The representative., 1901-05-23
90 PER CENT MONEY
WORST PAM1g HxRE s4nN OCCURS
IN WAIL DTRMNT.
Banks ssto the Rescue' with Cash 1t
From 60 Per Cent Down to 9.


for the short time involved before it
was checked that Wall street ever saw
came today as a sequel to the contest
for the control Of the Northern Pacific
railroad and to the cornering Of the
common stock Of that road. At the
time there was seemingly no bottom
this side of zero to stockmarket prices.
Stocks were offered for sale at any price
they would bring, and under the i'm
mense mass of forced liQuidating Gales
the market crumbled away in every di-
rection. Money rates, as is customary
in times of panic, when banks are call
ing loans, rushed upward to 60 per cent
on call. Sales of stock were made at
such losses, compared with Wednesdays
closing prices, as 30 to 65 points. The
fl antic shorts in Northern Pacific were
willing to pay any price in order to get
the stock, and in leaps and bounds the
price of Northern Pacific rushed up from
$170 share, at which 500 shares were
sold at the opening, to 81, 900 share, at
which price 800 shares were sold for
100000 cash. Never before in the his
tory Of the exchange had there been
such sensational movement in a stock.
1t helped cause the utmost demoraliza-
tiOn elsewhere in the list and helped
along the frantic rush to get out of the
market at any price.
At the top price sales were made for
cash only, the highest regular quotation
being 700. After IL o'clock no deal
ings were made for commission-house
accounts, save on cash basis, and in
the greater number of small houses
orders were refused for all stocks ex-
cept for actual cash transactions.
While Northern Pacific was advancing
other stocks were being thrown on the
market without regard for prices or for
the actual value of the securities con-
cerned. The general list went down
more points in an hour than it had ad-
vanced in months, but at the low level
the execution of heavy buying orders
caused a rally that carried the greater
number of issues from 10 to 20 points
above the lowest. The panic frenzy
was allayed soon after noon, but for
the rest of the day the market was few
erish and unsettled.
The last piece of news and the most
important of all came late in the after
noon, or long after the close of busi-
ness ON the exchange, although there
had been rumors before the close that
something of the sort was likely to be
arranged. This was the announce
1nent made by Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and
confirmed by J. P. Morgan & Co., both
the interests that had been battling
for the control of the Northern Pacific,
being thus represented, that all who
had sold stock short to them and who
now found that they could not deliver
it could make a settlement on the basis
of $3.50 a share.
At the same time It was reported that
the banks had combined to lend
$20,0oo,0oo at market rates, and this
factor, together with those just named,
resulted in checking the furious selling
movement in all issues.
At the 60 per cent rate for money the
banking syndicate made it's first loan,
and before the close of business, $19,-
100000 had been lent at market rates
from 60 down to per cent. The last
loan was made at 6 per cent, but after
the close of business, Is per cent was
bid for call loans. The decline in the
morning was helped by the very banks
that came to the assistance of the mar.
ket in the afternoon.
While the crash was under full steam
the scene on the Stock Exchange was
one almost impossible to describe. More
members of the board were present than
ever before recorded, and more excite
ment, more bowling, shouting and tur-
bulence was noted than in any preceding
day known in Wall street. Thousands
of men and women we're called to Wall
street by telephone, telegraph and after
noon extras" and at times the crush
of interested spectators in the Produce
Exchange gallery was SO great that fur
ther admittance was refused.
The Capitalization of Railroads.