Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-29
Financial News Letter
BY w. q. NICHOLAS.
rrspondesce Of The star.

BY w. O. NICHOLAS.
Special CorrespondeSce Of The star
NEW York, April g. 1903.
The stock market Is steadyfna after ten
days Of tremor. It win be many days be-
fore the nervousness incident TO tho earth
quake ana its attendant developments dis
appears entirely. Meantime the process OF
establishment Il going on rapidly wherever
there was disturbance In the business
world. Fire insurance companies are put
ting Themselves in shape to meet the heavy
drain upon their resources. banks are ex-
tending credit wherever 1t is most needed
for the rehabilitation of the stricken city
and those whose interests were directly
affected are facing the stern situation with
courage and confidence. The FIRE Insurance
companies have figured their probable
Losses dowr4to $100 eCo GOO or under. about
half OF which falls on American corpora
tons and half on English and German
companies Many of these concerns have
been free sellers OF their securities for the
purpose Of realizing cash on them, but In
majority Of cases they have made ar
rangemeilts with banking institutions for
loans. preferring to pay high interest rather
than sacrifice their assets while there Is
q uASlocatOu " CIOWQ tifcill kuto SStAAhS
under the hammer. A very large percent
age of the San Francisco net loss by fire
and quake falls upon the shoulders of q
comparatively small number OF wealthy
people and estates able to stand the pun
ishment and instantly ready to take up the
work OF building new city. This list in
ciudes D. O. Mills. the Croker estate. the
Fair heirs, the Sharon estate. the Hopkins
heirs. the Huntington estate, James r.
M a aff nrc cfvn hut lag
widely known. 1t Is being realized that al
though the qualifications OF the financial
hurt are many and far reaching, the big
end OF the loss Is strictly local. There Is
not another large city In. the United States
more Isolated In this respect than San
Francisco. 1t was strong itself and had
the fixed habit Of relying upon its own re-
sources This is strfkingly exemplified in
the fact that the municipality had no debt,
the city standing unique in that regard.
~
The break in prices which has taken
bear party, and at the bottom Of the de-
cline the market was discovered to be
heavily over sold. True, mass of long
stock was dislodged during the slump, but
for every share Of real stock that came
out there was q twin share sold short
Strong interests came to the protection or
ana all offerings were steadily absorbed on
a scale. The foundations Of the market
hardened as prices went down, q condition
which made recovery certain. and with
sucn recovery came spirit of returning
confidence and a feeling among the specu-
latorS that perhaps, after all, the bottom
might not fall out Of things. 1t Is due to
say that throughout the ordeal the investor
class was not seriously alarmed. This
distress was confined chiefly to the light
wasted margin players. great numbers or
whom were wiped out or badly crippled.
The literature of the hour contributed to
the general uneasiness and put the worst
possible light on every feature OF the situ-
alton. The most poignant agony over the
ruin was voiced by those who hadn't
dollar involved or a dollar to lose-the lu-
gubrfous gentlemen who hang around the
tickers. and the chair warmers in the
OFFICES OF commission merchants-men with
out visible means of support, existing as
1t were, like orchids, on air, or. perchance.
were greatly worried lest there might not
be money enough discoverable to tide over
the disaster. One shiny sleeved long
faced party was heard to say to q neighbor
up in smoke. Who's going to make that
good? Who's going down In their clothes to
put up 1000 .O007 Am I going to? Gong
pause.) Are you going to7 (Another long
PAUSE. Not by blank sight" The con-
clusion reached seemed to be flnaT and to
settle the whole question San Francisco
was to be left a mass of wreckage, a monu-
ment Of hoplelessness.
Some Of the gafly comparisoned pools ana
cliques Hghtened their lines on the break,
and the position OF the market is greatly
strengthened In consequence. The tremen-
dous commitments Of two or three of these
combinations had become a menace and
there is a general feeling Of relief in the
knowledge that they had to shorten sail
and scale down their holdings to safe
limits
Conspicuous Individual plunsers had sim
liar experience. They saw huge paper
profits vanish into thin air and nm into
losses. While the market was going their
way they found great enjoyment In buyine
tens OF thousands of shares of their favor
tie stocks and feeling the market rise up
IN response 20 their operations. When they
came 20 sell, however, it was q Different
proposition. In some instances they made
the unpleasant discovery that they were
ABOUT All there was to the market and thew
were forced to hqutdate at a heavy sacri-
Not few conservatives firmly believe
that the country VIII be better or for a
reaction not only In stoeks but In general
business. Ihey feel that we have all been
going too fast and that the whole popuIa-
ton Is falling into wasteful and extrava-
CANT ways, that the country Is exnand;no
TOO fast and that 1t needs a rest Those
who indulge In this kind Of talk are not
pessimistic by any means. They are tust
as patriotic and as full of the national
spirit as the loudest optimists. but they see
danger in continuous high pressure-danger
OF OVERRIDING 1t or wearing out. A group
Of bankers sitting around table in the
Midday Club few days ago discussed this
phase at length. Attention was directed
especially to the danger of railroads over
doing improvements. extensions and better
ments. One of the gentlemen expressed
the belief that the railroads were going al
together too fast and that within the next
fifteen months they would find they had
more facilities and more cars than they
would have any use for, even during per-
iods of greatest volume OF business.
IN SOCIAL SESSION.