The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-07
COLLAPSE OF WILD
 CANADIAN DEALS Has Greatly Cleared Stock Mar
 ket Atmosphere STANDARD OIL HOLDS BAG Financing of United shIpbulIdIns Go. Has Been Done Over Asaln--Mr.
 Keene Friendly to Market.
 Wall Street News.
STANDARD OIL HOLDS BAG
BY ". c. NICHOLAS.

x Co.,, of Toronto, which may be said to have marked the collapse of a wild speculative movement in Canada, has greatly cleared the stock market atmos- phere. At the moment of this writing 1t Is believed that the consequence of this failure can be taken care of without entailing the fall of any other large firm or institution, although, at first, 1t was feared that a Canadian bank, of which Mir. Ames was the organizer and which must have been heavily involved in his bull campaign, might succumb to the pressure. The trouble was not unexpect- ed in Wall street. There had been many liquidations here in Canadian accounts for some time preceding the failure. This was understood by Wall street brokers handling Canadian accounts to mean that desperate efforts were being made to avert a crash. Although the Cana dians have been carrying large lines of stock in New York the effect of the fail ure here was not as severe as would be imagined Much heavier loses were en- tailed on the Boston crowd. There has been an important Boston end to the Cam
 
 minion stocks. New York interest in the securities have never been large. Ane local bear crowd in Canadian Pacific evidently was informed of the Toronto situation, and 1t began It's campaign in anticipation of some such trouble as that which has occurred The market posi- ton of Canadian Pacific here has been mystery for many weeks. The stock has been lending fiat and at premiums, moving eratically and showing persistent liquidation without any apparent increase in the floating supply. It was though at first that the short interest In Canadian Pacific, the existence of which was dis- closed by the fact of the stock lending at a premium in the loan crowd, arose from arhitrage transactions. When this explanation would no longer hold there was a great deal of curiosity to know what was going on in the stock. The Toronto failure made everything clear. Ames Co.,, more than any other house, stood for the extravagant speculation that has been going on in various Cana dian stocks and some of our own se- curities, notably, Canadian Pacific, the Soo shares, Twin City Rapid Transit, Sloss-Sheffield, Tennessee Coal. Iron & Railroad, and Brooklyn Rapid Transit. Thomas Lowry and his following have been operating heavily on the Canadian exchanges. It is said that MT. Lowry principal operations were conducted by Ames & Co.,, and it Is wondered here whether an over-extended position on his part has anything to do with the em- barrassment of that house. Mir Lowry was chiefly responsible for developing Canadian Pacific speculative interest in Twin City Rapid Transit.
 It Is the observation of brokers here in Wall street who have had relations with them that the Canadians are good losers. Throughout the severe decline Canadian accounts were about the best protected of any in Wall street. Calls for margins were responded to with alacrity, and 1t was a wonder to the brokers where all the money came from On the January rise the Canadian pulp lie sought to recoup It's losses and plung- ed heavily. The market was against 1t. A moderate turn in Canadian Pacific was about the only thing 1t was able to man. age successfully during the January movement upon the continuation of which the market turned downward again, and prices have tended lower ever since. Very recently 1t became a matter of concern among brokers that the Canadian margins were not forth coming as readily as they formerly were. Margin calls almost invariably brought back selling orders. and those who knew the temperament of the Canadian contn- gent realized that this attitude was one of necessity rather than choice It had been known for several weeks that some large Canadian speculative accounts were in a precarious condition. The old original Canadian Pacific crowd has not been hurt. It is not to be confused with the Lowry-Ames combination, which was responsible for the wild outburst of Canadian speculation now brought to a close. Canadian Pacific has been the basis of some of the largest fortunes in Canada The crowd that controls 1t got into 1t when the stock was selling as low as 30 cents share and they have seen the property through many trials and troubles develop into one of the most important systems in the world, and the stock now selling around $i20 a share even after the liquidation incident to the collapse of the bull movement. There is, indeed, a strong suspicion that the Canadian Pacific crowd proper, than which there is not a shrewder combina- ton of interests In our market antici- pated the Toronto crash and protected itself by being short of stocks. Cana dian Pacific, anyway, was the best sup ported stock affected
 It Just begins to be fully realized in Wall street that the Standard oil crowd has been going through the celebrated performance known in the market as holding the bag" It was reported this week that John D. Rockefeller individ- ually had purchased 15o,000 shares of stock. principally St. Paul and Pennsyl- vania. within the ten days preceding There is no possibility, of course, of yer flying this information. but 1t Is so tech nically probable that no well-informed observer was inclined 10 dispute 1t. There Is no doubt, whatever that the Rockefeller interests. otherwise the Standard oil crowd, have been hostile to the market for several months They have not only withheld support from their own stocks. but have actively de-