Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-14
MARKET IN FERMENT
Wild Scenes on New York
Exchange.
SPECULArORS AT SEA
BIG FINANCIERS GIVE THEM NO
SIGN.
Impossible Now to Tell Full Effect Of
Northern Securities
Decision.
Special From a Staff Correspondent.


the attitude of the government toward rail-
way combinations, shown in the North
ern Securities merger case. Mingled with
these emotions is a pronounced sense of
fear for the future and uncertainty as to
how far the Department of Justice pro-
poses to go in interference with plans that
have long been pending for further railroad
consolidation.
Attorney General Knox has thus far kept
the street guessing as to the course of the
Department of Justice in this respect, and
at this writing the financial world or at
least that portion of it engaged in the
manipulation of railroad securities, is at a
loss to forecast the action of the govern
ment.
1.-THE Department of Justice is keeping us
sweating, said the head of one of the big
gest financial institutions to The Star cor
respondent today 1T would be worth a
great deal to the street if we knew what
the next move would be, but Washington is
a sphynx, and the most earnest efforts to
get at the real intention of the government
thus far have failed.
THE best can learn is that there is
nothing on hand now. but we cannot re-
ceive assurances that there will be nothing
on hand thirty days from now"
Bad Day on the Street Yesterday.
Wall Street yesterday had one of the
worst days 1T has experienced for
months. The uncertainty of the situat ton
gave the bears an opportunity to make a
sustained raid on prices, and they pounded
down the stocks from . to points. 1t
was estimated this morning. by a compe-
tent authority. in one of the big banking
houses, that the total shrinkage in values
yesterday amounted to more than $50 OOO,-
600. The railroad stocks suffered the
greatest Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsyl-
Vania, New York Central Erie Reading
and the coal roads all recording declines in
prices, and along with them went the gen.
eral market. For time 1t looked as if
things were going to smash
When the stock exchange opened at 10
o CLOCK this morning apprehension prevailed
on every side. For half an hour before the
opening the room was crowded with brok-
ers, but the scene was different from ordi-
nary DAYS. The men stood about In little
groups discussing the possibilities which
the days events might hold Anxiety was
depicted upon every face, and instead of
the busy hum which usually pervades the
chamber there was an oninous silence.
Uproar on the Floor.
Two minutes before 10 the chairman
arose and. turning about scanned the big
clock above his head. AS the minute hand
reached the hour the gavel fell. and in a
moment the chamber was in an uproar as
the trading commenced
Inc crowd of brokers swayed back and
forth through the room and around the
raiiylng points of the big railroads, the
United States Steel Corporation and other
points of interest They jostled and ges-
uculated amidst a bedlam of noise and con-
fusion as the transactions were recorded
and blocks of stock changed hands ItuuI-
dation was extensive for the first few min
utes although there was evidently a des-
perate attempt to maintain prices.
The feeling was abroad in Wall street
lch
keene and others We're inclined to let
things take their course for a while in or
DER that an object lesson might be ad-
ministered to the country and in the hope
that the severity of the lesson would bring
such storm about the ears of Attorney
General Knox and President Roosevelt as
would effectually dissuade them from
further attempts at trust busting
The great financiers We're on hand in
their offices promptly this morning. James
j. Hill of the Great Northern railway J.
Pierpont Morgan. E. II. Hartman. Jacob
Schier, one of the leaders in the Union
Pacific group and other notables were
keeping sharp eye upon the market.
The little fellows who were not so well
prepared to stand the effcts of the alleged
contemplated object lesson to the country
had frantically appealed to the leaders of
finance to support the market Significant
editorials in certain financial papers
backed up the appeals and urged the mar
ket to stand fast.
Communicating With Washington.
1t was said that the long-dstance te!e-
phone line to Washington was busy last
night and that every prominent man at the
capital who was supposed to have influence
with the administration had been entreated
to secure from the Department Of Justice a
statement that the government does not
contemplate raid on the railroad COM
binations.
Wall street. of course viewed the De-
partment of Justice as its enemy. In the
past 1T has been somewhat Indifferent to
that enemy, but the recent victory In the
Northern Securities case has imbued the
street with a wholesome respect for it's
foe. 1t would be no exaggeration to say
that the spectators are crying for quarter.
All they see Is that the government is not
going to allow them to do something they
want to do. hence the government is their
enemy.
For the first hour the market was ex-
ceedingly feverish and there were widc
fluctuations in prices. Then It began to
improve. Word came that the big finau-
ciers were content with the object lesson
administered and had yielded to the sp-
peals not to let the slump continue This
statement seemed to be borne out by the
nature of the buying. There We're gains in
Baltimore and Ohio. Union Pacific Louis
willie and Nashville, Frisco and others
While the sales of stock were heavy thc.,.
was eager buying indicating belief in some
worth having. Money was not high and
that fact helped out during the forenoon.
Scene on the Curb"
One of the interesting scenes of the day
was the trading the curb" In the
middle of Broad street crowd of two or
three hundred brokers surged back and
forth in the midst of pelting rain and a
driving northeaster. They did not mind the
downpour. In rain coats and under a sea
OF bobbing umbrellas they were swirled
around by the wind. shouting and push
ing as they recorded their transactions
The curb market was active and reflected
the same tone of strength which in the
forenoon prevailed on the big exchange
There We're rumors of several important
conferences being held in the street 1t
was said that Morgan and Hill and the
Hartman people were planning to sustain
the market 1t was reported that the con-
templated merger of the Frisco and Rock
1sland properties was OF, as result of the