Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-24
Financial News Letter
BY W. q. NICHOLAS.
Special Correspondence OF The Star.

BY W. g. NICHOLAS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star
NEW YORK, December 23.-Union Pa
cific Is far and away the market leader. It
Is matter of daily occurrence for from
AO.o00 to 100000 shares of this stock to
DC traded In and Its price aggressively
rises. 1t is confidently asserted by those
who ought to know that the Morgan Hill
party have been accommodating Union Pa
| cific from 115 up until they are now in
actual control of the property 1t is as
| serted that these operations have been con-
| duct,d under complete entente cordfale
with Kuhn. Loeb & Co., and that harmony
| Is established on a firm basis between the
| Rockefellers and the Morgans If this be
true 1t can mean but one thing, that Harri-
man has been dropped by his associates
pfooably In disgust over insurance tevela-
! IONS. book value for Union Pacific of
| S2eo Is claimed, and predictions are made
| tnat the price will be made next year. AS
Stunning Morgan control of Union Pacific to
De fact 1t will certainly follow that the
| sanderb1lts will establish closer relations
between New York Central and Union Pa
| enc. indeed, the much talked of Wander
Dit holding company is again said to be
derbilts have had big rises lately and look
| like going higher The Vanderbilt name
Is worth a good deal as regards public con-
ndence The Vanderb1ts have never thrown
| down their stockholders.
The Gates people take official control of
Tennessee Coal and Iron by acquiring ma
| Jorfty of the directorate New directors
| are all Republic Iron and Steel men. Off
ciai merger of these properties will follow
IN due course, and Sloss-Sheffield will prob
| ably be taken in also. John W. Gates is
an expert authority on steel. The founda-
ton of his fortune was laid by his building
| up or the American Wire Company which
| he sold to the United States Steel Corpora
| "A hp
! chagrined at not being made director In
the steel corporation, and he has ever since
| been looking out for an opportunity to re-
assert himself in the steel business. He
| has got it now by his control of the south
ern properties and the steel trust will have
| TO reckon with him. Gates prestige will
grow enormously as a result of this coup.
Reason of Decline in Peoples Gas.
| The rather sharp decline in Peoples Gas
| was first thought to be due to the Walsh
failures 1t was supposed that Walsh hold
| ings were being liquidated. The real reason
| subsequently appeared when the directors
| of the company announced 5 per cent
| dividend policy as against the prevailing
d per cent The company fears there Is
| trouble ahead for 1t In the municipal own
| ership idea which gains ground in Chicago.
However, even on a ) per cent basis mar
| ket price for the stock is not high
Coincident with George W. Perkins re-
| tfrement the New York Life Company pub
| fishes g. display advertisement certifying to
the fact that during the five years Of his
| Craftsmanship of the finance committee $40
100000 profits We're realized for the com
| pany out of transactions in bonds and
| stocks. And Mr.. Perkins says not soli-
| tary dollar went into his pocket-that when
| j. P. Morgan & Co. made profit he had his
1 share figures down to an aispice and
promptly handed 1t over to New York Life.
| So in this era Of restitution Perkins occu-
| pies the favorable position of having moth
| ing to repay Happy, happy Perkins. How
| him.
Many Good Tips on Market
| The singular phase of current speculation
| is that every morning before 10 o'clock you
| can loiter along New street and get free
| tips OF the exact price that this or that
| stock is going to sell at during the day.
| Strange to say, these tips almost invar,-
ably make good. All You have to do is to
| shut your eyes and go 1t blindly. Many
Wall street operator IS deploring his in
| credulity in not accepting this philanthropic
! information Judgment, experience, facts
and figures have cut no ice against the
free tip. Professional circles are wonder
ing how long this will keep up. or if the
millennium has really come. The same old
favortes continue to lead Union Pacific,
| the Hill stocks. Reading, st. Paul and
Pennsylvania are prime favorites. Erie
lags in disappointing fashion, but there is
good buying of the stocks by powerful in
terests, and that Erie is going to be ac-
quired by some transcontinental system is
certainty. Meanwhile its earnings stead
lily grow, and its physical condition has
been brought up to a higher standard than
ever before. 1t looks cheap at anywhere
below 80.
Thomas w. Lawson, with unaccustomed
modesty as to space, informs the public
that he has about s15,000,000 to burn in de-
Tense of their rights against the accused
system The people do not enthuse much
over this, as he admits having already lost
nearly 100000 in his fight against the
| NSrn to To, hn faIra /, tr
word, how tempting that $15,00oeO0 must
| look to the system. 1t is sum worth
| cunning for. But a skepticism prevails re-
garding the Lawson statements. Last
Monday Amalgamated Copper in the furry
over the Chicago bank failure sold off about
Z points, supposed to be helped along by
Lawson. If so, some of the 100000 is
already a fond memory, for Amalgameted
walked right up again. Lawson as a
prophet is discredited, and as a credit he
does not pan out-at least his followers do
not A year ago the Lawson utterances
caused fear and trembling-they are now
jocularly regarded.
To Take His Own Medicine.
John r. Walsh, the Chicago banker, is
not personally known in Wall street, al
though he has long been recognized as one
of the foremost of western financiers. His
failure caused as great O. surprise as would
the collapse of James Stillman, James
Woodward or any of the small list of IRON
will conservatives in the front rank mag
mates In his home city Mr.. Walsh has
long been known as a hard man-remorse-
less in his treatment of lame ducks, and
always unyielding in his demands that
| bankrupts should be stripped of everything
they had with the least possible delay in
order that the worst may be known and
that reconstruction might begin from bed
rock When Mr.. Eckels was appointed con-
troller of currency in the spring of 1899 by
Mr. Cleveland he was brought almost imme-
diately face to face with the worst banking
panic the country had seen since 1857. Mr.
| Eckels turned to John r. Walsh for counsel
and advice. Mr. Walsh advised that ma
tionaI banks be held to rigid account, and
! that If any weakness shown they
should be forced to close This harsh pol
| Icy was followed for some time, but con-