The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-08

! Their decline this morning, and If the mar
ket is not supported of n slump that Will
be long remembered. on the whole, how
ever. it is probable that the most impor-
tant banking and financial interests are
engineering the break and that they will
be able so to engineer it that it shall not
cause panic. AS a matter of fact, 1t is
probable that when the movement is over
IL will be seen that the actual turning
point came last Friday when the banks
raised the call loan rate after much con
sultation over the situation. Since that
time there have been two or three ire
mendous bulges. but these have had not
much effect on the general market. when
is not selling any higher than it was. In
the same way it is possible that there will
he one or two more such bulges in spe-
cial stocks. but the outlook is good for a
general if not comparatively deliberate
movement toward a lower level.
The Northern Pacific boom was yester-
days feature. as it was the feature OF
Monday The stock advanced to l49e.,
making a gain in two market days from
the low price of last Saturday of 4ls4
points. The stock sold last September at
4534 so that its advance in seven months
has been 1Oi points In 1897 it sold for II.
and in 1895 it sold for SIS per share. At
the same time yesterday the preferred
stock advanced to l13l2 One Of the
stories yesterday was that Mr.. Hill has
lost control of the Northern Pacific. The
probability Of this story is not com
mented on. but it is interesting to note
the apoNe IiEbrcS IN tDlS IeEdru-
people would consider it an excellent
thing to lose control of Northern Pacific
stock at Slt9.15 a share and at s113.5 80 n
share that could have been bought for
Si5.l5 and So share, respectively, only
seven months ago There are sS0,000000
Of common stock and SI5,G00eO0 of the
preferred. Control of this stock last Sep
TENDER was worth say SlS,0e0,0o0 for half
the common stock and 100000 for half
the preferred, a total of s4S.000000. The
increase in the value of this half the
capitalization of the company since last
September has been. III round numbers,
100000 on the common stock and ST.
600, 600 on the preferred total of SIS Co.,
900. II Mr.. Hill had control last Septem-
Der and lost it yesterday, lost every share
he owned, he is something like S60.OO5.Oo1
better off for the loss. He would have to
run the Northern Pacific in the most
prosperous times good many years and
increase the dividends handsomely before
his stock would yield him anything like
this. Some people go so far to think
that the insiders working this big
bull camIaign to sell stocks on and not
for the purpose of making the public
rich.
The story put out by the bulls yester-
day was that the Northern Pacific pre-
ferred stock is to he retired. One story
was that its holders are to receive for it
ITO in 81 per cent bonds. Another version
OF the story was that ii is to be turned
into common stock. share for share. 1t
is interesting to note in connection with
these stories that the Northern Pacific
Company has the right to retire the pre-
ferred stock at par on the first of any
January prior to 1927 The people that are
paying Il3 for it now therefore, may have
to sell out at 100 next January. They are
buying the stock as conservative investors
would never buy Government bonds Both
these securities broke sharply before the
close. The common went back to 1891 and
the preferred to no.