Evening star., 1906-02-23
BULLS AND BEARS
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK. February 23.-..How any
enc can interpre. legislative and other eff
forts designed to bring about an honest
and economical administration OF corporate
and financial institutions including banks
and insurance companies as bearish on Sc
eurities Is more than / can understand" :"
said conservative broker today.
TO my mind the methods that the coun-
try Is now trying successfully to abolish
In politics and business have for years
constituted the weakest feature Of the Sc
curities situation. With directors who d.
rect, in charge of corporate affairs and
| with no more inside rake off, whether it
is rebate OF freight rates. slice of an
extravagant contract OF an underwriting
commission, 1 would say that the equities
OF all security holders tend to increase
measureably in the next few years as re-
suit of these reforms alone"
*
The feature Of the Armstrong report on
the insurance companies, which Wall street
Is discussing most, is that urging that the
companies be required to close out their
| investments In banking and trust COM
| panies well as all holdings of other
kinds of stock and what Wall street re-
| CARDS as the most Interesting question that
| naturally arises Is how this liquidation will
be effected.
Although the five-year period suggested
| for the Accomplishment of this liquidation
might permit the gradual sale of these
Stocks at good prices knowledge that there
were these stocks to absorb and tend to
spoil the market for them. 1t was sug-
Z, gested today that the stock holdings OF
Inc insurance companies might be exchang-
| sd at fair market valuation for new
| ooha S,ii issues from time to time, and the
subsequent liquidation of the stocks taken
over would not be a matter of such de-
pressing certainty.
A statement backed by the weight of d
| good deal of well-informed authority was
| made this week to the effect that the agi-
tation of the last few years, agitation which
| Is especially vigorous now at Washington.
to force the railroads out of the coal bust
ness has been and is inspired by certain
scneinefS who aim to acquire vast tracts
OF coal land cheaply. The situation is as
serted to be simply that with the railroads
paFreo from dealing in coal directly or In
directly, the smaller independents and the
| owners of rich but undeveloped coal lands
would be at the mercy and powerful individ-
uai or grouped operators
The railroads have made the hest mark a,
Tor men who had coal lands or coal to SELL
without the railroads to bid and without
the incentive of self interest which induces
railroad development of coal properties. 1t
| is asserted that within a few years there
| would be class of real coal barons" such
| as are often talked of but no not now exist
The West Virginia coal fields especially
are said to offer a great opportunity for
| the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of individual operators
| with the railroads out of the coal business
X
With time money at five per cent mini
| mum in Chicago, st. Louis, Boston and Gin
| cinnau, or about the same level that OBJ
| tains mere 1t IS rather obvious that If new
| supplies of money and credit are to be OBJ
| tanned from the interim by the local market,
rates here will have to advance.
with money at from 23s to 2s4 per cent in
Paris, Berlin and London however it would
| appear that a great deal of credit could
prohtably be extended to this city by Eu-
| rope If the politicol outlook at home does
not make such extension Of credit mex
| pedient. For this reason IT would seem that
satisfactory adjustment of international
relations whether made at the Algeciras
| conference or elsewhere, and subsequently
would be of great Importance to the New
ork money market.