Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-29
BULLS AND BEARS

= XNIsW IoiNhs 1<cNSsflotT -o--fsith Ssic Va
tieial announcement that the ST. Paul would
extend to the Pacific coast, a three-year-old
topic OF conjecture is dismissed from Wall
street consideration, becoming news in
stead of gossip. 1t was stated yesterday
afternoon. after special meeting of the
directors. that formal steps had been taken
looking TO the extension of the road to the
Pacific coast. The construction of line
from Evarts. the most westerly point now
reached by the system, to Tacoma and
Seattle, was authorised. work on the ex-
tension to be begun right away
Details as to how the new line will be
financed were not made public and, In fact,
1t was said that complete plans for work.
Ing out the financing of It had not been
formally decided upon. The st. Paul has In
its treasury $2o,000,0O0 of unissued stock.
which will probably be sold to provide part
of the funds required in carrying out the
extension. The cost of the work, II Is esti-
mated. will be in the nelghborhood of $780,
100000 at least.
The extension will call for the building of
between 200 and 500 miles of road Tho
route which the line will take has not been
divulged. though II will probably cross the
Rockies at or near Butte. The work is
expected to require about two years for
completion. With the Inauguration of con-
struction. the st. Paul will cease to be
where. and signs are not wanting that the
new feeling Of aggressveness will not be
limited to landing the road at Seattle It
may or may not be true for example, that
the st. Paul Is contemplating the purchase
of the Kansas City Southern, but 1t Is quite
likely that some of the smaller roads in
the middle west and running southwark will
be absorbed.
railroad building, spoken of by f. II Har-
riman recently. had at last begun, although
1t IS doubtful IL the of competitive pur-
chase has passed. AS for the effects of
these developments in railroad relations, 1t
should be remembered that James j, Hill
said some time ago that he would welcome
the st. Pauls extension to Seattle. There
is room for great development In the west
and whatever develops the west will ben
eft the older lines as well as the new ones.
There are two important railroad prof.
ects now looking to this end-the st. Paul
extension and the Western Pacific construc-
ton. Valuable rights to st. Paul stock
holders should accrue In the process of
financing the new works.
Considering the really large number of
big professional traders and groups of trad
ers operating In the present stock market,
1t is not at all surprising that the daily
transactions should show wide fluctuations
and tangle of shifting cross currents that
defy analysis. 1t is probably true that
more of the heaviest operators that the
present generation knows are at work to-
day on more extensive scale than has
been the case at any time in recent years.
Gates, Standard Oil and Rock Island
crowds are no less industrious. Some
large banking house operators have been
engaged in market operations lately. and
there Is no reason to believe that they have
curtafled their activities.
Hoadley and his associates are thought
to be busy. Besides these there are the
large room traders. men who swing from
10000 to $4,000 shares in a day. and few
of them are holding aloof from the pres
ent speculation. Add to these the host Of
smaller professional spectators in Wall
street and other cities where the facili-
ties for dealing in stocks here are good,
and you have a personnel quite capable
of making the large and excited markets
that have been witnessed this fall.
Not all Of these interests. are working
on the bull side and bearish operations.
Coinciding at times with beavy profit
taking movements from certain quarters
and aggressive endeavors to put prices
up from others must necessarily combine
to give the market wildly irregular and
excited aspect. In other words, there is
nomena of a heavy professional specula-
ton. To the extent that 1t is professional
it is likely to be regarded by shrewd
judges as a safer market to play In, de-
lions, than if the speculation represented
the plunging of the public on scanty
margins. The professional contingent has
made a great deal of money in the last
year and a half. and it is resourceful
otherwise. Admittedly the undertone of
the market remains firm
1t would not be true, however, to say
that such speculative movement as that
in progress is regarded complacently in
every quarter For instance, Bartlett,
Frazier and Darlington. who have been
preaching conservatism all the fall say,
taking as a test the kind of market we
had yesterday:
1T did not require any gift of prophecy
to predict trouble from the pyrotechnic dis
play In a lot of more or less nondescript In
dustrials yesterday, and the knowledge of
some of the personalities behind some Of
the movements was sufficient to inspire a
wholesome fear Of the consequences. 1t
seems to be part of the ethics of manipu
lation to assert solemnly that such and so
is the case and that such and so will be
done, and that the future OF a particularly
active stock Is merely beginning when the
seems to be perfectly legitimate to lie with
out reservation concerning the situation of
a stock and to use every means OF publicity
to have 1t brought to the attention of the
public.
"Since the harvest is reaped by those who
promuigate this stuff, and since the public
is gullible enough to believe 1t each time 1t
would seem as IL there exists no right to
protest against the consequences. 1t does
no good to inveigh against the manipula-
ton that is developed SO flagrantly from
time to time In each stock. but 1t seems
absurd that no method can be devised to
reach the originators of the transformation
that Is so sedu1ously circulated concerning
them. Any one who believes that a bull
market can be instituted by marking up
pups. must have a queer idea of the rela-
.tion between prices and values.
ANY thing, however, that conduces to-
ward even an alleged bull market seems 10
be received with favor In the financial dis
trfct, but II the same tactics were pursued
on the short side Of the account there
would be a howl of righteous indignation
against bear operators
Friends of the virginta-Caro Chemical
Company say that a large part of the good
profits that the south made from its cotton
last year. and Is making this, has gone and
ia going into fertilizers and that time