The Washington herald., 1906-10-19
WALL STREET NOTES.

/ New York, Oct. 1s.-On the floor OF the
stock exchange to-day by far the largest
Clowd was around the'Amalgamated Cop
/ Per post. and. indeed. during a great part
/ of the session this was the only crowd
worthy Of the name. as the brokers gath
cred IN from all parts of the room TO
watch what was going on there All
were inteutly analyging the orders for In
dications of the action on the dividend,
and that they were not very successful in
this was evidenced from the report sent
! by board members 20 their firms, a far
sample Of which was "the buying is of
The best quality. but the selling, too, is
/ excellent"
The directors met at O'Clock, and ten
minutes later the announcement was
made Of a declaration Of ] u per cent and
one-half of ] per cent extra, placing the
stock practically on an S per cent basis.
Almost Immediately on the announcement
stock jumped up IL points on the COW
erlng Of shorts. the traders having maIa-
/ tanned the position on that side 40 20 the
! last moment IL .5e belief that an in
crease had been discounted, and that II
there should be a disappointment a sharp
reaction would surely occur.
/ IN the early forenoon there had been a
reaction on the runner that the meeting
would be postponed until after the cleo
tons in November, and this caught a few
stop orders although its most significant
eject was TO display strength OF the
undertone which bespoke the favorable
announcement made later.
! Amalgamated did not hold the advance
made on the dividend announcement
and the traders sold the general market
on the ground that the good news WIS
all out Efforts were made - catch stoo
orders in individual stocks without aota-
bic success, but the lack Of Response q,
the good news was sufficient 10 enable
the bears 70 add this 10 the other occa-
sions when favorable developments had
not impaired stimulating effect. The IN
/ ference which they meant to convey WIS
mat advantage was taken OF all favor
able developments for the purpose Of
/ liquidation.
Amalgamated Copper made its high
record price OF 80 ia 1901, when the. dive
4 oend rate WAS the same as il is now.
but when trade conditions were not near
/ so prosperous.
Several weeks ago it was pointed out
I That Amalgamated Copper could afford 10
/ increase It's dividend even withouf adj
ditional revenue from an increased dis
I Dutsement on Boston and Montana. and
TINS has now taken place. the latter cou>
pany rot having raised it's rate. for which
u Is earning handsomely. ii had been de-
clded 20 spend a goodly portion of its in
cOmc~On improvements.
A large operator. who often trades
heavily for his own account. but who. M
times, IS intrusted with orders for lead
ing interests IN Union Pacific. has been
a considerable seller Of this stock and
Southern Pacific recently. Il is estl-
mated that within the past few days he
has disposed OF a line OF fully I0.00
shares OF each without. OF course. max.
ing IL clear whether the transactions re
/ Elected his own position or that OF IN
Hucnt.a! clients. The general view Of this
selling is that It is very significant. but
Z must be evident that when so much
could be sold in q narrow market with
out appreciabIe effect on the price the
buying. while Of unknown orisiu. * OF no
mean order There has been nothing to
attract tile Spectator. but apparently
some interest has seen a reason why pur-
chascs should be made at prevailing
prices. even with the practical certainty
chat profits Of any considerable size VII
not come Immediately
in some quarters il is expected that
in case the Hartman interests cndeavor
,o effect #n alliance between Illinois
Central and Union Pacific strenuous or
position may be met with from the STAT,
E ar -T.f1
scented in the board Of the former COM
pany. The expectation in those quarters
that I'm case Stuyvcsant Fish is ous.cd
/ from the presidency OF Illinois Central
tie legislature cf the state may give a
good deal of attention TO the affairs Of
. The road next winter. The foundation of
this expectation lies in the fact thar
Illinois Central under its charter is Obliged
TO pay 10 the state OF Illinois per
cent az the gross earnings on The coz
miles IL road originally constructed iu
/ chat State-this being in lieu Of other
. tasrs-s0 that the State has r direct in
forest in the road which the legislature is
/ bound 20 protect. Expectation Of serious
interference by the State authorities wish
/ She supposed Hartman plans seems.
/ however. TO disregard tie important con-
siderati0n that the proposed alliance
would almost certainly increase and
could not possibly decrease the amount
If revenue derived from the road under
the charter provision covering the
method of tax payment
II Illinois Central is to be brought into
alliance with Union Pacific on the west
and Baltimore and Ohio ON the east. The
effect ou the lines IN Illinois VIII ao
I 20 increase their business by giving them
direct access to ueW territory Whether
this viii cOnducc to tho benefit Of Illinois
Central stockholders or not. 81 must ia-
crease the revenue Of the State, which Is
not based on the profits of The road. but
on the gT0SS business. No matter how
net earnings might be concealed, there
would be 10 way Of Concealiug Eross.
and for this reason opposition from tho
/ legislature might be very poor politics.
as it would certainly be bad finance.
If the theory that the decline in New
York Central has been due to selling Of
the stock and the buying of the rights as
IA hedge is to be accepted. there IS the
slight consolation i'm the reflection that
the sellers were afraid u leave their 20
sitiou on the short sidF unprotected. and
it is well TO remember that in addition
To regular dividends stockholders have for
some time received handsome returns in
tho way Of rights. while the prospects
favor continuance Of such windfalls Tor
some years to come With this in mind
there does not appear to be any reason
WHY the lead Of those who make spe-
cialty of the stock should be followed on
tho bear side any more than It should be
followed on the bun side. just at pres
.ent conditions seem rather more favora-
bic IL the latter.