The times., 1901-05-08

! thcr decline this morning, and If the mar
I ket is not supported of a slump that Will
! be long remembered. on the whole, how
/ ever it is probable that the most mpor-
! tant banking and financial interests are
/ engineering the break and that they will
! be able so to engineer it that il shall not
I cause panic. AS matter of fact, 1t is
| probable that when the movement is over
! il Will be seen that the actual turning
point came last Friday when the banks
raised the call loan rate after much con
sultation over the situation. Since that
time there have been two or three tire
mcndous bulges. but these have had not
much effect on the general market whlGh
is not selling any higher than IL was. IN
the same way il is possible that there VIII
be one or two more such bulges in spe-
cial stocks but the outlook is good for
general if not comparatively deliberate
movement toward a lower level.
The Northern Pacific boom was yester-
days feature. as ii was the feature OF
Monday The stock advanced to l4S1s,
making a gain i'm two market days from
the low price OF last Saturday OF 4ls4
points. The stock sold last September at
s534, so that its advance in seven months
has been 1G4 points. In 1897 it sold for II,
and in 1885 II sold for $3.50 per share. At
the same time yesterday the preferred
stories yesterday was that Mr.. Hill has
lost control of the Northern Pacific. The
probability Of this story is not COM
mented on. but ii is interesting To note
the above figures in this regard. Some
people would consider it an excellent
thing to lose control Of Northern Pacific
stock at $ls9.I5 q share and at $ll3. so n
share that could have been bought for
$50 40 and so share, respectively, only
seven months ago. There are $500 100000
Of common stock and $75000,000 of the
preferred. Control of this stock last Sep
tember was worth say coo for half
the common stock and $25, O09 for half
the preferred, a total of S43 600 The
increase in the value of this half the
capitalization of the company since last
September has been, IL round numbers,
S4l,0lb,W0 on the common stock and S1l,
V9,UaG on the preferred. total of S5S. 000,-
600. If Mr. Hin had control last Septem-
ber and lost il yesterday, lost every share
he owned. he is something like 900
better off for the loss. He would have to
run the Northern Pacific in the most
prosperous times a good many years and
increase the dividends handsomely before
his stock would yield him anything like
this. Some people go so far to think
that the insiders are working this big
bull campaign to sell stocks on and not
for the purpose of making the public
rich.
The story put ont by the bulls yester-
DAY was that the Northern Pacific pre-
ferred stock is to be retired. One story
was that Its holders are to receive for ii
llU in 332 per cent bonds. Another version
OF the story was that it is to be turned
into common stock. share for share. It
is interesting to note in connection with
these stories that the Northern Pacific
Company has the right to retire the pre-
Ierred stock at par on the first of any
January prior to 1927. The people that are
paying 1l3 for it now, therefore, may have
to sell out at 100 next January. They are
buying the stock as conservative investors
would never buy Government bonds Both
these securities broke sharply before the
close. The common went back to I43I5 and
the preferred to 10.