The times., 1901-03-13

during the day than it did on Monday.
| 1t closed at the Monday closing price,
149 u.
Burlington went to q price not before
| reached by It during the past two decades
and at one time there was APPARENTLY no
one that wished to sell II. After the hrsI
spuTt, however. the stock dld no more
than hold its own and during the last
half hour it declined to Isl IA. There Is
much apparent wonderment over the rea-
son for the boom in the stock, but, as
matter of fact, there need be none. Inc
company is making fine record OF earn
| ings, larger than ever before. 1t is treat
ing its stockholders with great generoSl-
ty. There is the large probabil that
during the coming year or two there VIII
be large further disbursements OF rights
in connection with the big block of high
interest rate bonds to be refunded. And,
in addition to all this, there is a contin-
uance of the talk OF an agreement OF
some Kind between the Burlington and
the Northern Pacific, which very easily
may be true. The last argument Is not
so good az the others, however. Some
reaction may be seen in the stock In the
next day or TWO and, indeed, careful mar
ket people rather look for il to sell back
TO around 145 again before ii goes much
higher. On any such break the advice of
the friends of the stock is that it should
be bought for a much higher level.
The Southwestern securities generally
were among the most active and buoyant
yesterday. as had been generally pre-
dicted. Missouri Pacific made fine squirt
to the highest price on record, SO "a, but
later sold of to below its opening level
closing at S2 1-2. The cause of the boom
was the publication Of the annual state
ment of the company. The increase IN
net earnings during the fiscal year was
s., ,5S6 16Q. The company IS not paying any
dividend on the stock, and its price is
therefore, of course, entirely remarkable.
The annual statement is a magnificent
one, and If anything would justify the
current price OF the stock it would. But
as the dividend, when declared, is eX-
tremely unlikely TO be more than per
cent there are many careful people mat
expect an early decline Of Importance
IL It
Attention has been called to the merits
Of the St Louis and San Francisco securi-
ties many times in this column during
the past two years. Their advance has
been steady and one OF the most remark
able made IN the entire railway list dur
ing this period. The securities have been
active and especially buoyant during the
past two or three days, and yesterday
made new high prices, well above any
heretofore recorded. At the same time
the earnings of the company are such
that even the present prices do not seem
in the least inflated. There may be a
decline of n point or two in them, and II
there is. some of the most careful people
VIII purchase them.
Missouri. Kansas and Texas was one Of
the few stocks that showed 80 buoyancy
at any time yesterday. This was consid-
cred somewhat surprising in view Of the
general strength OF the southwestern
group
PENNSYLVANIA was one Of the buOyant
stocks yesterday. getting again TO its
recent high price of I53 II sold off some
what before the close. Shortly before
the end Of the session the announcement
was made that the stockholders OF the
company at their meeting yesterday had
authorized the increase Of the capital
stock Of the company TO $25l,1O00~, being
/ a . increase of 500, ,000e 600. This action had
been expected and IL created no surprise.
Naturally. however X caused some spec
ulatiVo buying Of the stock. The resoiu-
tion of the stockholders authorized the
directors TO issue the stock when they
may see fit at any price not below par
This Of course leaves TO the directors
the option Of selling the new stock in the
open market. as they did on one occasion
not long ago, or Of allowing stockholders
to subscribe for II at par 1t VIII be seen
that the future price Of the stock Is
( likely 10 be affected materially by the
( course that the directors may take IN the
: matter In the end the results would be
/ virtually the same. but temporarily sell
! ing the stock in the open market would
simply make IL plenuiul ana therefore
I probably cheap, while its sale TO stock
holders at par would be in the nature Of
! a fat stock dividend.
The disposition Of the funds TO be real
lied bv the PENNSYLVANIA through the
/ sale of the new stock is much discussed.
! There can be little doubt that much of
the money will be- expended in purchasing
fha securities OF other railway systems
with which il has allied interests, the
Raltimore and Ohio and Chesapeake and
! Ohio among them. The importance Of
I this policy Of the Pennsylvania company
! cannot bc overestimated. 1T is one OF the
! immense features Of the present outlook
for the railways on which the optimistic
| base their belief that market prices are
| 10 be very much higher during the com
| ing few years than they have been at
! anv time yet Pennsylvania stock Itself
! Is regarded with great favor by many
careful investors. but on the whole the
! chances for large advances IN prices
seem brighter i'm some of the low priced
! issues that viii be affected by the com
muuity Of interest policy.
The regular dividend of ] il per cent
quarterly Was declared on Western Union
/ Yesterday The stock was not affected
! by tho announcement. few transactions
occurring i'm il during the session. The
dividend record OF the company has been
! a superb one Il It's entirely probable that
/ tho stock viii sell AT par during the COM
] ing few months if the general market is
! strong.