The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-04

controllable Ihls Tear proves to have been well grounded. The dead weight of the s500.000000 in preferred and $500, 000O00 in common stock broke through every support and carried values absurdly too low. If the damage could have been con fined to this particular stock the incl dent might have been looked upon with equanimty. The worst of it was, how ever, that in its crashing downward plunge steel carried the whole market with 1t and brought about panicky condi- tions. Bankers became even more fright ened than the rank and file and added to the discomforts and danger by indserim- inately calling loans. thus accentuating calamitous conditions. With them, as with smaller fry and individuals, 1t be- came a question of self-preservation, and when that stage arrives friendship and mercy disappear from the equation.
 The report that J. Pierpont Morgan and E. H. Hartman have joined forces was at first received with incredulity. It is now believed to be a fact It is also of common report that the intimate rela- tions so long existing between Hartman and Jacob F. Sehiff, head of the great banking house of Kuhn Loeb & Co.,, have been ruptured. Current gossip has 1t that MT. Hartman traced heavy and mysterious selling of Union Pacific to quarters close to Kuhn, Loeb X Co and that he chose to regard the liquidation as personally unfriendly. A series of con- ferenees with Mir. Morgan followed and immediately thereafter announcement was made that Mir. Hartman had been invited into the directorate of the Erie railroad which is still controlled by Nor gan and his friends. The prediction is heard that cordial relations between MT. Schiff and MT. Hartman will presently be restored and that the unpleasantness will finally end in better feeling all around. This prophecy involves also a coming together of Mir. Schiff and Mr. Morgan. Between these two men there has long been a wall of ice. They have not been openly unfriendly and are to- gether on many directorates, but still they have never been bedfolows. Such an experience as Wall street has passed through during the last year is likely to effect more than one remarkable and en- during reconciliation.
 The remark is frequently heard that organized labor in the control of such men as Sam Parks constitutes the most dangerous feature of the business situa- tion. This is coupled with the further expression of opinion that unless labor modities it's demands and takes a sensible view of conditions it will find itself out of a job. A canvass of architects and builders reveals the fact that between $50, 000,O0O and $7O,000000 which was to have gone into the construction of build ings in New York city alone has been withdrawn or held up pending an adjust ment of the points in dispute between employers and their men. Contractors and builders claim that the demands of labor in their lines have become intoler- able, and that unless permanent arrange ments for peace can be made general tie-up, worse than that which existed for so long in Chicago, will be inevitable. The effects of the troubles In New York is seen directly in the business of the iron and steel mills. Indirectly it Is seen in the sympathetic movement in other fields of manufacturing and trade Iron and steel have long been looked on as the barometer of trade. and falling off in the volume of orders there causes dis quiet and contraction all along the line. The return of Sam Parks and a resump- ton of activity on his part coincident herewith is scheduled for next week. The community awaits his return much as 1t would the coming of madman with a lighted torch at the head of an army of fanatics similarly equipped.
 Attacks on credit have given sinister color to the recent slump in stocks. Hard ly a house in Wall street has escaped Concerns of unquestioned solvency have been pointed to and made subjects of venomous gossip. All this served to con tribute to the unrest and alarm, although in time the campaign became so notor- ious and general that the villainous stories measureably lost their effect. It is understood that an example Is to be made of some of the more notorious scandal mongers. Indictments ard crim- inal prosecutions are threatened.