Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-28
BULLS AND BEARS
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, October 2s-There Is moth
ing new in the opinion expressed by z. H
Hartman that the railroads were about to
enter on period OF competitive building
The same views have been expressed in
the last few months by other men as COM
petent as he ID to Judge current tendencies
and as authoritative as he is. The north
west and southwest are sufficiently In need
Of development to require q vast amount
Of new railroad construction in the coming
years, and 1t was neither in the bounds of
reason nor law to suppose that the re-
sources Of these rich domains were to be
monopolfzed.
There IL very eminent support for the
statement that the rivalry Of the great
western railroads will play q prominent
part in the further development fthe west,
but that this rivalry will not be pushed to
any disastrous extremes. In fact, the con-
viction in certain well-informed quarters IS
that the Inauguration of period Of COM
petitfve construction will precipitate q
speedy settlement Of what Is frequently re-
ferred to as the whole northwestern rail-
road situation.
There will be time enough to permit COM
mon sense and reason to assert their sway.
for railroad building in these days 10
costly matter, and a matter not OF months,
the best routes, the shortest routes. the
less costly routes. were long ago seized
upon.
What especially interests speculative
Wall street on this subject. however, is
that Mr.. Hartman should have taken
pains to make generalized prediction OF
competitive railroad building. Immediate
ly the questions are asked: Why did Har-
rtman say this. and what is going to be
the effect on securities of his statement
and of the condition which he forecastsY
1t Is characteristic OF such a stock market
as Wall street has now that the trading
fraternity should jump at conclusions and
dump stocks overheard. That was what
was done three weeks ago on the publica-
ton of the VANDERBILT address. because Of
an essentially bullish paragraph.
With regard to the Hartman outstvings.
1t may be said that some Of the wisest
minds in the financial community agree
that ruinous folly Is not going to dominate
railroad councils. As for the effect Of the
Hartman prediction, 1t Is doubtful II 1t will
be anything more lasting than was the ef-
feet of the Vanderlip warning. AS for
Harriman's reasons or motives for his dis
agreeable little speech, they might be such
as, and as many as, the street chooses to
impute-and they may not Wall street has
a deeply rooted opinion that Hartman is
boiling for revenge over his defeat in the
campaign that ended in the Northern Sc
curities affair, and whenever Hartman
talks as he did yesterday Wall street thinks
1t detects the outcropping of plot to get
back at the Hill forces, forgetting that as a
result of Its Northern Securities venture the
Union Pacific Is supposed to have made in
the neighborhood Of 100000, at least on
paper.
1t Is interesting to observe also, that.
Justly or unJustly. Hartman 10 believed
by the Wall street rank and file to be a
tremendous speculator In the stock mar
ket from time to time. and there Is an
impression In not few trading circles that
he got out of a large line of stocks, includ-
ing Union Pacific. before he went to Asia
last summer-stocks that would be expen-
sively replaced If accumulation should start
at the present level.
The total bank cIearings of all the clear
ing houses Of the United States for the
week ending today were 81 1903 GIL SIS, an
increase Of 1881, Sa3, or 90 per cent Bos-
ton Increase. II per cent; Chicago 22.3 per
cent; Baltimore. 14.2 per cent; Philadelphia,
11.3 per cent; New York declined, 80 per
cent: St Louis. SO per cent. and New
Orleans. liz per cent.
c. Schumacher & Company say Of foreign
exchange: Cotton bills have diminished
and 1t Is interesting to note that the re-
ceipts OF cotton at the different interior
points. especially in Texas. are less than
generally thought. and to this fact is due
the sharp rise In the price of cotton during
the last week and the diminished exports"
CITY MARKET REPORT