The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-08-01
THE SLUMP IN STOCKS
Wall Street Situation summa-
rized by Horace White.
FALL WAS INEVITABLE, he SAYS

Wen Known writer ON Financial
Topics believes BulI Movement
Mystiaed All In Che stock Ex-
change Until Men Responsible
Were Revealed Then Every one
Tried to BUY.
Horace White, a well known New
York writer on financial topics, who
has a summer cottage at York Harbor,
Me, was asked the other evening as to
bis opinion Of the cause Of the recent
slump IN stocks, says the New York
Herald
Looking back at the bun move
ment, he said, which carried prices
Of securities to such height that d
corresponding fall became inevitable at
some time, it win be remembered that
Wall street was for a long time com
pletely mystiied by It. Nobody knew
who was under the market till months
afterward It was eventually dlscov-
cred that the lifting power was sup.
piled chiefly by J. p Morgan and j. ]
Hill en- the one side and by L. Fl Har-
riman and Kuhn, Loeb & CO. on the
other
The movement began with an &c
tempt Oh the part of The former TO &C.
quire the Chicago, Milwaukee and st.
Paul railroad ats ain annex 10 the North
ern Pacific and Great Northern roads
by purchases in the open market. That
move, though it failed ia Its main OBJ
ject, supplied a great lifting power to
the market.f The operators and the
public generally, being ignorant of the
purposes which lay behind it and not
knowing who furnished the steam for
it, concluded that 1t was a sign Of gen-
eral prosperity and hence that twas d
good time ID buy stocks So they
turned and bought also 1t was in-
possible to boom ST. Paul in such ii
fashion without booming other proper
ties more or less
.'This was only the beginning Of the
boom, however. When Morgan and
Hill found that the control Of SC Paul
could not be bought in the open mar
ket they turned their attention To
Burlington ANA adopted better tactics
They went to the large holders Of the
stock, mostly Boston mon. and nego-
tiatea with them. ATT the same time
tile buying 1T Burlington Shares was
continued on the Stock Exchange
1.-THE upward movement Of the latter
excited the suspicion Of the Union Pa
cifc people Hartman, schlH and
others They soon found ont what
was iii the wind and BIS ii was too late
to prevent Morgan and Hin from get
ting control of Burlington. they set
out to acquire Northern Paeific. The
spectators and the public generally
were as ignorant of the canses Of the
upward movement III Burlington aud
Northern Pacific as they had been Of
that Of ST Paul. They ascribed these
also to the general waste Of prosperity
and were confirmed fl their opinion
thar It was i good time to buy stocks.
The word was passed around that
you couldn't make 4 mistake IN buy.
ing anything This was really believed
By many Of the old and most cautious
operators on the exchange Advantage
was taken Of the speculation craze to
launch swindling projects on the credu.
Ious investing people Or lift prices to
an abnormal height III swindIes pre-
viously launched
when the Northern Pacific corner
broke the stocks that had been bought
at the prevailing prices were mostly
il strong hands. They did not fun III
their former level but it was pretty
certain that they would do 50 some
time. THAT time seems 10 have come.
The fact that certain railroads Of the
first rank such as the Pennsylvania
the New York Central and the Burlng-
ton, haze negotiated Or are seeking vast
loans seems 10 me to be the immediate
cause of the recent tumble Id prices
Whatever money they take out 1T tile
boom market they take from other bor-
rowers, and chiefly from those who are
carrying stocks on margins. The banks
must take care of their mercantile GUS
toners first, and, when it becomes
necessary to choose between different
classes Or borrowers they will first call
on the spectators 10 pay up.
1.-THE railroad demands mentioned are
deemed essential as being d part of the
country growth, already too long neg
lected The general business Of the
country. too, must Dc kept going. Those
who are carrying more stocks than
they can pay fer must accordingly suf-
fer Il there Is really shortage of loan
able funds
These are differences which draw
from reading the course OF events iii
Wall street, but ! id not pretend to
have any special knowledge
AIS to the business outlook Of the
country generally Alr White said
The general business OF the country
IS il my Judgment sound think It
will not be affected by the decline Til
stocks.
H0y shoots Policemen.