Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-18
WALL, STREET EXCITED
SPECTATORS AND INVESTORS IN
AMAZING q. P. RISE.

When the secret OF the dividends on the
two Hartman issues was disclosed to
Wall street yesterday, just after the open
ing Of the stock market, traders, speeula-
tors and investors went wild over the an
nouncement that Union Pacific had been
placed on 10 per cent and Southern Pa
cific on a per cent dividend basis
Within the course of four or five hours
Union Pacific shares jumped TN points
and Southern Pacific 81 points At one
leap $500O0,OOO had been added to the mar
ket value of the two properties. Trading as
sumed enormous proportions and the stock
market was the widest in recent history.
transactions reached total of PASS, 500
shares, but the general market other than
tnese issues was practically neglected, in
terest being conferred on the two Pacifics,
the dealings in which amounted to 1903 600
shares, or nearly one-half of the total
transactions on the exchange.
Wnen the announcement of the dividends
was made the stock exchange faced a
problem of adjusting the selling price Of a
stock which minute before was a per
cent stock Now it became a 10 per cent
income payer, and panic developed among
the bears, while the bulls were driven to
widest tactics
Wall street had been in a state of disap-
'polntment and chagrin for two days over
the non-announcement of the long expected
dividends, and when the news came 1t
was pronounced the best kept secret in
the annals of the street"
what gave additional impetus to the up
Waru movement of the stocks was a bear
panic OF no small proportions, influenced
by heavy selling on the part of arbitrage
houses. AS the Hartman stocks mounted
from hour 10 hour craze for speculat ton
swept the financial district, and floods of
buying orders poured in by telegraph from
all parts of the country.
Smaller Ones Suffer
While the transactions of the powerful
financial cliques, the large operators and
traders Melted profits of hundreds of thou
sands and even millions, the smaller fry
OF the speculative community were bitten
by the craze for buying stocks Small in
vestors and spectators and smaIl-salaried
clerks and bookkeepers of bond and brok-
erage houses seized the opportunity to
make small fortunes by pluneing on slen
der margins to the limit of their means.
Many instances were recorded of clerks
ana once employees who made from $4,000
to $4,000 on the advance
AFTER the gong sounded on the floor of the
stock exchange, announcing the opening of
the market. stocks were Hurried and unset
t!ed 1t was about fifteen minutes after
the opening that the dividend news was
sent over the wire. The official statement
was as follows:
The meetings Of the executive commit
tees of the Union Pacific and Southern pa
Glhc were ueIayed by the absence of Mr.
Hartman in attending the funeral of Mr.
wilcox. and were not held until late yes
terday afternoon. 1t was announced this
morning that a semi-annual dividend of
z per cent on the preferred stock, a semi
annual dividend of per cent on the com
mon stock of the Union Pacific, and a semi
annual dividend. the first, of 21a per cent
upon the common stock of the Southern
Pacific Company. had been declared. The
dividends of the Union Pacific Company
are payable October 1, to the stockholders
of record at II o'clock noon, September Is.
and the dividend of the Southern company
Is payable October to holders of the diyi-
dend warrants
1T Is understood that Of the dividend of
5 per cent on the common stock of the
Union Pacific per cent is charged to sur
plus earnings of the railroad and 2 per
cent to income from investments"