Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-27
BULLS AND BEARS

NEW YORK. July 27.-There are GER
tainly two opinions about the declaration
of the per cent dividend on Erie second
preferred. The prevailing view of the out
siders. who are hardly in as good q posi-
ton to know what the Fries immediate fu-
ture is likely to be as are the directors
and controlling interests in the road. seems
to be that 1t would have been wiser to
postpone the dividend when so much money
IS needed for improvement and when the
company is working under such a heavy
bonded debt that its general mortgage fours
are still several points below par. while the
Indebtedness is to be increased by the sale
of 349000.Ooo of convertible per cents.
However, the dividend just declared calls
for the distribution of only $40 600 year.
and the rapid strides which the Erie has
made since 1900 are almost guarantee OF
wonderful possibilities to be realized when
the projected improvements and those I'M
der way are completed. Considering the
career of Union Pacific. Baltimore and
Ohio and other roads since the receiver
ships of a few years ago, 1t Is well WITHIN
the limits OF belief that Erie common Will
be a dividend payer before 1910, perhaps
considerably before that time. In his state
meut issued yesterday after meeting the
directors President Underwood said:
THE necessary legislation on municipal
ordinances having been obtained to enable
the company to proceed with the extensive
improvements which have been In contem-
pation for year or more. 1t Is now pro
posed to push the work vigorously. The
Improvement of the terminal at New YORK
and Jersey City will be taken up immedl-
ately and work will be pushed rapidly on
the new line to avoid the heavy grade en-
couutered on the New York division. Inn
poratnt additions to the companys equip
ment will also be made These improve
ments should enable the company to better
care for the increasing business. which has
now outgroWn its present facilities and 10
materially add to comforts and convenience
of its patrons.
In addition to being a trunk line, with
terminals at New York. Buffalo and Chi
cago and with valuable connections at
other points. the Erie is coal road OF I'M
portance, and it's suburban routes traverse
a territory second to none within striking
distance of this city
The dividend changes of the year, lrclud-
Ing initial declarations. increases, de-
creases and those passed altogether. make a
striking array. with the balance heavily In
favor of the side of prosperity. sum-
mary prepared by Wall street news
agency shows that since January 1 last
twenty railway dividends have been in
creased. including initial dividends among
them being those on Baltimore and Ohio,
Omaha, Chicago. Indianapolis and Louis
vile, Iackawanna. Erie second, Nashville,
Chattanooga and st. Louis and Reading.
Industrial dividend increases have been
twenty-five in number, including those on
copper (since advanced, hide and leather
preferred. Mackay Company's common.
Sloss-S heffield. Tennessee Coal and Rubber
preferred The total of dividend increases
have been fifty-four
The total decreases have been twelve. in
Guiding those Consolidated Gas and
Brooklyn Union Gas. which were owing not
at all to facts relating to general prosperity.
Passed dividends have been four. and are
significant chiefly of something inherently
wrong in the organization of the corpora
lions affected. such as in the cases of Corn
Products preferred and Pittsburg Coal pre-
ferred. Next to the increases in railway
dividend rates the most important indfca-
lions of prevailing prosperity are afforded
by the fact that Bethlehem Steel preferred
and Sloss-Sheffield and Tennessee Coal COM
mon have been added to the paying list and
that steel company of prominence has
had to cut pass dividend this year.
A weli-informed wire house, with impor-
tant banking sources of information, says:
THE best-informed bankers In the street
say that they are surprised at the continued
of call and time money. They express
the opinion that 1t is entirely possible that
higher money rates may be deferred now
for some time to come They also make the
point that many persons have preferred for
higher money and that this fact will help
the situation alter in the fall. The best in
formation crops Is distinctly reassuring.
and great deal of optimism Is being en-
gendered by these hopeful reports. Bush
ness conditions are sound and railroad earn
ings excellent After this spell of dullness
a good. strong market is expected.
According to eminent authority yellow
fever that breaks out in New Orleans as
late as in the present instance is hardly
years gone by the plague has attained great
proportions only when 1t appeared in May
or early June.
John w Gates, who Is expected to take
up his residence at Saratoga on Saturday
for a few weeks to come, is said in Chicago
advices to be bulling wheat again.
f. H. Hartman leaves for the Pacific
coast today on his trip for Japan. The
party will go as far as Chicago over the
Erie. and from there to the Lewis and
Clark exposition. After a brief stay there
they will go to San Francisco, where they
will sail for Japan. 1t Is expected that Mr..
Hartman will return TO this city in Octo-
her. Announcement Is made that he has
resigned from the board of directors of
the Denver and Rio Grande Company. The
resignation was made something over
month ago, at about the same time that
George j. Gould and Winslow s. Pierce
withdrew from the Union Pacific board.
but the fact has just become public Edwin
Gould also resigned from the Denver and
Rio Grande directorate, but will resume
his place the board when he returns
from an extended trip abroad.
The Chicago City Railway Company has
fled a bill in the United States circuit
court in Chicago for an injunction to 1e-
strain the city from interfering with any
of the company's lines. The municipal
ownership ordinance passed by the city
council last March is attacked unconsti-
tutional, and the court is asked to grant
relief from any prejudicial act of the city.
The court is informed In the bill that che
city railway now has possession and con-
troll of 119 lines within the corporate
bounds OF the city. on which the franchises
run until 1853. 1t is expected that the
ninety-nine-year act, so often considered by
by the courts. will play an important part
in the argument in the present case.