The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-28


may be. The fashionable jewelers. complain
that business has fallen off heavily within
the past nine months Customers who
thought nothing formerly of paying any
where from $4,000 to 10000 for hauble
now haggle over the price of jewels of one
fifth those values. There was, perhaps.
never time before when the market was
so drugged with yachts. Handsome craft
can be rented or bought on terms ri6icu-
lousy low compared with those that
prevailed two years ago. when people who
were rich with paper profits were spending
their money 40 recklessiy. The reported
yacht TO III. III. Rogers recently attracted
great deal of attention. owing to the prom
inence OF the men, but really this mas pc
come very common incident. Inc reason
for the cessation OF the lavish expenditure
of money on luxuries and means of pleas
ure are obvious enough. Speculative stock
values have undergone a shrinkage during
the past nine months of many hundreds of
millions of dollars and IL would be impossi-
bic to estimate in figures that would convey
of paper profits that have been swept away.
Losses, whether real or on paper, make
people conservative.
There has been a good deal of gossip In
Wall street this week about the losses sus-
tanned by the Western speculative contin-
gent on the Derby racing event at Chicago.
The Gates crowd went in body from here
in a special car. II backed brakes favor
lite Savable very heavy and was confident
of success. One Wall-street friend who
went along in the special car, a plunger, Is
said to have dropped $4,000. The losses OF
the Gates crowd proper are estimated at
from 100000 TO 100000, Whatever else may
be said OF the Gates contingent. the men
composing Ii are good losers. They would
have to be in order to make the money they
have made No crowd of plkerS or hard
losers could have been as successful as this
a nyK~h hn hln in m
IT has suffered some very hard knocks. but
it has always taken them so coolly as to
excite the admiration even of those who
disapprove of its manipulative and specula-
tive methods. Nobody ever knows for sure
whether the Gates party is winning or los
ing, and you could never tell by Its de-
meanor whether the game was running for
or against it.
The handing over of the Colorado Fuel
and Iron Company to the Standard Oil
crowd was not so much of surprise as
the prompt manner in which Chairman J.
c. Osgood surrendered the property into
the upbuilding of which he had put the
better part of his business life. There is
reason to believe that he played every card
in his hand and then gave up like good
loser should. The sum of the whole matter
| is that the Standard Oil crowd, which is
now heavily interested In Missouri Pacific
| and allied Gould properties, wanted the
| Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, and
when the Standard Oil crowd wants any
thing 1t gets It, The stock broke violently
| ten days ago on report that notes amount
ing TO 100000 We're about to go to protest.
| They did not. and it was explained after
wards, vaguely, that the trouble arose from
| clerical negligence. There is another story
| to the effect that the Osgood faction favored
| a receivership on the theory that 1T would
| have an advantage over its rivals In the
| ton. 1t is said that the Could Rockefeller
| faction anticipated this move and produced
| the 100000. Then the short interest was
| terribly squeezed one day by rise of 8
| points in the stock, and the board-room
4 story was that Charles Gates had been
| caught mapping on the short side of the
| stock and that the We'll crowd was also
| hurt Colorado Fuel and Iron ordinarily is
| a dangerous stock for an outside operator
| to be short of. Chairman Osgood is a re-
markedly adroit fighter. After one sensa-
| tional contest for the control of the prop
| erty the Gates contingent went to Denver
| in a special car to take control, only to be
beaten at the last moment in a manner that
| was simply daZing. The Gates faction came
| back. sold out its stock, and has been bear
| ish ever since. Again last year it seemed
| morally certain that Osgood would be
.ousted by q coalition of the Gould and Har-
| rimaa interests in the property, but he
| saved himself again by setting the OppOsi-
| ton at strife with itself and seiZing COM
quarreling. Colorado Fuel and Iron has
| an exceedingly valuable property. One day
| its stock will be worth a great deal more
than 1t is now selling for. 1t was an object
Of distrust, however while the question OF
| control was unsettled.
| xxx
| The stock market appears to be awaiting
a fresh impulse. Speculation has become
about as stupid as it could be. For more
than a week the market has been so mar.
row that even short stocks could not bt
| sold to advantage. 1t is the science of bear
ish speculation to sell stocks first and de-
press prices afterwards, but with the
apathetic interest that has recently pre-
| vailed 1t would have been impossible IL
sell a large line of short stock without
| breaking prices. The bear party, there
FORE has been desiring an advance on which
| to put out stocks. The large short interes
| covered, and the shrewdest observers OF
| the bear side have realized that further op
erations for decline on this level were in
advisable. 1t will be seen how, under tn,
| circumstances, speculation has come to al
most a deadlock. There is reason to believ,
that the bear crowd would assist an ad
vance with the idea of selling ii heavily
1t is the prevalent opinion among bankers
that speculation will be more two-sided TO
awhile and that the market will continue
in narrow swings for some. time to come
James r. Keene, the foremost manipulate
in the street, has been talking very bullisl
to his friends. insisting that the declin
had gone too far. The impression has beer
that he is bulling stocks, but some of tn
old-timers are skeptical about it on TIL
ground that If Mr.. Keene were really bull
ish he would be buying stocks as quietl,
as he could without saying anything to any
body. 1t is generally a safe assumption
that Mr.. Keene is doing the opposite o
what he seems to be doing, and when h
talks bullish he has stocks to sell.
w. G. NICHOLAS.