everywhere
| favor the latter view, and this even the
| bears hardly dispute. And, despite the
\ pessimism of the professionals, the
| strength of the high priced securities like
| Burlington and Rock Island, and the pre-
| rerred Steel securities, must be consider
| ed an Indication of strength, rather than
weakness 1t is hardly to be thought that
! the great clique that is engineering this
market would be buying these stocks at
| the highest prices in recent years, if they
| -
Another technical reason why the market
is not likely to have any important break
| at this time is that there are large blocks
| of railway bonds and steel stocks TO be
| foated during the coming months. The
| big people never attempt to float such an
| issue as that of the new Union Pacific
bonds on a declining market.
OF news there was little yesterday,
|
| were plentiful enough. The banks have
| gained somewhat in cash since last Fri
day. There is little fear anywhere of any
! tightness of money, but on the contrary
a general expectation that funds will be
| plentiful and cheap. London was of yes
| terday apparently on selling by New York.
| The professional bears may have been re-
| sponsible for this. It was said that Mr..
| Gates sold stocks heavily in a fight
against Mr. Keene. 1t was also said that
Mr.. Lawson, of Boston, was selling Sugar
and predicting and betting that it would
break to 100 yesterday. If this was true
the gentleman must have been disappoint-
ed, for the lowest price touched by the
stock was 1913 IL and it recovered full
point from that level at the close.
The movements of the steel securities
were the most interesting and perhaps the
most important of the day. The preferred
all day was very strong and made new
high prices for this year The common
were weak nearly all day, selling at one
| time at the lowest prices of the past two
weeks. They rallied at the close so that
Wire common closed at about the opening
| level and little off, net, from the Saturday
/ closing price. The statement was made
quite generally that the street was selling
| the common stocks and buying the pre-
| ferred 1t was said by some that the in
ner clique had advised this. After the
! break, however, there was good buying in
| Federal Steel common and Steel and Wire
| common. 1t is not thought likely by con-
servative people that the engineers of the
deal will wish to have common stocks
which are to be exchanged for i00O0O, O0o,
more or less, of new stocks kicking about
the street without friends in such mon
umentaI undertaking as this. AS usual
thing when big company is to be hoated
| its promoters wish to make as good
showing as possible. On any further break
in these common stocks many believe that
1 they should be bought. The preferred
! stocks are also considered good, but 1t
I is probable that they will not be advanced
/ so rapidly as the common.
The news" regarding the new company
NAV be given out today, as one rumor
said yesterday, or it may be held until
! later in the week. The general impression
/ is that It will be public property, as far
as the insiders intend to give anything
/ out, before next Sunday. The most plaus-
/ ible story told yesterday regarding the
! deal was that there will be issued $780,,
4 600 0OO in bonds and $400, 600 each of
preferred and common stock of the new
1 company 1t was said that portion of
! the bond issue will be paid TO the Car
{ negie people for their bonds, and that
/ sI05. 900. 900 each of the common and pre-
I he ryf.~a for no
negie stock. This would leave portion
| Of the bonds of the new company to be
| disposed of and 1926 600 900 each of the
common and preferred stocks, virtually
| 5000 900 900 stock in all. 1t is, of course,
| impossible to know what disposition will
! be made of this stock, but 1t may be noted
! that all the securities of all the steel
] companies could be bought at their mar
ket price for much less than this amount.
: 1t seems not improbable, therefore, that
/ the present securities will go into the
new concern for as much as, or more
/ than, their present market value.
The granger securities were all ex-
! cellently strong except the Atchisons,
/ which hung back for some reason. Bur-
lington went up TO 147, thus regaining all
the dividend and rights that were taken
5 of In the market quotations two weeks
ago with the dividend and the rights
the stock is now selling for the highest
price In many years. Rock Island was
! buoysnt, too, advancing from 124 to
/ lz6 So St Paul at one time sold up IA
T from the opening, the high price of the
I day being 1872. The close on all these
stocks showed some net gain, though
I there were recessions from the top level.
4 The Atchisons were rather weak all day.
! Atchlson common is not likely to remain
weak, II is said, as there is very positive
/ talk OF dividend for the stock early in
! the spring The preferred IL considered
a good purchase by some OF the best in
| formed people in the street. The mean
ing of the boom in the grangers was not
apparent though there were rumors of
Mr.. Hill is buying control of the Burling
ton. Another was that the st. Paul deal
has been taken up again. There has been
| talk of boom in Rock Island for several
| days, and the movement in this case was
not a surprise. There is talk of higher
| dividend for the stock and also of n pos
| sible combination with some other sys-
| tenn.
| One of the stories OF the day was that
| the St Louis and San Francisco has been
| buying the Kansas City and Fort Scott
| and the Kansas City and Birmingham, and
| that when the lines have been acquired
the entire system will be sold to the Atch-
ison.
Western Union was one OF the strongest
securities OF the day. II was not buoyant
like the grangers, but 1t held it's own ex-