Evening star., 1905-11-06
FINANCIAL GOSSIP
SHARP DIVISION BETWEEN TWO
FACTIONS.
Current Range Of Quotations Largely
Artificia1-Efect Of Revolu-
ton in Russia.

| dom seen a sharper division OF market SEN
| timent between two strong factions than
| now. 1t is vigorously held on one side that
a great many stocks have been advanced
| by purely manipulative agencies and held
| at the rise by artificial means-a process
| tersely and picturesquely described as
| muscle" According to this theory the
entire market at its current range of quota
| tions is largely artificial, in other words
that prices are unjustinedly high and that
| a big break must occur before healthfui
conditions can be restored
| On the other hand a majority party con-
| tends that the market has advanced legtti-
| mately on earnings already assured sup-
plemented by prospective general increases
| and that current quotations instead Of be-
ing too high are really too low in most In
stances, and that a still further improve
ment must take place before the magntt
cent business outlook Is discounted as spec
ulation usually discounts well defined move
ments and tides. Between these two OPP
posing views there is plenty of latitude for
trading activity. In the daily tug of war
more than usual energy is thrown into the
contest, for both sides are armed with
genuine conviction as to the merits of the
position taken. Both sides are fmbuad
with very great stubbornness. The result
will be that when the deadlock Is broken
the losing side will be numerically pun
ished. Heavy losses will have to be inflicted
before the losers will recognize defeat.
The quarterly report of the United States
Steel Corporation is luminously Illustrative
of the splendid general prosperity of the
country. 1t showed net earnings of $31,-
241, coo for the three months ending Sep
tember 30 and declared It's eighteenth con-
secutive quarterly dividend of ~ per cent
on preferred stock. making total Of $31 80
per share during the four and one-haH
years Of the company's existence. In addi-
ton thereto large sum was added to tho
surplus. Since the organization of the steel
trust about $123.OOO,0OO has been taken
from the earnings and put into plant and
new construction. The trust Is realizing
larger net returns on the total volume OF
business done than any of its competitors
and must continue to do through good
times and bad. 1t Is equipped N every way
for the practical carrying out of economies
beyond the reach of its most fortunately
situated rivals. 1t has proportionately a
larger working capital and by reason of its
owned transportation lines has 4 big ad-
vantage in the matter of raw me terials as
well as in the distribution Of products.
resumption Of dividends on the common
stock may not take place for wear or
two, but IL times continue good holders of
common shares will come in for percent
age of the earnings. More and more every
day Wall street has come to look UpoG
United States Steel as an accurate ba rom
eter of the business situation, and right
fully SO. In the iron trade 1t Is recognized
as distinctly conservative influence Dur
ing the life of the corporation it has on
many trying occasions stood like q rock
against Generalization both in the direction
Of booms and depressions. On declining
markets 1t has set the example OF cutting
down production instead Of leading a
break in prices On the other hand 1t has
set pace in manufacture as to the best
means of checking unhealthy rise in prices
standing out resolutely against temptation
come from wherever 1t may. 1t Is the gov
ernor'' Of the iron and steel trade and if
the same broad wisdom and sagacity mark
Its management in the future as I'm the past
iron will never again get into a state Of
pauperfsm. 1t Will always be king. 1t will
keep in the middle Of the stream. where
the going is safest. ~
AS the first among the colossal combj-
nations to attempt to do business on
broad and wholesome lines the steel trust
although four and one-half years old. is
being pointed to as the best possible proof
of the beneficent results of Industrial con-
solidation. Standard OIL, the sugar trust
the beef trust and the anthracite coal trust
have aimed at monopoly. Their methods
have been oppressive and their PATHWAYS
are strewn with whitened skeletons of rivals
and competitors crushed out of existence
Inc steel trust. - the contrary, while look
ing out Tor business In every quarter has
steadily pursued live and let live policy
and has been careful to avoid either trade
or political antagonism. In this respect II
has been singulary fortunate 1t has the
respect OF its competitors and their good
Will SO far as that angelic quality can pre-
vail in a struggle for dollars
Ihe insurance grafters are ltjoking into
the face of frowning world whichever
way they turn. The three candidates for
district attorney of New York have pledged
themselves one after another to get the in
surance pirates and persecute them into the
penitentiary. The grafters had favortte
a rty {nfn fnn
and put on record with the others as COM
mltted to a campaign for the punishment
OF the unrighteous and greedy rich who
have been unlawfully proiting through the
betrayal of the trusteeship of other peoples
money. There is veritably rafting of dry
bones in the insurance camp. In Wall street
proper the life insurance scandal has about
ceased to have direct personal interest,
although there Is growing recognition of
the fact that 1t Is one of the underlying
causes of popular avoidance of the stock
market at this juncture. There is feeling
in the money section that the abuses re-
vealed will be corrected, and that In due
course of time the guilty will be punished.
a result which will be coincident with q
wholesome improvement in life insurance
methods attended by cheaper and safer in
surance for the policy holder. In other
words. that the sentimental and emotional
phase of the revelation will pass away and
give place to a legitimate business and
moral sequel-a higher standard Of guard
tanship morality, and better, cleaner and
cheaper schedule of life insurance
The timid fellows in Wall street are try
Ing to make themselves believe that there
Is imminent danger of railroad war In the
vest The sparring between J. I. Hill and
+. H. Hartman served to call acute at
tention to the western railroad situation.
and the outcome of the discussion over this
incident is the insistent reiteration of the
claim that the several big western railroad
systems are in a mood to claw each other
to pieces. The truth seems to be that the
west has outgrown it's railroads and that
new mileage into many sections Is an i'm
perative necessity. The Union Pacific and
Northern Pacific systems are forced by rea-
son of their position on the map to take
the lead in new construction, a circum-
stance which accounts for the thumb biting
now going on between Messrs. Hill and
Hartman. In self-protection st. Paul
threatens to take hand, while in the
northern area the new Canadian line Is en-
croaching on Canadian Pacific territory. In
the southwest the railroads had strong
start in the matter of new construction.
and the demand for additional extensions
in that section Is less urgent at the present
time than 1t is further north. George Gould
Is crowding the Hartman zone In the far