Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-01
WHERE THE STOCKS co
Syndicates and Pools Protect
Their Interests.
INVESTORS BUY SOME
PURCHASERS OF THE LATTER
ARE CORRECTIVE OF EXTREMES.
Some of the Incidents in the Recent
FURY of the Market in
New York.
al Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


NEW YORK. August 1. 1903.
One of the most interesting questions that
arises during financial panics is as to
where all the stocks go. 1t is explained
that the bears cover short contracts,
made at higher figures. syndicates and
pools buy the securities in which they are
particularly interested and investors, with
good judgment or bad as the future only
can determine, buy stocks and bonds for
the income they yield. OF these classes Of
purchasers the two first named are the re-
ceiVers of the greater part Of the securi-
ties delivered. 1t Is not impossible that
more than one-half of the purchases of Sc
cur1ties recently have been made to COM
plete short ventures. one operator for the
decline closing a short transaction by buy
ing from another operator who sells in the
expectation of a further decline. Syndi-
Gates and pools protect the securities to
which they are committed to the extent
of their financial resources
There is a small percentage of purchases
made for purely investment purposes, on
Judgment Of actual value and earning
power. present and prospective, of various
corporate properties. a severely declining
market usually marks with the investors
who base purchases on value and earning
power complete reversal of the position
| they occupied in period Of expansion and
high prices Their sales of securities at
high prices places them in a position to
wait patiently for the time when they can
repurchase at cheaper figures.
Corrective Of Extreme Movements.
In very high market or a very low
one the activities of this class are more
or less of a corrective Of the markets ex-
IRENE movements. English investors close
ly follow this policy. London was bare Of
l,,%
Is now purchasing in considerable volume.
If this corrective is now being applied
quietly and persistently as may reasonably
be supposed though it is difficult to de-
tect as a rule brighter outlook for the
future may be entertained
John D. Rockefeller denies that he played
any part in the recent bear campaign in
Wall street 1t is true that Rockefeller
sold stocks heavily last fall because he be-
lieved that prices had been advanced to
entirely too high level, but he says he
has been buying on a large scale for over
a month. and there is reason to believe that
the statement is correct. During this time
he has purchased over 10000 shares OF
stock. He has bought over 10000 shares of
Pennsylvania stock alone. He has also
bought New York Central heavily.
Mr.. Keene's Experience.
James R. Keene, who failed for several
millions in 1884, and who paid every cent
Of it, once said: NO human being who has
never undertaken it knows what 1t is to
have to earn aad pay million dollars. 1t
is task beyond the human conception OF
anyone who has never undertaken it. In
spite of his heavy losses during the last
year keene is still wealthy man. That
he will continue to be a factor in the stock
market there is not the slightest doubt
Those acquainted with keene personally
know that there is not the slightest posi-
biiity OF his retiring from the stock market
at the present time. He recognizes that his
reputation as the greatest manipulation Wall
street has ever seen has been damaged by
the events of the last twelve months, but
keene is proud Of his reputation and it
may be accepted that he Will be heard or
again.
The bear raid in Wall street shows that
operations there are very much on the cut
throat order. This was fully demonstrated
in the case of Keene, who was struck at
through his brokers. keene known to
be in a tight position on Southern Pacific,
and that stock, with United States Steel,
i'll which he was also heavily interested,
hammered numerically. keene at
last decided to lay down, because he said
that il he did not surrender he would lose
four times as much money he did.
Representatives. of the express companies
say that phenomenal inflow of stocks and
bonds through express channels has been
in progress for some time past. This flood
of securities includes not only consignments
from large banks and trust companies III
Gus sources. such country banks and in
dividuals in every part of the country. The
known fact that the whole country has been
dumping immense quantities of actual
goods upon the New York securities mar
ket may be illuminating explanation of
the failure Of bank loans to decrease in
reflection of securities liquidation, but it Is
not easily reconciled with the published
claims that Wouid-be borrowers discover
d scarcity of stocks In the street There
may be a concentration of stocks but hard
ly famine. At the same time. brokers
affirm that good stocks are hard to get
The Steel Trust Ownership.
An authority friendly to the steel trust
says that the ownership of the great bulk
of the Steel Corporation stock is practically
where it was at the beginning and there 1t
will, in all human probability, remain for
many years to come. Control of the ma
jority of the Steel Corporations shares. or
of anything like majority, is not lodged
with the general public.
The United States Steel CORPORATION is the
largest combination of capital that the
world has ever seen. The properties of the
steel corporation officially estimated az
worth over billion and a half dollars An
drew Carnegie said of the system of which
he was then the head: Take away all orr
factories. our trade. our avenues of trans
portaton. our money: leave me our organi-
zatCn ana IN TOUR years l will have re-
ganization does not figure in the assets It
is a tangible possession. nevertheless and
in time it is like to prove itself worth fully
as much the ore beds on Lake Supertor
the mills machinery and other eouiDment
the coal. coke and natural gas fields the
railways and steamships the blast fur
naces and the lime stone deposits. which
everybody can see.
Hartman as Developer.
E H. Hartman is now recognized as one
of the foremost railroad developers in the
world. 1t is largely due to his efforts that
the Illinois Central is the valuable railroad
system that it is today. He took charge of
the Union Pacific while the company was
still in the hands of a receiver Today the
Union Pacific Is one Of the most valuable
railroad systems in the United States. its
physical condition being equal If not supe-
rior. to any railroad west of Chicago The
Southern Pacific was purchased by Union
Pacific on the advice of E. II. Hartman at
an average price of nearly $50 a share AS
soon as the control of the company was ac-
quired the new management Immediately
set to work to raise the physical condition
of the company up to the standard set by
the other western roads. To accomplish this
it was necessary to postpone the payment
OF dividends and spend all the earnings on
improvements and betterments. As the 1e-
Sult of this policy the uhysical condition Of