The Washington herald., 1907-03-08
WALL STREET NOTES
Hartman Interviews Pro-
woke Letter from Lawson.
BULLS MAKE MONEY ON U. P.

Southern Pacific scores Rise-In
sympathy with Union Pacific Earn
ings Continue 10 show Increases.
Southern Railway Decrease of
100000 Keeps Traders on,
New York. March lone Of the most
interesting Of the important, e true
rumors circulated during the day was the
following dispatch received by one
of the financial agencies from a Boston
correspondent, and seen on its news slips
and ticker in the first hour of business:
Private financial settlements and ad-
justmcnts have been reached. favorably
affecting the Hnl-Harriman stocks. Anal
gamated. and other securities, in which
Broadway is largely interested, and which
should make for higher prices this month
in the stock market"
This, of course. was delightfully."- vague.
and left the traders to agree whether
the one responsible for it knew more than
he cared to tell, or knew nothing at all
Naturally many brokers We're skeptical,
as they could not see the reason why
such an important item of New York
news should first leak out in Boston.
Vying with interest with the dispatch
quoted above the following telegram from
Thomas w. Lawson. OF the Hub. dropped
upon tine street at the time when prices
were depressed. on account of the large
volume OF foreign selling: Don't miss
AmaIgamated. Anaconda. St Paul-26
Broadway works its magic Market was
cloEged with traiIers Amalgamated div
/ idends 10 be increased, St. Paul TO go fly
/ ing It was necessary to clear the track
| It was most scientifically done. No ROg-
eTs. Rockefeller. Standard oil mention,
/ but the mornings press throughout the
world shows its Heutenants-Ha
/ Frick-one talking, the other acting"
/ Brokers professed very little interest in
1 this dispatch. but they read it just the
same talked about it, put 1t on file. and
showed It To their customers. Each said
he would not be Influenced by IL. but thar
( undoubtedly some traders would be- and
/ there was more or less discussion as TO
whether or not the message was dictated
/ by some local interest, which wanted 20
/ sell stock. Everybody. however. conceded
/ that the spectacle Of Hartman talking
/ was sufficiently novel TO invite comment.
even from less vOluble commentators than
I Thomas W. Lawson.
/ Now that Hartman appears to have
/ been converted 10 the belief that -upen
confession is good for the soul" few
/ of those whose experience in Wall street
I does not date back very far think it pos
sible that he may yet tell in his own way
what he refused 20 disclose ON the wit
/ ness stand in the recent investigation.
/ The heavy selling for foreign account
lin TIE first couple of hours was accom-
panied by reports of the failure of
Berlin house that had made q feature of
( tTadiHg in American stocks, but IL was
significant OF the feeling abroad that
houses having good European interests
received buying orders somewhat below
/ the market, simultaneous with the re-
/ ports from the continent. Arbitrage
/ houses and traders who work for small
I turns were the sellers. while those who
/ take real position on the market Were
willing TO buy stock at the price COnces-
sions. and before the close. when they
were afforded an opportunity.
Union Paeifc viii be the Reading of
/ to-day" Such was the tip that was
passed around at the opening of the
market to-day. The result did not quite
justify the prediction, but many OF the
traders succeeded i'm making "a fair profit
on the bull side before the sudden rise
gave place To q more sudden slump. The
only news accompanying the rise on the
stock was the rum0r in the forenoon that
/ the earnings for the month Of January
would make "a very favorable impression.
and the verifcation Of this when al mid
I day the actual figures were published
showing an increase in net Of $f59. 900.
There was disposition to regard the
/ interview given out by Hartman in
( Washington as favorable pronuncia-
mento. especially that part Of II In which
T ne expressed the belief that President
/ Roosevelt had come TO q realization OF
/ the necessity OF cooperation between the
government and the railroads, and of
/ legal combinations in the interest Of
cheaper transportation. The intimatiol
/ that while hard times were sure to come
again. they might not come within the
lifetime of any one now living. was not
/ the kind of sentiment that the bears who
/ had sold stock i'm the belief that a decided
slump In business was imminent could
derive consolation from. and many OF
/ them proceeded 10 cover their shorts.
( This done, there was very little support
/ left Tor the stock and the closing quota
/ tons showed a substantial decline on the
/ day. Hartman arrived in New York at
noon and talked some more.
Southern Pacific scored substantial
rise early in the day. partly in sympathy
with the rise fin Union Pacific, but per-
( haps more in recognition Of the fact
/ that the earnings Of the property
continue to show handsome increases.
| For the month Of January the net
/ earnings showed an increase of ST.
045.O00 over those Of the correspond
/ ing month a year ago, this being equiva-
! lent to about one-half of 1 per cent addi-
tionai for the stock from the months
! operations. while for the first seven
months of the fiscal year the gain in net
amounted TO S5.930.215. or slightly more
/ than ~ per cent on the stock over and
above what was earned In the correspond
4 ing period Of the fiscal year ended June
/ 30 last. It was said that while the earn
/ ings for February thus far did not show
/ q rate of increase quite as large as that
4 for January. they were nevertheless
highly gratifying
! While the January earnings of Southern
Railway showed an increase in gross. the
/ traders thought the decrease Of Sa4O.O
/ in net was large enough to have strong