The Washington herald., 1907-03-13

bat when ] read i'm the morning papers
the report of Morgans call on the Pres
dent and the announcemcnt that the
! California legislature had decided to droI
/ its anti-Japancse measures, and when, OF
( top of these. ] received "A cable telling OF
the engagement Of $1.000.0OO i'm Holland fol
import 10 New York. 7 concluded that
there was nothing left for me TO do but q
throw up the sponge. There are lots OF
/ bears stIl left in there, but I'm sure !
do not know how they are going to get
out.
It is not often that the street receives
Ian item of news like the statement made
/ by Morgan after his visit to the Presi-
1 dent. for there was mo uistaking the
meaning of the Importance Of the words
/ of the banker. il was brief. and incapa-
/ ble OF mtsConsUUCtuH. The President
visitor had suggested that in order TO allay
public anxiety as II tho relations between
the government and the railroads the
Chief Executive should arrange with the
heads of some OF the most important
railroad systems. and the suggestion had
/ been gladly accepted. There was no diff
/ fereutiation between the administration
land the President The President was
what the statement said. and the Presi-
I dent it meant Turn il how they would
/ the bears could not pick any flaws in il.
and they were forced o. admit that Mr
Morgan had succeeded In establishing
/ diplomatic relations. the outcome Of which
could hardly faH 20 be OF great benefit
/ to the railroads and the community II
large. The Wall street view was that 80
She President could be induced o. change
/ his personal views on the railroad situa-
/ ton mucn of the hostility 10 corporations
/ tlat has sprung MO in other quarters
would speedily disappear
steel is an right said "a very shrrwd
trader. "Tha pilot has come aboard. ANY
one who cannot make that out from q
/ Washington para grapn in the morning
papers entirely fails To grasp the signia-
cauce of the DAYS news
Not in a long time have the bears re-
ceivei >uch o. surprise as they have Just
bad in Steel. a week sEo they thought it
would Dee "a ctucn % sell the stock short.
believing they could cover at almost any
figure above 90 that might seem to them
to afford fair profit on stock put out al
serve. SO tHJt they might crack the
market wide opcu" with e in their own
time. and when the time came Tor the
assault they threw I'll their force into H.
WITH the result that the price dropped
down 10 g. Once there, however, IL would
neither yield further nor stay down
Here was surprise. bet there was a
greater one iu store when the rebound
ictt Httle opportunity 10 cover shorts until
th. greater part Of the decline had been
covered. just "a week ago the stock sold
at 3ls. Yesterday it sold ~ i0es. so thar
very little Of the weeks decline is left
although there can be no doubt that "a
large part Cf the short interest remains
uncovered.
Driving United States Steel down al the
end Of last week. the bear clique was
obliged 20 make the stock very active and
90 distribute orders among great many
brokers so as 20 give an appearance Of
real liquidation. ON Friday transactions
in the common reached the enormous
total of 3L1o and on Saturday 1gO1
shares were traded In during the two
hours session. What proportion Of these
larse totals represented bearish operation
cannot OF course bE accurately deter
mined, but u the light Of what has hap
pened since there is no doubt that the
larger part was OF this character Manlp-
Ulati0u conducted on such large scale
involved the payment Of great MANY
commissions. and when these are set
against the small net decline in TIE price
OF the stock. as compared with The open
ing on Friday morning it looks as if the
bear campaign in the stock mas not been
|sTsr .t.arrs .rssF
At the annual meeting OF Pennsylvania
Railroad stockholders the increase Of
capitalization proposed at the time the
call for the meeting was issued two
months ago was approved, and the state
ment was subsequently made that this
Increase would cover provision for ma
turity Of the notes recently sold. The
stock ruled fairly strong throughout the
day. keeping ahead Of Reading. although
al times the difference in price between
the two stocks was very small 4 house
whose transactions i'm Pennsylvania have
attracted q good deal Of attention re-
Gently was again r seller. bus traders
We're inclined 10 be suspicious of ap-
pearauces in view OF the fact that while
on the surface the selling appeared to be
good and the buying of Indifferent quail
ity. the stock nevertheless acted about as
well as anything on the list
The traders took The London bidding of
Union Pacific as good lead. and fol-
lowed TO a considerable extent. Having
bought the stock they talked about "A
quick rise, predicting that the price would
cross 100 before the end Of the session.
but when they saw that there was little
chance for the fulhlment OF the opti-
mistic predictions. they sold out again.
not caring to take Il permanent position
until the money outlook became clearer.
The lGars sought to make capital out o7
the failure OF the bull tips and revived
the rumors of suit to sever the exist
ing relations between the Union Pacific
and other important roads in the Harri-
man system, but with no more success
than had been achieved on the other side
by the rather premature bull efforts Of
the traders.
Some of the closest observers of the
stock said they could see nothing more in
ii at present than a waiting market
Erie, which in tho early part of 1906
sold above 80. and in every year since
1901 has I'd well above 90 has many
friends st TIE present level of prices. 1t
is argued that stock which in every one
of the past six yca-s could have been
disposed Of above 80 is a very fair .specu-
lation at about 80. seeing that earnings
continue 10 gTow and that the company
through its ownership of the Pennsvl-
rania Coal Company, is participant I'm
the prosperity Of the anthracite trade
which in the present year promises to
surpass all records.