The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-10

There was much looking for causes for
the break yesterday afternoon and last
night. The only real cause was that
| prices were too high and the market too
| wild. The break in reality began on last
| Friday, suggested liz The Times
of Tuesday morning. Before the Friday
slump the insiders decided that the boom
must stop and they put on the brakes
hard by marking up the call loan rates.
On Saturday the bank statement was very
bad, and this also was arranged by the
insiders to great extent, without doubt.
on Tuesday there was more Juggling with
money rates and before the close of the
day loans on call were made at 20 per cent.
The closing quotations on money were
Il bid and 20 asked. a big block of gold
went out Ga Yesterdays steamer, $1,000,
co.. ii was said by one authority. Money
yesterday was marked up to 60 per cent.
The break was due. 1t was certain 20
come. The corner in Northeih Pacific
helped to make it violent 1t unsettled
the market badly and it made many spec
ulators sell their long stocks. One story
is that the Messrs. Moore and Mr.. Gates
and their friends of the Western coterie,
50 famous recently. were among the heav-
lest Of the losers by the break. 1t is not
probable that they lost more than paper
profits, however. They are not under
ciic.
The startling advance of Northern Pa
cific yesterday morning to loo marked
the end Of the boom. Mr. Hill has not
lost control of the Northern Pacific--or
so, at least. he says. Mr. Hartman has
not secured control. if Mr.. Hill may be
believed. 1t is extremely probable that
the Northern Pacific preferred stock is
not to be retired, either for bonds or COM
mon stock. This unprecedented advance
in the common stock was, as far can
be learned judged by events, simply
a gigantic coup by Mr.. keene. Before
the present market such coup would
have been considered utterly out of the
question. 1t involved the cornering of all
the floating stock of an issue of $4,000 600.
II was az; operation in its way quite as
daring as the formation of the billion
dollar Steel Trust This, however, seems
to be what occurred. Northern Pacific
is not worth $50. 1t is probable that $50
a share could be cut off this price and
still leave a balance amply sufficient to
represent the actual value of the Sc
curity as measured by the earning ca
pacity of the company and the dividend
prospects of the stock. This, however,
did not matter to Mr. Keene. He APP
parentiy saw that the Hill-Morgan crowd
and the Hartman crowd both were hold
ing all their stock, the one fearful of los
ing control and the other hopeful of
gaining ii. He saw that there WAS much
selling of the stock short and that the
supply of stock outside the hands of these
two parties was extremely limited. He
began to buy II at n level far above
its value and in big blocks driving up
the price dizzily. This made the shorts
begin 10 cover and forced the price still
higher Ii also attracted few outsiders
into the movement, who gave it new inn !
petus. Then the shorts ran into diff
culties of the worst kind. They found on
Wednesday the greatest trouble in buy
ing stock to cover. Yesterday morning
the scarcity of Northern Pacific was ap
palling. The shorts were in the most
successful and the most gigantic trap
Wall Street has ever seen. The price
opened at 10 and advanced by big leaps
to 500. Later it got as high as 100 and one
sale at least was made for cash at $1,000
a share. This means that probably at
least $500 a share was lost on the stock.
The coup must have Melted Mr. Keene
INSCRIPTIONS enough to participate in it
several millions of dollars.
AS was to be expected, the worst breaks
occurred in the grangers and Pacific Sc
curities, in which the Messrs. Moore and
Mr.. Gates are supposed to have been OPP
Grating. These stocks were thrown over
with an utter disregard to prices that |
caused people to stop breathing for sec
onds at a time. 1t seemed as If there
were no market for them whatever. I'm
ion Pacific dropped and 10 points at a
time. from 113 to 1878, over 80 points, the
tumble coming largely in three minutes
of time The stock was selling at 1873 q
day or two ago. so that the total decline
was more than 50 points. There is $685.
10000 of this stock issued, so that the
break in three minutes yesterday of 80
points means a shrinkage of about s32.-
co., 900. st. Paul broke from 165 yesterday
morning and from 1SS a few days ago to
1856, a total of SO points. il recovered lit
tie Rock Island broke from 15S to lbs.
but recovered to 14S. Atchison preferred
broke to TO- the price a day or two ago
having been well above par. The COM
mon broke to A. which cut the recent
fancy price just about in half. Both
these stocks recovered well. the preferred
to above 30. The latter stock is consid-
cred a good purchase at this level on the
declines, and will be picked up by the
bargain hunters If there is another furry
tod NHs for hot tIar-r to- 10
Wall Street, which may even continue
for two or three DAYS longer. does not