The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

people rather encourage speculation
 along this line by their eyasive replies
 to inquiries. Mir Gould this week for
 mally turned over the Manhattan ble-
 vated Railway company to MT. August
 Belmont of the Interborough company
 tsubway), and it Is commonly believed
 that as soon as he can do so he will
 fund" Western Union, thus leaving him
 free to carry out his ambitious plans for
 fair cad extension in connection Nlth
 Missouri Pacific and Wabash lie IS
 known to have been working to this end Tor a year or more.
 A financial editor rang lip his Stock
 Exchange friend at the Waldorf one
 evening to tell him that an interview with J. Pierpont Morgan would appear in
 one of the morning papers the next day. The broker was out, but the financial edi- tor connected with the mans Enghsh valet to whom he endeayored to commun- icate the statement. After repeating the message three or four times, the imam eial editor asked the valet if he was sure he understood. The latter asked him to repeat once more. which he did in these words: ''Tell MT. Stow a bullish inter- view with J. Pierpont Morgan will ap- pear in the Times tomorrow morning.
 Now, are you sure you understandY
 asked the financial writer, to which the valet replied. Quite sure sor. Let me hear you repeat the message, so l,
 too, may be certain" This was the re- ply that fioated back over the wire:
 You asked me to see Mir. Stow and tell him that foolish interview with J. Pier pont Morgan will appear in the Times tomorrow morning sor" The financial writer rung off in despair, and does not know to this day whether MT. Stow was informed of MT. Morgan's "fooLsh' in tervieW.
 Mir James R. Keene has been having fun with the newspaper reporters and process servers for several days. He is intrenched In the privacy of his apart ments on one of the upper floors of the Waldorf f-Astorla, and will see only those he wants to. Various devices have been resorted to to reach him~wth a subpoe- na In the libel suit of Yreeland vs. Amory. Amory is the accountant who went through the books of the Metro politan Street Railway company and made disclosures which President Vree- land considered damaging. Both men are endeavoring to get at each other with criminal libel suits. and several promi- nent spectators and brokers are being dragged in as witnesses, MT. Keene among the number. MT. Reene has no liking for that kind of thing, and is try ing to keep out of the way of sharing in 1t. He rather enjoys the chase and Is giving an illustration of how a man can dodge service. It is harder to see him now than 1t would be to reach the sa- cred presence of an oriental potentate. A newspaper man served his son-in-law, Talbot J. Taylor, with Q subpoena, and now only those of the profession who are known to MT. Keene to be above suspi- cion are allowed to come within half mile of him. Many amusing stories are told of the efforts of the process serv- CTS to get at him. For a man who has gone lame with a damaged knee, MT. Keene displays remarkable agility. His inaccessibllity does not prevent him do- ing execution in the stock market, how ever, and he is playing it good and hard, according to all reports. Nobody pre- tends to know precisely what his market position is and his operations are 8 pug gle as usual.
 table was printed a day or two ago showing that the money shrinkage in twenty-two active stocks during the last six months footed up to $707 COG, coo. United States Steel led with a loss of $192 O00,O00 It is estimated that the shrinkage on the entire list of stocks traded in on the Exchange since liqulda- tion commenced last September will ag- gregate $l250, 000,OO0 This enormous loss has been widely distributed, and contra ry to the usual rule, many very wealthy people have been very badly hit. Indi- vidual losses of $5, ,000, 900 to $10 CO., GOO are known, and scores of people are poorer by a million or more. Accounts without number have been extinguished in the commission houses and brokerage offices. Three cities, Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Cleveland, are said to have contributed between s75.O00,OO0 and s1O0000O0O to the actual speculative losses in Wall street. The average of prices at the inside range made earlier in the week Is below that in December at the end of the acute slump. The average is as low as that attained after the May panic two years ago. And yet there is hardly a that is not in better shape now than during the period of the highest stock quotations, and hardly one that is not earning more money gross and net, than then. Immense sums have been spent to put properties-industrial and better conditions for earning money and these investments are now paying returns. The April disbursements of corporation dividends and interest | amount to $s5,0O0O GOO. or s6,00O, 900 more than the April payments year ago, and | the largest on record for that month.