The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-06
THE WEEK IN WALL STREET
IMPENDING NORTHERN SECURITIES
DECISION CAUSES DIZZINESS.
Commission Houses Sustain Heavy
Losses on Account of Lack of
Speculative Enthusiasm.

Special to the. indianapolis Journal.
NEW YORK. March st is the Northern Sc |
curites decision which is hanging over the mar |
ket. The delay on the part OF the Supreme |
Court in handing down this decision is offered
in explanation OF the paralysis which seems u
have overtaken the stock market at this time.
For year or more the announcement has been |
made with great frequency that any decision
which might be rendered by the Supreme Court
had been discounted II would appear, however
chat this discounting has be done over again
about every thirty days. Wall street is grumb-
ling loudly over the apparent indifference Of the
Supreme Court the necessities of stock spec
uation and TO the urgency of the demands OF |
commission earncrs. When their business gets
slack the great horde Of men in and about the
brokerage and commission houses feel the pinch
sharply. There fewer banquets, fewer box
parties at the opera. a diminished number of
winter trips Florida and California and a
general curtaiment in the personal expenses OF
the high-fyers.
Consequently. whenever anything happens to
kill off speculative enthusiasm there is much
discomfort in the street There scores OF
commission and brokerage houses in Wall street
whose daily expenses range from $500 to $1,000
each 1t is estimated that there must be an
average business of from Ooo0 to 10000 shares
the exchange TO pay the expenses OF the
above 10000 shares There have been days when
as high as LOCO. 600 shares have been traded in,
but these have been rare. and at the present
time the volume has down to below 100000
shares
This means tribulation for hundreds and thous-
ands OF brokers in the financial district. II
means heavy losses the proprietors OF all
the larger houses. Very few people have ever
taken the trouble TO make careful estimates OF
the cost of maintaining the machinery OF specula-
ton i'm the New York stock market The total is
fOOts a
full calculation was made some years ago that
$4,000 a day was required to pay the expenses
Of maintaining the Chicago Beard Of Trade. no
account being taken for interest on the capital
The cost of keeping up the machinery Of the
New York stock market il at least three times
S sfn al nna s year ibis huge sum
the public pays annually for the privilege OF
exchanges it is estimated Blu. that amount.
large IL is. by no means represents the total
sideration the speculative losses which
borne by the great army OF players. Not one
tbe end Of ten 9e1 %fn VET tbe
tions of the game are great and the prizes
so large that hundreds Of thousands continue
to contribute.
In their anxiety to get action" the rank and
file OF chronic spectators turned from stocks
when they got dull into cotton. grain, coffee and
provisions. They were directed into these special
fields of trading by commission men and brokers'
and the public has lost immense amount OF
money.
When speculation breaks loose in these
modities the bulk Of the money that changes
hands passes to the bank accounts Of the spe-
cialists or some group combination of men
advantage of unusual conditions. Even the clev-
crest among these specialists often.imes lose
money
1t is said of Sully, the cotton king" that he
ooyerstaic his game and played back millions of
cOrding TO current gossip. w Il. Brown the New
Orleans plunger. is about the only cotton special
cured his profits. This great trader is said to have
settled s1,ooO.e0O on his wife. and s1.OOo.oOo
each of his children and that after doing this he
had balance to his credit of between $4,000. 600
ana $1,000 Accordlng 10 tne common under
! tunate, although ne is still far ahead of the
game. Like many another player he drew cards
| Two men. Hermann Sielcken and L. L. Smith,
said TO have made the "star killing in the
coffee boom. Sielcken has long been recognized
as leading authority in the coffeee trade and
as of the most successful merchants in that
! speciality Mr.. Smith member of the old
Gates steel and wire crowd. Between them they
are reported TO have cleaned up 100000 in one
! short campaign, getting out at the very top and
! distributing great mass Of the commodity to
Smith has had remarkably successful career
since he entered Wall street. and by his own
admission has about Sc 100000 invested New
For several days Wall street has been full of
advance tips the Supreme Court decision in
the Northern Securities case. So confident are
some of the custodians of this advance informa-
tion as to the correctness of their advices that
they are offering odds in the betting market
that the decision will be against the Securities
| Company. Bets have been made three to one on
this proposition, although strong belief is prev
alert that the finding of the lower court may be
| softened or modified to some extent.
/
heard that the decision OF the Supreme Court
hole or escape FOX the Hill combination or any
| chance TO continue holding the company under a
aTe SAYING that If the Supreme coSTt pg T1se
against the Securities Company bill will be
the sherman and other antitrust laws so thai
railroad combinations may be made along the
lines originally projected BY Mr.. Hill and his
a chiialike ignorance and innocence of the way
things are done in Congress is shown in COM
ments and predictions of this sort. The ex-
treme provincialism OF the average denzen of
Wall street finds illustration in the passing dis
cussior on legislative possibilities In Washing
ton To hear the average Wall-streeter talk one
get through a law OF this description would be
for committee Of the Stock Exchange or a
group of railroad fnancers frame a bill and
send it down to Washington with orders to have
II passed at once In the estimation of such
Is the Hudson river
Wall street has not recovered from it's sur
prise over the triumph Of Colonel "BilI'' Greene
over II. II. Rogers in the fight for control of
the great Greene Copper Company. Rogers and
his friends in Amalgamated Copper and Standard
Oil thought they had Greene done for and they
had already divided his raiment among them.
At the eleventh hour. Phelps Dodge & Co
one Of the largest individual copper producers in
America. came 10 the help Of Greene and turned
the tables against his enemies.
BY means of an alliance with this strong inter
est Colonel Greene remained at the head Of
the corporation, although owning the present
time only about one SEVENTEEN part the stock
He was shaken out OF several thousand shares
OF Greene copper stock through the machina-
tons Of the Amalgamated Copper party, suffer
ing a loss OF many millions of dollars The
stock pounded from $40 share under $40
How far Phelps, Dodge q Co. will go into sus-
tanning Colonel Greene is problematical For
the present, however, the redoubtable Texan is
on top.
There has OF late been a marked increase in
the volt me of manufactured products from the
United states to almost every foreign country.
This is in confirmation of the schedule laid
down two or three years ago at the height of
the craze for industrial combinations The plea
advanced at that time one Of the stock
arguments in favor of such combinations that
when the period of industrial depression should
arrive the great combinations would be in a
position to make world market for their goods
| in competition with foreign manufacturers and
that by this means they could give continued nd
| permanent employment 10 a large number of
American workingmen who would otherwise be