The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-12

every even quotation or every u. "A mar
ket thus saturated with stoD-loss orders
can never improve until there has been
cleaning out of these limited accounts The
whole street is made aware OF what Is
the matter, and experienced commission
houses and brokers warn their customers
10 Keep out until the slaughter is over.
During the last six months there have
peen many periods OF acute liquidation
caused by the execution of great numbers
Oh these stop-loss orders. which not infre-
quently amount to hundreds OF thousands
Oh shares on given series of quotations
~ would therefore be just as well for spec
uIators to make mental note of the point
at which they may wish to get out of the
market and hold, their orders until that
time approaches. If this practice could be
generally adopted. spectators would save
themselves great deal of money and
place their brokers and the specialists be-
yond the reach of temptation. Not being
mlho-readers, the agents would have no
means of knowing when their customers
We're going in and out, If policy of Sc
cretiveness could be adopted by the great
majority of traders.
An interesting report is going the rounds
that the combination behind Northern Pa
cific, Burlington and Great Northern has
decided upon plan to shift the control of
these properties from the Northern Securi-
ties Holding Company to trustees because
OF the decision OF the United States Court
against the. validity of the merger. 1t Is
held that individuals cannot be deprived OF
the right to vote stock which may be reg
lstered In their names and that the same
end can be attained in that way as through
the medium or corporate holding COM
pany, such as the Northern Securities. IL
IL De true, as gossip suggests, that ar
rangements have already been consum-
mated to transfer the control to trustees,
II may be. after all, that the merger case
Will reach the Supreme Court before the
May adjournment and that one of the
judges will prepare an opinion during the
recess. One reason why a decision in the
Keen Injunction case was hung up is sup
posed to be indisposition on the part of
Judge Lurton to anticipate or attempt to
anticipate the decision of the higher courts
in the Northern Securities case, where
much the same Issues were raised.
A feature Of the money market during
the last few days has been the offering of
funds by the more important commission
houses. The strong houses provided them
selves literally with time money, and the
tremendous liquidation which has been 60
Ing on for several weeks left them with
large amounts on hand. This idle capital
has been coming into competition with the
panks money and has caused interest rates
to yield: Loans on ca1l and for time are
easily obtainable at concessions from pub
lie quotations. This condition contradicts
the impression sought to be made by the
Tor improved monetary conditions through
out the spring and summer months.
XXX
There seems to be no end to the purchas-
ing capacity Of the railroads nor to the
necessities which confront them for i'm
creasing and lettering their facilities. Or
ders are on the books Of the big iron and
steel companies for 100000 tons of steel
rails.an amount in excess Of their capacity
for the remainder Of the year by more
than 100000 tons. 1t, therefore, becomes ap-
parent that much business is booked into
the year 1904. The manufacturing capacity
for steel rails will be increased about 500, 00l
tons next year, making the possible output
in excess of 100000 tons.
xxx
j. Pierpont Morgan had to postpone his
departure for Europe a week or two. The
reason given was that his partner, Mr..
Perkins, was ILL.,, and that he would not
leave until that gentleman could be at his
office. This circumstance gave rise to ru-
mors that Mr.. Morgan was obliged to re-
main In New York in order to smooth out
friction incident to the Rock Island Frisco
deal The story in this connection was that
Mr.. James Campbell, of st. Louis, one OF
the principal owners of the Frisco system
was holding out for a higher figure thar
had been agreed upon and that he would
not come into the deal until his terms were
acceded to. AS part of this bit of gossip
1t was stated that the Rock Island party
would not meet Mr.. Campbelrs demands
and in consequence the deal was I'm danger
of falling through. There is no vertical
ton for this story, but IL gained genera
currency and was one of the market fac
w. G. NICHOLAS.