The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-07-21
TIE STANDARD OIL CROWD AND
THE DEPRESSION IN THE
PRICE OF STOCKS.

not believe the bad break in Wall Street
stocks was due to Rockefeller's desire to
give Morgan a lick. With a significant
smile, the old man said: They do not
make money out of each other" But on
Wall street nearly everybody believes that
it was 1.-The Standard Oil crowd" that en-
gineered the deal. Rockefeller is the larg-
est individual owner of Pennsylvania
Railroad stock. He is known to be the
largest holder in the Gould lines and to
have made the entry of the Wabash into
Pittsburg possible. He is credited with
desire to purchase the controlling inter-
st in both the New York Central and the
Pennsylvania and to have been influenced
to bedr the market by a desire to buy
them up cheap.
From a very interesting letter from New
York, signed S. S. S., in the Washington
Star, we make the following extracts:
Altogether the situation is very pecu-
har, as it seems to put the Rockefeller, or
the STANDARD Oil Crowd, as they are
called, in the position of dictators in the
business affairs OF this hemisphere, for if
they can beggar people by wholesale and
get control of the largest and most solid
corporation in the country by depressing
the stock market, they viii soon own
everything worth having Besides, the
wealth they are rolling up will be dan
gerous menace to all institutions, public
and private. The question is, where will
the process end and how? H. Fl. Rogers,
who was operated on recently for appen-
dicitis and was supposed to be dying, but
who recovered and is again in the saddle,
is believed to be the brains behind the
Rockefeller throne, at least as far as stock
speculation goes. He is a born financier,
keen of judgment, far-seeing and relent
less to foes. He is probably the mani
pulator of the movement which is causing
such heart breaking in Wall street and
wherever the tape is worshipped. 1t is
generally admitted that business condl-
tions everywhere in the United States are
satisfactory, yet in the New York stock
exchange hundreds of securities are sell
ing below their value, or not selling at
all, because some one is systematically
bearing the market, and hundreds of
brokers have nothing to do because the
public won't buy. There is no exaggera-
ton In the statement that many men who
have lost their money or employment in
the street are in a condition bordering on
desperation. Some of them have made
wild threats. In
wall street is firmly convinced that the
Standard Oil iutapacfS a,.a hahipd tho I,aoY
campaign in the market Outside of the
Standard Oil interests it is not believed
that there is a single group of people in
the country sufficiently powerful to have
caused the tremendous decline in values
III the market since the first of the year.
The recklessness with which stock were
sold after they had declined over forty
points showed that those who were de-
pressing the market were sure of their po-
sition The control OF New York Central
by the Rockefelers would give the Mis-
souri, Pacific Wabash combination track
age right into New York by the most
direct route. 1t would give ST. Paul,
which is also controlled by the Rockefel-
lers, equal advantages. 1t would create
by far the most powerful railroad system
in the world, and would completely
change the railroad map of the United
States.
For years the Rockefellers have been
large holders of railroad stocks and bonds,
but have never before played a very
prominent part in thenrailroad industry
ST. Paul. which is one of the most con-
servatively managed railroads in the
country, is the only company which has
been considered a Rockefeller property.
For several years, however, the Rockefel
lers are understood to have owned the
controlling interest in Missouri, Kansas
and Texas. The Rockefelers are also |
large holders of stock in all the Gould
railroads. Their holdings of stock in
Missouri Pacific ard Wabash are under
stood to be equally large, if not larger, |
than the amount controlled by the Goulds. I
The Rockefellers are believed to have
furnished a large part of the capital
which was required to enable the Wabash |
to secure an entrance into Pittsburg. /
John d. Rockefeller has for years owned /
a large amount of the stock of both /
and New York Central I
Indeed, he is said to be the second largest /
Of Pennsylvania. With their
present. ldFSG UOlOlllSS VI idllIOdu ostull- I
ties, and with their almost unlimited fin
ancial resources, the Rockefelers could
play a prominent part in the railroad in
dustry of this country. With the acquisi-
ton Of the New York Central, supposing
that the rumors in Wall street have some
basis in fact, the Rocketeller-Goud COM
bination will control larger amount of
railroad mileage than any other single in
terest in the country. The resources of
this combination are almost unlimited.
THE liquidation in the stock market,
severe as it has been, is not without its
beneficent uses. Out of it will come
sounder and more wholesome conditions.
Wall street is suffering from speculative
excuses. The reaction is severe and
painful, but it is beneficial. There will
shortly be return to more healthful con-
ditions. The expansion OF business was
followed by train of evils which IN time
corrupted the speculative markets. New
men, suddenly made rich by the change in
conditions, appeared III Wall
street and took possession OF the stock
exchange. Promotion was carried to ex-
coss 1ho ,oorlxat was glutted with new