The Washington times., 1901-08-09

had their tumble on the failure OF the
I corn crop and on the strike of the steel
workers The next movement. or rather
! the present one. is discounting the ending
| of the strike and the better condition of
the corn crop. The weak people have sold
| out their securities. The bears have all
! gone short. The change comes because
| the strong people have the stocks and
the little people are either out of the
market or short of ii.
The news is good. what there is of 1t,
though there was nothing in the develop
ments yesterday that should have caused
such buoyant market. The friends OF
the Steel Trust say that the starting OF
the mills yesterday will act as a disccur-
agement to the strikers and that many
of them will not obey Shaffer's order on
Monday morning. The argument does not
seem to be a very good one. Neither does
the story that the Roman Catholic Church
and the politicians are to aid the strlker !;
The real item OF strength in the steel
securities is the support of the Steel pool
headed by Mr.. keene. With the pur-
chases of this pool always on hand 10
support the market. ii is not to be won
dered that the bears have seen tit to
cover rather heavily and that some peo-
pie have taken heart TO invest IN the
stocks at their recent low levels. Moth
ing new is known regarding the corn crop
either. In fact, Price Current In its
present issue, reduces its estimate of the
crop from 5O0. 600. co., the figures of last
week to 800 coo. COS or l;40o, coo bushels
The street, however was distinctly more
optimistic regarding the crop outlook yes
terday and covered its short contracts
and went along merriiy nearly all DAY;
Money continues extremely easy. cali
loans being made at per cent the talk
of the bank statement is that IT Will make
a good showing, and the low rate for cail
money is supposed to be forerunner OF
this. Earnings reports continue superb
The Steel securities went to 43 and 81
for high prices. respectively. The com
mon was selling fractionally below 49, and
the preferred at SO two days ago, so that
the gain is an important one. During
the last hour of the day the common went
off to AZ and the preferred to 81 1t was
said that the Keene people were selilns
off some of the stock they bought carrier
in the week at lower prices during the
last hour, and this seems entirely proba-
BILE. Looked at in any light II would not
seem probable that they did anything else
If they wish to see a good advance in the
market they know that II must not come
all at once, and that runaway advance
IN the Steels before it is known what Is
to become of the steel strike would be a
bad thing. If: the esothern hand. tney
do not care for an advance but simply
wish to hold up the market with as little
expense to themselves as possible, yester-
day was manifestly the first time that
since the strike was declared. 1t is prob
able that there will be fairly good buying
of these securities on the declines not only
by the syndicate but by the speculative
public as well.
The granger securities were the features
of the railway list. all making important
and buoyant upward movements during
the early part of the day and losing only
portion of their gains during the last
hour Union Pacific. which sold at 90 on
Wednesday reached 97A and closed at
96is, with a good net gain. ST. Paul
went to 1855 and . closed at l5SA
with q good net gain. AtcmSon com
mon went to 1855 and closed at l21s Mis-
souri, Pacific vert to 9S1a and closed at IS
The difficulty with the bear position is
that while prices were declining the bears
destroyed the aentire corn crop and now
anything that can be told Will be good
news The outlook for the grangers as
matter of fact is very good. st. PAU.
Union Pacific and .Atchison especially
look well. 1t is probable that purchases
of these securities made on the declines
will prove profitable. On the other hand
indiscriminatei buying Oh the bnlges such
as that of yesterday is not to be advised.
The action of Union Pacific was es-
pecially interesting yesterday. The stock
showed much buoyancy, and 1t was said
that there was large inside buying. AT
the meeting of the directors the usual
2 per cent semi-annual dividend was de-
clared on the common stock, as had been
predicted. Some people had not given
up the idea that the dividend rate would
be increased to ~ per cent until the OF
fetal announceUent was made. TFeir
number was not important, however. ap-
parontly, as the stock had its chlef ad-
usual dividend rate. II is said that the
condition of the property disclosed at the
meeting was excellent and that the
promise of an increase in the rate in the
not very far distant future is good.
The prospect of the Union Pacific is
now closely bound up in that of the
Northern Pacific. and the Southern Pa
cific The Union Pacific owns controll-
ing interest in the Southern Pacific. and
it is understood that It's holdings OF
Northern Pacific are also very large. The
dividends on the Northern Pacific securi-
ties seem assured. so that there VIII be
this regular receipt for the Union Pa
cific. No Southern Pacific dividend is eH-
pected this autumn; though per cent
annual rate is possible. Next spring the
stock viii probably be put on dividend
basis When this is accomplished, the
Union Pacific will be in excellent shape
to Increase its own dividend. 1t will be
receiving from its holdings of these Sc
curities more than sufficient to pay the
interest on the new Union Pacing ponds.
The business outlook Of the company is
excellent though il will lose SONG freight
business in corn, Of course.
Much comment OF an extremely favor
able nature has been caused by the fine
report for twelve months Of the North
western Railway. The company earned
l5is per cent on both its issues of stock,
in addition to arly amount over actual
charges that it may have
expended in Operating EXPENSES. After
deducting the dividends paid on the Sc
curities there was surplus OF SoSv6,s95.
The coal securities were strong. though
not particularly active. The outlook is
good for movement in these stocks in
the next two or three days. The July
production of anthracite coal exceeded
that Of July, 1909, by 10000 tons. Every
month the larger production is recorded.
and as the price of anthracite is now ~
cents higher than II was last winter II
will be seen that the coal business is IN
a most satisfactory shape. The. earnings
reports Of the Reading and other coal
roads for July aud August will probably
show this in a very clear way.
The Nickel Plate issues were again
buoyant. The story that the New York
Central has plan in connection with
perhaps had some influence
on the stocks. Big Four was also ad
vauced. on talk of a guarantee OF per
cent dividend for the stock.
There was a story in the street yester-
day that the Mexican Central and MeNi
can National are TO be combined or at
cast worked In harmony, In the future.
seems not unlikely. These securities are
by many conservative people 20
he good purchases on the declines.