New-York tribune., 1902-05-18
fiuanriaI-
The Financial World

ing power. This is the best that -
IAere is seeming consensus of onin4 sa'N-
any nope OF a bull movement must r.
oohed for the present The market LOOKS -.
would go lower before 1t went higher D.,
when the market becomes oversoId ,,,,, N--ies
and there may be advances in specfaI,to.
apparent there is bear party az vro-,, -
headqu irters Of which may be guessed ~, r,''
constant and varied attacks on the stae, -,
indicate IT, S'OcAs
In the forepa-t of the week when +bo
ana the high money rates unsettled the u.-'
there was an active borrowing started IN 49,
don Through the making of exchanpal 1-oi-
oank statement Of yesterday largely -.s~-l- e-e
ths' heavy reduction of loans and dao-,
ana a large increase in the surplus reserve -
SHOWN This increase in lOanable funds ,.r
lowering of prices, and still more. the 49,.
duliness into which business fell. cor,biu..
oring down the call rates from s and 10 -.
cent to and 6. Favorable as the st,tan,pe. ~.
ostensibly appeared it did not heIp the r,a-'--.
beyond stimulating brief traders, r.IYv
STOCKS were for sale rallies.
Now that the strike Is on. the univs-s,,
is how far will il go-what will he - Sueiy
Some prominent Wall Street men ba1ia,..,
would be no strike because they felt consso.7
that stock market interests would forca 60
sonS TO the men, They remained in this co.
Nicton almost 10 the last. Others. however, a.
cioser touch with the coal trade asserted that
the limit Of concessions had been reached 4, ar
settlement of the last strike that a stand r,,,.s
De made sooner or later; and that this was tba
best time to make IT,
Ine hrst effect has been an immediate "a
vance IN the price OF coal; and from now "a ~.
wen INNING is resumed. it will be a mil
DetweeF diminishing consumption IN tha -
Side and grOVviDp- -
'erInlhe what the price shall be. The next aerac.
VIII be seen when the earnings of the ro.5. -
reported Traffic must inevitably he co,si5.~..
Ieuuced' ana earnings must fall off corresnord
IhslS- Ihis Will not be confined to the antb-.
cite coal roads. but will extend to other roas,
10 lesser extent. We must therefore he Ne
pared Tor lessened earnings on most Of the F.,
,I, iU|uS uurIhg the next six weeks. which viii
prooably be the duration Of the strike
Inat the railroad companies expected tba 49,,
10 go our Is shown in their preparations for +b..
emergency. Every car in which col - ,'-"'
loaded and every siding on which srcb CO.
could be stored has been filed to the lint -
the suburbs of this city 10 the western bo,,rI-
oI fehnsylVania Loaded coal cars are in avt
uehCe Wherever you travel But this is n-fr,s-y,
TOT the use of the roads themselves Sr,rIt..
Tor the public are comparatively small. b.,.v.-
the demand for coal has been so large and staa1,
Ior year past that the companies have r,sr.
Ae'eu every ton they could mine The large ad-
'S"eeS IN the quotations for the coal stocks have
resulted from this state OF things. Whom the
strike is over the companies win he. - .'
greater and more urgent demands than svo-
upon their productive capacity.
Ihls Is one OF the reasons WHY s+rit-az +-orA,
some as they are while they are on. ara ,,z,,.,,
so epnemeral in their effects. There is a da,qs-
:" '"is strike mat IL may extend 10 the btu
ii'nous mining regions. If II did extensively thA
uouoie would be serious indeed. but the rbs,cs
are against It, The bituminous miners are ,,r5ar
coi'raet tl next April. and public opinior v-ouI5
:. ""o'S against sympathetic strike-thinzs
"hlch count for something even where Iaho-
unions are involved though nor of e,-e.+ -
a stronger reason is that the anthracite r,irars
themselves were so greatly divided on tbA o,,as
'''" VI ordering strike The transfer NJ cor,-
pd'duVe!y lew votes from the affirmative m tbA
negative, in a total of several hundred yvo,,15
nave given the decision the other wav -rbis s,c-
VIII nave more weight with the men than ar,,
other argument
- 'he troubles with labor were not enough
the market had 20 stand something like a formal
announcement OF troubles between capitalists.
VINO 1t may be added. can furnish abor+ a
many examples or unreasonabIeness. Obstinacy
and breach Of faith. as labor unions. The semi
official announcement that the F,sr-s,,,-t,
Company had given the Western Union NOTICE
10 get Off its lines. was at once recognized a.
indicating that the disputes between the Penn
sylvania and Mr.. George Gould had come to a
head.
II Is not telegraphs but railroads which have
caused bad blood here. When Mr. Gould tstirred
up II Is surmised. by Pittsburg interests not
friendly TO the Pennsylvania. acquired control
or the Wheeling and Lake Erie road. it brought
MS Wabash system from its eastern terminal
at Toledo further east by south 10 Wheeling on
the Ohio, and the Carnegie road was to come
out westward from Pittsburg to meet il. This
would make PittSburg the eastern terminal OF
the Wabash; and also give ii the shortest line
between Pittsburg and Chicago. The PennsyI-
vania people strongly objected TO this invasion
or their territory. and good deal appeared in
the papers at the time about the disputes be-
tween the two interests.
Finally. it was reported that an amicable ar
rangement had been reached. 1t is asserted that
part of this arrangement was that no further
extension of the Wabash into Pennsylvania
territory should be made. Now it turns out that
the Wabash is to be extended from Pittsburg to
Baltimore. The purchases of two local roads.
the Western Maryland and the West Virginia.
have been made in furtherance of this scheme;
these disconnected lines to be united by the
building of connecting road. The completion
OF the whole scheme would bring the Wabash to
tidewater at Baltimore through the heart Of the
Pennsylvania and 3. & o. territory.
There is the situation. and there the casus
belli. II may be that the row will be fixed up in
some way; but while it is going on. it will not
help the market. and the Gould stocks can
scarcely be considered promising purchases. In
a hot fight between the Pennsylvania corpora