The Washington times., 1901-12-21

| by the company at the same time that
| the dividend was de- red on Thursdat
| are. of course. the ut,,ects of much com
ment of most varied character. The
| hrst superstition naturally is that the
| Standard Oil people are telling the whole
truth regarding the situation. 1hey say
that the foreign trade is very bad and
| that the company has been compelled by
| this, and BY the unwillingness OF The 9TH
! er copper companies to come to its aid to
! surrender its position and let the price Of
| copper metal drop badly. as it has done
during the past few days.
To these that take this view the out
look for Amalgamated Copper stock seems
bad The statement is that the company
has recently marketeu 100 .0O0 600 pounds
Of copper This metal was sold With
guarantees TO the purchasers that the
price should net be cut below Il cents.
| This was the fiction when the companys
selling agents were protesting that they
had not cut the price Since these sales
were made the price has dropped already
( cents a pound. which means that the
Amalgamated Company will be forced by
It's contracts to return TO the purchasers
at least $4,000. 600 in rebates. This Of
itself is enough 10 make the position Of
the company look extremely unattractivc.
But il seems quite possible that the price
may be cut further And. furthermore.
there is no immediate prospect of bet
termCnt in the copper trade situation.
The price at which the Amalgamated
Copper mines can produce copper 81
profit is not known exactly outside the
company but it is known that it is
much higher price than that at which
many of the other mines show a profit.
1t is quite certain. at any rate. that at
10 cents the profits Of tbs company are
I,nTF 4..fa Iptv url4 Al
Il cents.
Intrinsic Value of Copper Securities.
The argument is made BY line copper
experts that a mine that can only pay
4 per cent On its stock is not doing very
well and that a per cent copper stock
is not entitled to sell at very high
price. II is generally estimated roughly
that copper stock should be able to pay
for itself in dividends in ten years. 4 10
per cent stock should sell around par and
a 20 per cent stock around geo. On this
basis Amalgamated would not be worth
more than 40 or thcreabouts. The life |
OF a copper raine is not like that of a |
railway. with a perpetual charter and |
constantly growing business. In time cop
per mines run out.
If Facts Eave Been Doctored.
All of these arguments. however. arc |
based on the assumption that the Stand
ard Oil people have in their statement told |
the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
The man who is pess'mistic regarding
this may have a better opinion OF Amalga-
mated stock with entire consistency. II
the Standard Oil people are engaged in
a trade war with the CHEST of freezing
cut the independent copper producers and
the public, 1t is possible that they will
win IN the end and th9t malgamated may
some day be worth much more that its
present price or even more than the
price CT six months ago. Nothing that
mas occurred in the trace or in the move
ments of Ams lgamated during the past
six months is unayoidaily Inconsistent
with such theory
Copper yesterday wa; firm and at times
buoyant with an advance to 6S and a gem
erai level for the day well above the
close of Thursday 1t was said that i'm
portant brokers we're buying the stock.
though who they were acting fer could not
be determined.
The Sugar Trrst naI Congress.
Sugar Was the weak feature OF the
market On continued talk OF destructive
trade war. Here again the prevailing ru-
nors were received with pessimism in
some quarters. II was suggested. for in
stance. that declining price for Sugar
stock an1 tho appearance Of a fierce con-
hict might be a good thing at the begin
hing Of a session Of Congress. and of n
Congress that it is popularity supposed
gili take some action on the trust
Iuesticn." The impor;ations OF sugar
Turing the present year. according to the !
Bureau Of Statistics, VIII be the largest !
IN record, and this suggests prosperity.
'atlIeT han the reverse.
Standard Railway Issues strong.
In the railway list the features we're
he standards stocks that have been con-
picuous al all times recently. New Yorl;
,entrai, St Paul, Union Pacific, The Trac-
ions. and the coalers. For the most
izrt these securities all made fair gains
Turing the morning hours. ana held their
dvances in the afternoon. There was
title special gossip to account for their q
Movements, but the call loan rate was i
asy, and 1t WIS said that the bank state :
lent today is not likely to be as bad as
hat Of last week. and this gave conf
ence to the buyers and prevented short ;
elling to any great extent. In the after a
oon call loans were made as high as S D
er cent, hut It was supposed that this n
'as on account Of the fact that they a
rould extend over until Monday d
The Conspicuous IndustrinIs. 2
Peoples Gasw was again strong yesterday .
iorning. Other industrials that showed
trength were the steels and the Car b
'oundry issues. The talk Of the steel
rade prosperity Is Of the most rosy char =
cter. The comment is made by many v
onservative trade interests that the ac- h
ion Of the Steel Trust in preventing an
dvanee in prices is the best thing that II
ould possibly occur. looking at the mat G
er from the standpoint of the people that Il
'ish stable conditions and not simply g
harp boom and following disastrous
eaction- No particular reason for the d
dvance in Peoples Gas was given, but II
is probable that drive" on the shorts G
as made. The story that the company IL
10 take over the Edison Company is re- h
wed a
Mr.. Morton on Atchison. u
Mr.. Paul Morton. the vice president Of +,
le Atchison system, is quoted as making 81
le prediction that his com, any VIII earn II
ore this year than it did last, despite
Ie failure or the corn crop General busf-
ess, he says, is farin excess Of last years b,
ccrd. Bull tips" Of pronouncediy on 81
misiic character are heard In the stree;
ga-ding Atclison common stock. and "
icy are accompanied by the old story j.
at pennsylvania interests are undoubt-
ily btying the stock. il is said that the "