The sun., 1903-08-30
GOSSIP or WALL STREET,

On the appearance of the bank staken,ora
yesterday, showing IA further expansion ~
more than s5,0OO.OOO in loans. traders sold
cautiously around the room 10 test the market
but finding that they lost their stocks da.
sisted In the last fifteen minutes of trndir,
Efforts on the part of II few timid shorts IN
cover their contracts disclosed greats,
scarcity of stocks than had been known
at any time during the wCck, and IN.
bull crowd improved the opportunity ,c
bid up prices all around ut the oyprns. oF
IN" snort interest II is the-opinon of mnnv
brokers that the floating supply Of stocks
IN the room is abnormnlly low. After ths
close yesterday traders said the market had
shown not only n very strong undertou.
but technical evidence. besides Of an over.
sold condition. The short interest evidently
has been Whiting for n break, without the
courage to attack the market
Tho movement in Rubber Goods is attract.
ing good deal Of attention Some think
d market Ia being made for stock On only
loo shares it advanced yesterday to ia
and closed at the top. showing a net gain Of
T., per cent. United States Rubber pre-
ferrcd advanced points on only 100 shares,
IF were conducting a bear campaiyr
said room trader yesterday. Il should
count upon the accident of gloomy. mjsar.
able weather for at least half per cent
Nothing would suit me better than n dav
Tor example. such as this. Traders Are more
Influenced by bearsh comment and I'M
favorable news when the weather il had
have watched il. Mental depression count.
for something. Now. if Sunday is a bad day
and people miss their outings traders will
come TO the Street on Monday feeling ont
Of sorts and more inclined to sell than 10
buy. have known men to start down town
on pretty morning intending to sell stocks
and change their minds about it before roach
ing their Offices"
The Indifferent reception of certain pieces
of news last week. notably tho Eric's annual
statement and the Atchison's : July report
caused traders to comment upon the uncer-
tainty OF news effects In general and IN.
fact that 1t depends largely upon the pre-.
vailing mood whether the immediate iofiu.
ence Of thing is bullish or bearsh. Some
one recalled a story Of the late Addison Cam.
mnck. He was bullng st Paul around 40
and. encounternR one dav sceptical ac-
quaintance, he drew rough pencil man
of the St Paul system. and indicated thereon
by number Of short marks the sources
from which the company derived great
deal of profitable business Here. he said
lis little road running through rich valley
and connecting with the st. Paul at this
point: here is another little line tapping
great wheat section. I know. for I've been
over il. Here is another short road. here
another. here another, and he kept on
marking them in until his map looked like
a centipede. All of those little roads,
said Mr.. Cammack, contemplating his draw
ing. "and some more that | haven't marked
are feeders. The ST. Paul has the greatest
To-. Il.
It's great property. The acquaintance
went away with Mr.. Cammack's wonderful
map of the ST. Paul in his pocket and bought
line OF the stock. Several months later he
met Calnmack again and asked him what hs
thought Of the market" Sell st. Paul,
said Cammack. who had finished his bull
campaign in the stock. and was then hea,
Sell az much OF it as Won like Tt's tho
greatest sale on the list" But how about
those feeders. Mr.. Cammack?" the acquaint.
ance asked. pulling out the pencil map.
which he had saved. "Suckers,- snorted
Mr.. Cammack They are not feeders,
they are suckers"
There is said to exist in London n large
short interest against the sale OF options
on American stocks. Brokers regard this
as a favorable feature in the situation
similar condition existed prior TO the mar
ket's big advance two years ago. The de-
mand for London options recently has been
very active.
An active borrowing demand for stocks
was reported from the loan departments
after the close Of the market. Atchison
continued to be the feature. the short in-'
terest i'll it being larger apparently. than
that in any other granger stock There
was also an urgent demand for Amalgamated
Copper. which was something new. 81
Paul, New York Central. Sugar and United
States Realty preferred We're also in activ"
request. Judging from the transactions
in the loan crowd. the short interest las
not d Unfinished apprecisbly, notwithstar ding
the covering movement on which prices
advanced in Fridays session. A great deal
of money has been made on the short side
of Atchison. and the bear crowd seems to be
more stubborn there than in any other quarter
of the railroad list. An attempt was mad"
10 break il in the early trading Yesterday.
but il failed and the stock afterward showed
great deal of strength on small transactions,
closing mt "a, the highest price for the dal.
with net gain OF Z per cent The short
interest in the market is largely professional.
but in addition all the houses that stand
on trades are supposed to be heavily short
There WIS no commission house business
to speak of yesterday. The Attendance
around brokers offices all Of last week was
perhaps the lightest that has heen knoNu
this year
man, the nature of whose business nakoI
him an authority on the subject, declares
that Wall Street is freer of buckctshops and
swindling schemes in general than has been
the case for many years, This is due
largely to the svsmtcatc efforts that have
been made 10 rid the Street Of swindlers.
particularly to ahate the bucketshop evil.
and partly to the fact that the public is lesS
responsive to swindling approaches than u
used to be. The superintendent Of a large
office building remarked the other day that
the only difference between his institution
and n big hotel Is that the hotel transieAts
sometimes come back. whereas the bucket
shop keepers and schemers of that class never
come back, ONCE buildings in the Wall
Street district are much stricter than thev
formerly were, and tenant now needs some
thing besides his rent and fine furniture to get
into them The buCketshop business from
all accounts is In bad way. but a great deal
Of money was made on the long decline from
the high prices of a year ago. For long
time after legitimate commission business
was reduced to nominal proportions the
bucketshops held an active clientele.
Brokers say time money has been offered
to them very freely since Mr. Shaw plan for
increasing Federal deposits was announced.
Rates are being maintained by all Of fhe
largo lenders. but the smaller lenders are
making concessions. One instance IS known