The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-21
Estn1MctaI.
THE SHOCK MARX E1.
Northern Securities Decision Causes a
 Drop.

Drop.
 | New York, Feb 20.-The announce | ment by the attorney general at Wash l ington that he believed the Northern Securities company to infringe the anti trust law and that he would file bill in equity in the supreme court in ac- 1 cordance with instructions from the l president to test the question, overshad- | owed all other considerations in the
 stock exchange to-day. The acute in-
 terest manifested in this company by
 all spectators and indeed, all holders of
 securities was vividly demonstrated by the effect in the stock market and was the more notable since Great Northern
 pf. is the only stock remaining listed on the exchange which is directly include
 ed in the securities company. Yet the whole market fell away sharply under
 heavy liquidation, with only few un- important exceptions. The stocks of
 the etrans-continental companies were
 naturally most affected. as the forma-
 tion of the Northern Securities com
 pany represented an effort to harmon
 ize conflicting interests in that field.
 Great Northern pf. lost 6A, Northwest
 ern 7%, Rock Island 5ss, St. Paul 35s,
 Union Pacific 3A, and Southern Pacific
 2B. Elsewhere in the list losses gener-
 ally ran from 1 to points and eonsid-
 erably over that In many exceptional
 cases. On the curb Northern Securities
 when issued dropped over points. The
 direct concern of such a variously as
 sorted lot of securities in the welfare
 of the Northern Securities company is
 not very obvious. But the average
 speculator in stocks and especially the
 professional traders is deeply imbued
 with the conviction that all his woes
 are the outgrowth of the conflict for
 Northern Pacific control last year and
 that it is only necessary for the read
 iustment to be made of the situation
 precipitated at that time for the stock
 market to resume all the buoyancy and
 speculative furor that waspinterrupted
 by the May panic. For some time there
 has been a deep rooted conviction among the speculators that the supreme
 court was to throw out of court Minne-
 aota's, suit against the legality of the
 Northern Securities company There las been an assumption also which was carefully fostered in the interest of a ltNiNdi pl SpctuldlluI tlldL llle puDllC opposition to financial combinations was more apparent than real, and that demonstration of the public utility of these combinations would secure them against interference even where tech nically open to construction of illegali- ty This mornings announcement from Washington was therefore rude shock to all of this optimistic sentiment that has been carefully nurtured In the f- nancial district. The selling movement | swelled the dimensions of the trading during the first hour to a volume equal | to full days business during the re- cent past Prices tumbled headlong and l the market looked semi demoralized. | Heavy selling for European account | added to the burden of the market and i at the same time created a sharp de- mand for exchange which increased the threat of gold exports. Wherever prices had been moved up recently on the pre- that plans were in prospect | for combinations of existing properties along the lines of the Northern Secuti. | ties company, the effect was especially marked as in some Of the coalers and | the Gould southwesterns. The power full financial interests whose task it is to support prices in stock market crisis had an animated time for part of the first hour. Subsequent to that the market was much quieter, although the liquidation proceeded in a more orderly manner. Buying for support occasion ally rallied the market, but it was dis continued at recoveries and the sagging would be renewed This course was continued up to the close, which was active and easy, but not at the lowest for any important stock,
 There was enormous selling of the speculative bonds, and especially the Wabash debenture bonds, Baltimore and Ohio convertibles, Union Pacific and Consolidated Tobacco Is, which fell from l to 2 points at one time, In the general bond list there was no pressure of liquidation, although slight declines were the rule. Total sales par value, $5,720,O00
 United States IS advanced the re- funding g @s, the 3s < and the old fs l8 per cent. on the last call.
 HEW FORK STOCK MARKET. Nh Htuh,s1. L0xyest |