The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-08-21

The low price for Northern Pacific is &
given at the price at which it went
into the Northern Securities company.
1t was not quoted from 1901 to April
1905. In April it sold at 168, which
is the low since the merger decision.
section Of the United States can dupli.
cate it, except the anthracite fields of
Pennsylvania, and the records Of the
hard coal roads are made because the
| great strike of 1902 allowed chance
to raise the price of coal. These
| northwesterns are granger railroads,
and their tremendous and epoch-mark-
the resources Of the granger country
| thru which they operate. The middle !
west and the southwest have Jagged be- /
| hind them. The great trunk lines are 7
entirely lost in. the great advance in
the price Of these northwestern roads. /
| Out of the fourteen railroad stocks
here listed, five stocks have advanced
| over 100 per cent in value within the
four years; three are up over 900 per
cent; eight show an extreme advance Of
| eighty-fve per cent or over; only five
have failed to gain at least so per cent, I
and each of these five has gained over
| IS per cent. In other words, had an
northwest in the years 1903 or 1904
and picked out stocks of the standard:
| railroads he could not have failed to
find something that would show him an
average profit Of Is per cent or better
each year since that time.
500 Line and Great Northern.
| In percentage of profit, the preferred
stock Of Duluth South Shore leads, hav-
ing advanced 800 per cent. This is,
not, Of course, very fair computation,
for the reason that the stock is one Of
| those cheap affairs which naturally fuc-5
tuates widely. The real sensation Of
the northwestern railroad market is the
2a0 per cent advance in 500 Line COM
mon. Next after this comes the Great
Northern, with an advance of ITO per
cent from the price of 100. In point of.
fact, the Great Northern advance is
4 probably the more wonderful, for to
double the value of the stock Of Great
Northern since 1901 means the addition
of over $lS5, O0O, 900 to the value 1 OF TINS
stock, while the increase in 500 Line
common stock only adds about $14, AGO.
000rto the value of the entire issue OF
stock
It is not too much to say that the
past eighteen months have increased the
actual selling value of the northwestern
railroads, not including the bonds, over
Northern Pacific alone have supplied
over $27O,O0OO00 Of this great advance.
If the Union Pacific and the Ncrth.
ern Securities advances could be prop
} erly included, the advance would run
we'll over $600,000,000.
What is the cause of this wonderful
! upheaval Of prices? 1T is, says Wall
J street, in this, as in many other in
) stances, does not know what it is talk
ing about. Pure speculation does not
all of sudden settle down upon GER
tain section of the country and boom its
stocks wildly for a period Of. nearly
eighteen months. There is behind the
whole business but one factor-namely,
> the simple fact that the resources Of
, the northwest, both as to present traffic
possibilities and as to potential re-
: sources-the resources of the future
have been discovered to be far and
away beyond what the builders of these
properties believed them to be.
Advance Based on Resources.
The 500 line advance is based on agri-
. cultural resources only. In this the 500
! line advance is the most startling Of
the lot Omaha and Northwestern have
advanced on somewhat similar grounds,
> but not to the same extent. Rumor
, helped these stocks to a great extent.
. There was talk Of more mergers. The
. strategic position Of the th-Western
: increase in dividend to help it along.
The 500 line has advanced from the
, list Of cheap non-dividend stocks to
the position Of the highest-priced per
cent stock on the list on the fact that
: its directors knew what they were do
ing and did it we'll.
- Great Northern, Northern Pacific and
Canadian Pacific have been bulled on
mystery-the finest asset in the world
: from Wall street point Of view Not
one Of them is worth its price without
some help from certain intangible and
indefinite assets, either ore lands, coal
lands or farm lands. For their divi-
dends they are far the highest-priced
| stocks on the list.
There is good reason for believing
that the rise is now near the top in one
! and all of these stocks. Both Great
: Northern and Northern Pacific will get
Z 7 per cent and no more. There are
going to be right on these stocks, but
not now. There is not single indica.
y ton in responsible quarters that the
: melon is to be cut on these stocks this
( year.