The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-03-22

1T there when they can got AZ to per
cent lending 1t in the open market.
Stress has been laid on the statement
that the bond market has beco-.e stag
nant and that buyers will only put cap
ital into this class of securities at
marked concessions. AS to the latter
statement 1t Is only measurably true. for
while transactions in bonds have shrunk
somewhat in the open market, n very
lively counter trade has been going on
continuously Small investors have been
buying extensively and the actual vol
ume of the bond business has suffered
slight If any diminution. The record
of savings banks shows that the aceu-
mutation of money in the hands Of the
middle class has been proceeding sensa-
tlonally. 1t is from that source that the
inquiry for choice securities comes.
The weather. classes are inclined to
hold off for the time being, letting their
funds accumulate in the banks, subject
to employment in the loan market. This
Is what the bankers of the Standard Oil
kind are playing for Money has been
piling up too fast in the hands of the
middle classes to suit the heavy
weights The deposits in the savings
banks of New YorN state alone are near
ly as great as the combined deposits in
the trust institutions and clearing house
banks of New York city. In actual
money the savings banks accumulations
exceed those of the regular banks and
trust companies. In the latter very
large proportion of the deposits repre-
sent money borrowed and then depos-
tied, whereas in the case of the savings
banks the deposits are the actual stuff,
the fruit of thrift and savings.
1t may be mentioned also In this con-
nection and In spirit of rejoiner to the
bear arguments advanced by the bank
ing element that the rule against fixed
investments in low Understanding secu-
rites does not apply to bank stocks,
which are selling to-day on a l to m
per cent basis Chemical bank stock sold
recently on y per cent basis, although
!. pays % per cent dividends on its share
capitalization. Evidently what is sauce
for the goose is not sauce for the gan
der.
In Amalgamated Copper it is the same
old crowd working the same old game.
Amalgamated has share capital of
$l5o, 100000. When originally fioated by
H. II. Rogers, John Archbold and other
Standard Oil associates. it was in high
investment and speculative favor. In
siders sold out above par and went enor-
nlously short of the market. Ine price
broke from 100 to under 90, overwhelm-
ing thousands of people with ruin. The
shrinkage in Amalgamated stock alone
represented loss of over $1,000 900,
large part of 1t actual loss, which fell
upon spectators and many thousands
of actual investors, most of whom were
New Englanders.s At the bottom the same
inside crowd picked up the stock again
and by manipulation of the metal well
as the stock market ran the quotation of
Amalgamated up to 70 and better. For
a week or more the manipulators have
been unloading. Evidences of distribu-
ton have been plain to those who read
the Signs of l. markets. Whether 1t Is
the intention of the insiders to let the
stock make a new low record cannot be
stated The dice are loaded and people
who fool with Amalgamated in the stock
market should never forget the fact that
they are playing in a brace game against
skillful and interruptions professionals.
]. Whitaker Wright famous London
promoter, is struggling to escape the
tolls in New York city just now for play
ing a game witch was petit larceny
compared with past manipulations in
Amalgamated Copper stocks and Whit
aker Wright is a skilled and very size
able man in the arena of high hnance.
Gates and Morgan.
John W. Gates is scheduled for an ap-
pecrance before TIE interstate commerce
commission in this city next Fri~ay,
March q. Wall street awaits with con-
siderable eagerness the hearing. II is
the common expectation that Mr.. Gates
will ..come back at J. Pierpont Morgan
and xtve the true inwardness of the ia
nous Louisville and Nashv.-ie deal. 1t
is also the popular belief that he will
pay his respects tc Mr.. Morgan. who, it
will be recalled. characterized him as a
dangerous mar.
Mr.. Gates feels that he was ''played
for a sucker by the Morgan people in
the Louisville and Nashville deal and
treated In bad faith from first TO last.
AS his price for foregoing a corner"
which would haze wrecked many Wall
street houses Mr. Gates was to be taken
into the conservative circle of Wall
street Subsequent DEVELOPMENTS showed
that those who dealt with him never SO
much as let him into the vestibule of
the club. and that when they got through
with him they dropped all pretense of
caring for him. The Morgan testimony
was construed as a formal notification
that the western plunger was still re-
garded as chief Of the tribe of Ishmael
The Coal Roads.
The anthracite coal roads are expect
ing to do a record business this year.
The production, 1t is estimated. will be
81. 100000 tons or more, upon which the
carving roads expect to derive so cents