The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10

portant market operations contemplated by
the standard Oil crowd. This crowd. by
the way, decided upon policy OF inactivity
during Mr.. Rogerss Illness, and a resump-
ton OF active trading on its part is awaited
by Stock Exchange people with some inn
patience Returning to the warm weather
exodus from Wall street il may be OBJ
served that the absence OF many brokers
and traders does not necessarily mean a
stupid stock market. Last year. for ex-
ample, the months Of July and August
witnessed extraordinary speculative activ-
ity during which prices advanced TO the
highest level ever reached and the brokers
who had gone away under the impression
that the usual summer duIlness would pre-
vail are still lamenting the commissions
they lost
Although Mr.. Keene is known to be bull
ish on the outlook great many people In
Wall street will be mentally relieved by his
Keene has almost a diabolicai genius for
finding out vulnerable stocks. There are
plenty of such stocks around Wall street
Just now cow , and the people Who 9 are
with Mr.. Keene poking around in search
of them The general impression Is that
this veteran operator has made lately many
additions to long list of personal and
professional prejudices. Nobody is compe-
tent to say how he came out on his recent
operations. To the outside observer 1t has
looked as though he was losing money
heavily on one hand and winning almost
as heavily on the other 1t Is taken for
granted that he sustained heavy losses In
he hedged himself by being short with the
general market. Friends who have talked
to him recently report that the old man
seems to feel pretty sore on the whole w all
street crowd. Mr.. Keene Is a man, how
ever who never lets prejudice befog his
market vision, and he has said there Is
nothing in the present situation on wnlcn
to sell stocks. All stock market indica-
tions now point to a steady improvement
in speculative conditions throughout the
summer. 1t is not to be supposed that any
| 0nnOrtUnitV
digested securities" will be neglected
Stocks and bonds can be distributed only
on rising quotations.
The reelection of Charles M. Schwab to
the presidency of the United States Steel
Corporation (steel trusD- was foregone. The
| Carnegie influence was for him, and the
Carnegie influence in the steel combine is
still very great Only few weeks ago
three of the United States Steel Corpora
TONS constituent companies, VIZ. the Car
negie Company, the National Steel Com
| pany and the American Steel Hoop Com
| pany, were merged in New Jersey under
| the name of the National Steel Company.
| If this arrangement had stood the name
of Carnegie. would have been practically
| eliminated from the United States Steel
| Corporation. 1t may only be surmised
what influence was brought to bear, but
on the following day the name of the
National Steel Company to the Carnegie
| Steel Company: This incident is related
merely to illustrate the backgro4n ma
| strength of the Carnegie influence In the
affairs of the United States Steel Cor
| poration. The opposition to Mr. Schwab,
| about which there had been so much I'M
authorized talk, was nowhere in evidence
| in the directors meeting at which he was
| reelected.
The followers OF Norman B. Ream are
very bullish on Erie shares for the long
pull. They have been accommodating all
| three classes of the stock, especially the
common, for some time past, and their
| buying has greatly reduced the floating
supply. The immediate result was a specu-
lative opportunity which the Waldorf
crowd, so called, had the genius to see
It has o, made a very handsome lsa turn in
| Mr.. Ream is very enthusiastic over the
| future of Erie. He says Erie is going to
be another BALTIMORE & Ohio. and that is
| cause he and his followers once made a
| great deal Of money bulling Baltimore &
| Ohio. They took hold of it when, like Erie,
1t was without any stock market prestige
| and when everybody pooh-poohed the idea
| that it would ever sell at par. The parallel
between Baltimore & Ohio and Erie might
| be carried still further. When the Ream
| crowd took hold of Baltimore & Ohio for
| the future they saw the property pos
sessed valuable franchises, terminals, ETC.,
| but had been most miserably managed and
| was i'll developed. Fries franchise as a
| trunk line and its terminals are almost in
| valuable, but the property itself is at a
| third-rate state of development. Mr.. I'm
| derwood, who is now in charge of the
property, is rated by many people as the
best railroad man In the United States.
| and he is expected to do wonderful things
with Erie. Mr.. Ream himself is devot-
| ing a great deal of attention to the road
1t is almost certain that the first preferred
stock will get its full 4 per cent. within
the current fiscal year. 1t is now paying 3
per GENT, returning more than per cent
many expert judges Of value to be one Of
| the cheapest investments in the list. 1t is
going to take great deal of money to
| bring Erie up to modern railroad stand
ards, but it will be the policy of the present
| control to distribute a fair proportion of
| earnings among stockholders instead of
turning everything back into the property,
as, for example, the Southern Pacific has
| been doing. w. @. NICHOLAS.