New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-23
Financial.
The Financial World.

was CONSIDERED certainty but il usua ly han
pens that some one or two stocks stH remain n
be lifted and the lifting OF EN- while the bal.
aRee Of the list remains more or less Inert.
makes an irregular and sometimes sEectacular
market On this occasion Il was Reek ISLAND
which was TO do the sky rocketipg. with Anal
gamated Copper fair second.
These two stocks made things lively arorv,
on Monday and Tuesday; since then The MARIE,
has been sagging. very much hslped IN hat I'm.
by a break in Realty. Yesterday, the traders
who had not gone down to the yacht race, mas
a small attack on the list when the bank sta..
ment appeared; but it did not amount 10 nue,
and the close indicated fairly good buying sor
| the long account,
As things stand the indications are that thar,
viii be nothing but traders market for a we.s,
or two, while we still watch the reports from
the corn and cotton sections.
ApFopos OF eetten, which much interests Van
Street, it may be said there is room for con
siderable difference Of opInIoa lpoa the cues.
tieA Of how far the present price OF - cents and
more for cotton, is due to speculation pure and
simple, and how far to the actual conditions o.
production and consumption. In May il looked
as if the bull speculation In the staple was
simple manipulation, which was bound to have
a speedy and disastrous collapse. But the severe
| test of time has been applied, and things do
not look the same. We are now in the n7id4Ia
of August, and cotton is still at a pres which
manipulation alone could not possibly have
maintained it az. The mills have 20 shut down
for lack OF raw lateral. or they have TO buy IL
at current prices, Il begins to look indeed as
if, for the time being at least, consumption had
outrun available supplies. From this time till
the new crop comes in. it will Be contest be-
tween tho finished product and the raw material
is vf-ha h. nd for n.
product is urgent enough to raise IFS price to the
higher level of the raw material If II is not
the latter must come down. The next two
| months will settle the question
It must be conceded the Rock Island eiiase
are a bold set. THURSDAY a week ago, Il vas
everywhere dipped eff" in the Street that Rack
Island would be put s. by Saturday noen--
| something OF great importance 10 the company
| was coming out The tip was right as 10 RTics.
but not as 70 the date. On Saturday roof tAe
price was 252i; but it was 1914 on Tuesday
noon On this day 1T9O00 shares were done.
This sky rocketing OF a common stock. aeA
dividend and non voting. was done in the face
of quotations for the and per cent bonds Of
the company or "a and Is; indeed the beads
actually weakened little while the stock was
shooting up Old fashioned Wall Street people
say it is long since they have seen steek
gambling bold and open this. o. coarse
there was a speedy drop from the sop Next
day the stock had tumhied TO 269t. YESTERDAY
it ranged between "a ana -. There is talk that
a block OF the stock was exchanged fer Sea
board Air Line shares. and thar il has bssH
successfully marketed on this last move The
same thing done. it may be remembered. in
respect TO San Francisco tock.
AmaIgamated Copper. a second to Rock Isl
and, from 4615 on Monday. shot above - on
went lower next day; rallied again, and haeliy
closed yesterday at 4T. Had the rest OF the
list anywhere near followed the syrations OF
these two stocks, a very lively market would
have resulted; but as a matter OF fact, there
was only a faint response. The general list
remained rather quiet until Thursday; whsa
the break in Realty preferred of six points ad-
versely affected it.
One of the prominent houses almost openly
threw over quite block Of the stock, and as
this house was one known TO be closely eoanec-
ted with the management OF the eHPaRy, she
sales were considered significant. It has since
been reported that the directors on that day
had presented to them report en- the present
condition of the company whieh puts diyi-
dends out OF the question This may or Eay
not be true; but IL may be said, there was 10
need to wait till last Thursday for such a pres
entation. The lately published annual report
OF the company. commented upon in this col
unn. put dividends out of sight. II Is still as
serted in some quarters. that a dividend viii
be declared in September. The action Of ths
stock does ROT indicate this; and if a dividend
were declared, in the face Of the report referred
to- it is difficult to see what good IL could do
marketwiss. to the stock.
If the careful review OF that report which ap-
peared in the real estate column OF The Even
ing POST can be relied upon. this company
suffering from the misnana cement which efisn
comes from directors finding II too easy to raise
money They branch out extravagantiy ger
deeply involved and trade difficulties eonlng
on Tin this case. the labor treu5les). there is
struggle and collapse. According 60 present az
pearances. it viii take quite period of prudent
and careful management TO bring the Realty
Company to safe ground again
The break in the stock caused another small
raid to be made on the Steels- The argument
was that il the Realty Company suffered oy
stoppage of its building operations this must
mean poor market for the product Of an IN
portant department Of the Steel SorpcrauonS
business, viz. structural steel. The argument
was sound enough, only little belated one
Of the causes OF the decline in the Steel stocks
has been the anticipation Of just such state OF
affairs. And the decline has already gone I"
the point OF discounting these anteipatiors. or
the facts The earnings OF the Steel Corpora
ton for the current quarter are known 70 %
smaller than for the Same quarter last year. but
they are enough TO provide for all charges ana
dividends. and leave stin a safe surplus. II may
also be noted that last year the mills were nos
shut down for repairs at this time this yeaI'
they had to be.
The question whether the collapse in STOCK
speculation precedes a like contraction in gen