The times., 1901-05-09

the smash on the morning after ex-Gov-
ernor Flower died II was quite in keep
ing with the size of the recent boom. The
superlatiVes that have been used to de-
scribe the wild advances in prices apply
with equal force to the way that prices
melted away from to o'clock yesterday
afternoon. Declines in the active securi-
ties from the high to the low prices of
the day ranged all the way from to
points in Atchison preferred, Baltimore
and Ohio, Louisville. Peoples Gas, Sugar.
and common Steel to 10 and 20 points in
st. Paul, Rock Island, Delaware and Hud-
son, Missouri Pacific. and Union Paci-
| tlc, with an extreme downward huctua-
tiun OF 80 points in Northern Pacific.
Hardly any of the active list escaped a
| break of points, and 10-point drops were
common in the best securities IN the list.
The recovery during the last hour of
the day was in some cases important. AT
the close, in fact there was almost a
scramble by the shorts to cover. and some
excellent buying by large interests was
noted. The business of the last hour was
so tremendous that the tapes and tickers
did not cease to quote sales for halt an
| hour after the close. In view OF the
drastic nature of the break, wiping out
: the phenomenal gains of weeks In two
1 hours as il did and in view of the evident
support of the market at the close, there
is much difference of opinion as to what
viii be today's contribution. Ordinarily
such break would be followed by fur
thcr immediate declines on succeeding
days and ii might be expected that the
opening today would be off and the later
( business further off. Some careful people
think that this time the iirSt break mas
1 been severe enough and that the worst is
over. to be followed today by general
recovery and a resumption of the boom.
As a matter Of fact, the insiders Will
probably do as they wish with the mar
keJ. and it is impossible to know what
this win be. Some stocks are still much
too high, and are certain gradually to get
TO lraH Loo aal4 20 Il %
! broken yesterday to point where they
are cheap and in time are certain to
advance again. Conservative buying OF
( such stocks as the Steels, the Southern
| Railway stocks, Atchison preferred, Nor
folk and Western common and Chesa-
peakc and Ohio is advised on the weak
spots by some of the best informed peo-
pie.
Northern Pacific was jumped up 81
points and then it broke 35 jumped 25,
| broke % and finally advanced at the close
10 points TO i60 During the entire day its
fluctuations were wilder than were ever
before seen in a stock of such Importance
1t seems probable that there will be a vio-
lent break again today, though the steadi-
ness with which il closed at 100 showed
that the corn err still exists Northern Pa
cific preferred broke in the morning, while
the common stock was skyrocketing. 1t
dropped to l0l. During the break in the
general market in the afternoon it had
a little hCom5of its own to i07. The price
is too high
The worst breaks of the day occurred
in those stocks that have been manipulat-
ed so wildly during the past weeks, the
grangers and the Pacific securities gen
orally. There is ample reason for believ-
ing that the multifarious stories of deals
in these securities recently have been
without foundation except in the brains
Of the Western speculative clique st.
Paul sold at 1SS day or two ago. 1t
opened at $50 yesterday and after advanc
ing a point, broke 1914 points to 1s2. 1t
recovered only two points at the close.
Rock Island tumbled from 16S to 154 and
closed at r155Ik Atchison common broke
from S45s to 76k and recovered points
broke from $50 TO 112h and recovered d
point at the close. In all these cases
prices have been many dollars too high.
For the most part the level is still far
tain that there will be further sharp de-
clines during the coming few days.
Burlington. too. broke badly. in this
making an exception to its recent record
of great steadiness and strength. 1t went
of to 1s6 and closed below 1870. In the
case Of this stock il is dangerous to make
any prediction as to today's proba bilities.
as, although the stock is selling too high,
1t still seems probable that the Burling-
ton-Northern Pacific deal will be carried
through.
The Steel securities broke in discour-
aging way. the preferred 10 points to be-
low 80 and the common to A. Their re-
covery, however. was rapid and sturdy,
the preferred climbing back almost to
the top level for the day and the common
to a. Conservative people still have a
very good opinion of these securities. as
this recovery showed. II is probable that
they should be bought on reactions.
Pennsylvania and New York Central
were among the most sensationally weak
points, respectively, from levels that were
already showing much sturdiness.