The Washington herald., 1907-03-01
WALL STREET NOTES
Bears Make Raid on SHELTERS
and Low Mark Made.
KATY's POSITION STRONG ONE

That Hin Interests Are Seek
ing the Southwestern Line-Copper
Shares Strong, with Anaconda
Leading-LOndOn a Buyer, but May
BE Purely for Speculation.
New York. Feb. 2S.-Pressure was put
upon American Smelling and Refining in
the first hour, when the general market
showed a rallying tendency and the stock
dropped TO a lower level than it had be-
fore touched since May last year. There
was absolutely no news to account for
this action Of the stock. 50 completely
out of line with the tendency of the gen
eral market, and many traders came to
the conclusion that Shelters had been
seized upon as a possible means Of check
ing the advance in other issues, the sell
ing orders in il being placed through the
specialist so that they might command
the greatest amount of attention.
The character Of the movement in the
stock being thus diagnosed, its influence
ceased to be felt. and by noon the stock
had fallen into line with the other, al
though there was at all times an appar-
ent purpose TO encourage the short inter
ests rather than drive it TO cover. Some
Of the closest observers of the trading in
the stock said they could detect evidence
Of a better class of buying than they had
before been able TO see in it in many a
day
Many brokers surmised that the down.
ward movement in Shelters was espe-
ciaHy designed to facilitate purchases of
Copper, as these leading
metal stocks have frequently moved to-
sether in response 10 the operations Of
the same interest Amalgamated would
not down further, and the stock of its
company. Anaconda, ad-
vcnced with q Tesiliency which clearly in
dicated that the floating supply was small
and that the shorts did not md it an easy
matter TO get what they needed for COW
eriug H.
The bears. who had been letting their
profits run for several days, began 10
work in accordance with the other part
OF the maxim yesterday, and 10 cut their
losses SHORTCUT the losses they decided
10 cut short were only those Of a small
part of the profits previously made on the
decline. some Of them said they were
still bearish. but thought It well to take
profits As one Of them expressed il. Il
have covered because 1 am = bear and
not a hog"
Once again il has been shown that
while anybody may sell Missouri Kansas
and Texas short there are apt 70 be re-
grets when the time comes 70 cover
Lately. the stock goes down but little
when the general market is weak, and
when the turn comes it is one OF the
first to feel it. recovering sometimes in
an hour OF so about as much as II had
lost I'm several days of decline.
This makes il clear that the floating
supply is small, and raises the question
cf where the stock has gone 20. On this
point rumOr says that control is sought
by the Hill interestsy~or that 1t has al
ready been acquired by one Of the large
banking houses as an Investment. In re-
gard 70 the lattc-. however. IL may be as
well accepted once FOR al as an ahsO-
lutte fact that the house in question does
not seek 20 control this or any other rail-
road property. an established part Of its
policy being 10 cOnnne itself entirely 10
banking and not 20 control, or be a party
to control. of any railroad for the pur-
pose Of handling its finances or for any
other purpose whatever except in the
promotion or reorganization stages.
There is talk Of dividend declaration
at an carly date. but the probability is
that while Missouri Kansas and Texas
is earning enough TO make substantial re-
turns on the common. no distribution will
be made on this issue for the present, as
the management believes in conserving
it's resources SO that it may be able to
provide adequately for its growing bust
ness The road is now I'm excellent CON
ditiUu, but the advantage Of strong
treasury Will. in the opinion Of the man
lgement more than compensate stock
holders for the delay in making returns
ca their stock.
Tennessee Copper, the first Of the copper
stocks to be quoted on the new basis Of
dollars per share, on which Anaconda viii
be also quoted from Monday next, ac-
quilted itself well on Its removal from
the curb TO the stock exchange. scoring
a substantial advance on a fair volume Of
trading. The company is said to be earn
ing at the rate OF about 50 a share on its
stock, and dividends for the present year,
according to report, will be paid al the
rate Of not less than s. a share, probably
in semi-annual instaliments.
London came IN as a buyer OF stocks,
taking a considerable line Of the Hartman
issues and other leading internationals,
and this fact induced some brokers to
think that the recent revelations might
not after all exert a prejudicial influence
on the foreign market for Americans.
This. however, can hardly be regarded q
a safe assumption. The stock bought by
London may have been entirely for specu-
.ative account TO be thrown over just as
soon as the covering movement has put
prices up far enough 10 afford the buyers
D reasonable profit, and Of course some Of
.t represented the covering OF shorts by
the foreigners themselves who were not
slow TO seize the significance of the test-
nOny addUced by the Interstate Com
merce Commission on the first day of its
examination Of Mr.. Hartman.
The very queer behavior OF Southern
Railway, Which, after opening at 1915,
quickly sold down TO a and as
quickly advanced to So only to break
again to =, and finally recover and settle
around %, set the traders guessing, and
hey are guessing yet but so far without
bringing out anything more original than
4 repetition Of the old rumor that the
dividend may be reduced next spring.
other . per cent stocks of the railroad
which sell at about the same
evel are Missouri Pacific and Denver and
Rio GTande preferred while Norfolk ana