The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-17
UNUSUAL POLICY
OF ROCKEFELLER
Stock MarketInactivity Arouses
a Great Deal of Curiosity
H. H. ROGERS AS A FORCE
strsns Bear Parry Seems to Be Mark
In the Shares of United States
Steel corporation-Va-
rious Gossip.
!. H. ROGERS AS A FORCE
BY w. c. NICHOLAS.

New York, May 16.-severaI weeks ago
the Standard OIL crowd, so-called, which
is composed of the principal personal ele-
ments In the Rockefeller clique, decided
upon policy of stock market inactivity.
That was a very unusual thing for 1t to
do, and there Is a great deal of curiosity
in Wall street to know why 1t should
have resolved at this particular time to
held aloof from the market. The illness
of Mr.. H. H. Rogers may have had some-
thing to do with it, and If his return to
health is what the Standard Oil crowd
has been waiting for Its reason for being
inactive will soon disappear The outside
world may be surprised at the extreme
solicitude which Mr.. Rogers illness
awakened In financial circles. Only Wall
street people know what a tremendous
has always been the policy or the STAN
dard Oil people to figure as a crowd
rather than as individuals and this, no
doubt, is the secret of their enormous
strength. Mr.. Rogers, however, comes
as near to being the leader of this Stan
dard OIL crowd as it Is possible for one
man to be. He figures always in the
background, however, and is rather dis
tinguished for modesty in the society of
men whose chief characteristic, either in
dividually or collectively, is the lack OF
outward assumption.
The Standard OIL party is the most I'M
assuming combination of financial inter-
ests, outwardly at least, in Wall street.
Whether this happens to be a common
trait of character or arises from a sense
of unlimited power it would be difficult
to say. 1t is by far the most powerful
party in Wall street and to the lay stock
market observer its campaigns appear
70 be as precise and irresistible as the
5tavements of the earth. The possibility
its falling in any important design is
= far beyond the comprehension of the
wall street mind that in this little world
it is not admitted to be a possibility. As
a party 1t Is enormously rich and its
resources are always available because
they are never tied up in underwriting
syndicates or similar ventures. In its
long campaigns 1t possesses the patience
of calm conviction and in less pretentious
operations 1t exhibits a masterful genius
at the art of mere trading. Previously
to having decided several weeks ago on
policy of inactivity It's position on the
market for several months had been
purely Il trading one, which is to say that
1t had been buying on the breaks and
selling on the bulges, as any room trad
er might do, without taking a positive
attitude. At the present time 1t is unwill-
ing apparently, to undertake selling OPP
erations ON large scale, but on the
other hand 1t seems to see nothing in
the immediate situation on which to bull
stocks. Its great speciality, st. Paul, has
been left to take care of itself in the
hands of professional traders. The room
crowd has found 1t impossible however,
to move the stock more than 3 points
either way without encountering inside
opposition. Other stocks in which the
Standard OIL influence is dominant have
been behaving in much the same man
ner as St. Paul, giving the impression
that they are pegged at about this level
pending the agreement OF the Standard
Oil crowd upon a definite stock market
policy.
1t is understood that the Standard Oil
interests are not satisfied with the none
tary outlook, and they got their bank
ing information through the National
City bank. Money is cheap. Call funds
have been in abundance under per cent
for more than fortnight and the rates
for time money have gradually declined
until 1t Is now possible 70 negotiate a
nine-months' loan carrying over the end