The Washington times., 1901-10-22

terests.
OF the few securities that made more
than fractional movements during the day
Amalgamated Copper was most active
II opened up to o. the highest price for
several days, and then went off nearly
three points. recovering little before the
Close The opening advance was due TO a
general supposition that MIR. Lawson and
the Standard Oil people haze come TO a
better ndgrstanding and that the trade
conditions are more promising. The de-
cline OF the stock was probably due TO
realizing Of profits by people that bought
last week. whether BY important people
or rot il is impossible to say. Copper is
a blind pool Of the blindest kind. II may
be that the recent break In the price of
the stock and even tn, recent cut in the
dividend was due entirely to manipulation
and not IN the least 10 adverse conditions
in the copper business. II may De that
there is now te be a boom in the stock
to the highest price yCt attained by II.
And, on the other hand, the facts may be
entirely different. The public cannot find
out When II does find out the truth ii
will be too late for the public TO speculate
on it protitably Any such stock as this
the point Of view Of the outsider who
must always play his guess against the
certain knowledge Of the insider.
Another Industrial stock that showed
some activity during the day was Peoples
Gas. which advanced to los and then de
some net gain for the day. The statement
made regarding the advance was that the
company is winning suit gainSt ii in the
Chicago courts. II may be pointed out
that while this stock is not. of course. so
safe as some of the better class Of rail-
way securities, it presents marked con-
trast to such stocks as Amaigamatcd
Copper, Sugar. the old Tobacco stocks.
and other blind pool securities Of this ma
ture. The company makes very fair re-
port-as 10 the amount Of Information
conveyed-and its business is of a nature
that can be estimated with some accuracy
aside from its report. And vet while this
is beyond question the stock has not sold
during the past year nearly as high as
Anna lgamatCd. AS a usual thing IL does
not sell nearly as high on its bulges as
The blind pool stocks This is a good Illus
tration Of the fOolishnsss Of the public
and not any argument against Peoples
Gas. The fact that Amalgamated is now
$50 a share off IN price from the top while
Gas is very little off IS. Of course. the i'm
pOrtant matter This shows that the ueo-
pie that own Gas do not care TO sell II
and it is coroilary argument that they
are Of Il more sensible class IN general
than the holders Of Amalgamatcd Copper
me most recent reports Of the company
are to the effect that IL is earning 10 per
cent on its stock and that its business is
growing steadily.
The earnings reports Of the Touie,.iIta
and Nashville and the Big Four for the
second week Of October both show in
creases over the same week OF last year.
The reports Of twenty-five lines for this
week show increases Of something more
than per cent. The reports OF fifty-one
lines for the first week of the month
show Increases Of ia per cent. Reports
September show increases OF 1916 per
cent.
The only interesting matter in the
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