The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-26

Owing to the manner in which the United States Steel shares are held by small investors everywhere in this coun- try and by a great many in Europe be- sides, the sentimental effects of their de- cline to new low record prices is some thing to be reckoned with. United States Steel common sold this week below the lowest official quotation for 1t in the panic of May g, 1901 It Is the common stock in which the selling has been heav- lest on this decline. Although profess sional operations were conspicuous, 1t would be ridiculous to insist that they alone were responsible for the stock extreme weakness. There has been H. quidation of very urgent and. distress ing character. seeing which professional traders went In and offered the stock down. It Is persistently rumored that dividends on the common stock are either to be reduced or suspended. It is said that MT. Prick was offered the presi- dency of the United States Steel corpor- ation, and was willing to take 1t on con- dition that dividends be suspended on the common stock. MT. Morgan would not agree to that. There is not the slightest doubt that some very prominent inter ests, especially the Rockefeller interests, have been insisting that the dividends on the common stock be either cut or passed There Is believed to have been friction on this question between the Morgan faction on one side and the Rockefeller and other conservative fn- terests on the other side. The wishes of the Morgan faction have thus far pre- vailed As a 4 per cent stock United States Steel common, selling at 25. pays 16 per cent on the investment, and at 20 1t would pay 20 per cent The stock is either the most extraordinary bargain s,,4 Iraf rf<.lr without apologies. Liquidation alone can not sufficiently explain it's decline to this level On the other side there has been continued absence of buying pow CT Inside interests, apparently, are un- willing to support their own stock, even though it would return them 16 per cent or more on their money.
 Steel common is more widely distrib- uted than any other security and is held in small amounts by poor people who de- pend upon it for small incomes It was distributed to these small investors at between 40 and 50. The only reasonable explanation for Steel common paying per cent and selling at 8 Is that inter- ests who are responsible for it realize that dividends can not be indefinitely continued.
 Pittsburg, Chicago. St. Louis, Cleveland and other western cities have been sell ing heavily on this latest decline. liar ris, Gates & Go. forced a great deal of stock on the market this week, both common and preferred. It was under stood a long time ago that John w. Gates and his immediate associates were out of their Steel and it was question much debated this week whether the selling by Harris, Gates & Co. was li- quidation or for short account. It might easily have been good selling although it was not generally believed to be such in Wall street. Any one of ordinary shrewdness having a line of, say, 5O,000 to 100000 shares of Steel to sell fin a market such as this would sell it through a house that had been hammering the market, in order to give the impression that 1t was short selling and thereby excite opposition. Some very large lines in which Steel was the principal collat- eral have been sold out recently and that alone would account for a good deal of the pressure on the Steel stocks
 There has been a good deal of talk around Wall street recently of a cool ness between J. Pierpont Morgan and his junior partner. George w. Perkins There are several versions of the trou- ble, the one most generally accepted be- ing that MT. Morgan found Mir Perkins