The sun., 1907-08-13
Twice on the Verge Of Col.
lapse When Support
Came.
TALK OF A PRAYER TO J0vE


Investors Sorely Hurt One Bankers Ide.
Is That the Administration should
Classify Securities as Immune or Other
wise TO Protect the People - lnter.yse,
RI Bonds Make an Astonishsug Drer
OF N Points In q week View York
Central Only Points Above Par
-Industrisls hit No one win presstc,
when the Liquidation Is Likely 70 stop
Many more millions we're taken Of the
market value Of securities yesterday by
decline more violent than any last week.
Trading was in greater volume and more
excited. liquidation was heavier and more
costly and the apprehensions OF trouble
rs a result of the break were keener and
more acute. To all inquiries as to the
ause Of the break there was the same old
answer. Radical anti-corporation action
~ various State and national authorities
had frightened holders of stocks into
changing them for cash.
IL redistribution Of wealth IL still ad-
vocated by the national Administration, Z"
cyncaly remarked a banker while the
liquidation was heaviest. 1T is bringing
this about rapidly by bring ging about break
in the market. There has already taken
place a tremendous depreciation in the value
u large fortunes. But it must impress
every one as rather unfortunate that thou
sands Of small investors have suffered a
corresponding loss"
The market was badly upset In the early
trading and both then and later in the day
there we're collapses in prices which seemed
to bring it near the decentralization OF panic.
Complete collapse was stayed, apparently,
by supporting orders on these bad spots
There was accordingly no panic. but almost
all day long stocks sold at lower than panic
rrices. The low average OF the day was
we'll below that Of any preceding break
since the Northern Pacific panic. The
silent panic Of March was wiped out for pur-
roses Of comparison.
Al the close there was no suggestion
f concerted support from large financial
interests. Apparently. much as they dis
lred the depreciation in their own holdings,
hey considered il idle in the present strait
sred condition Of the money market to
step in and take alf the stocks thrown over
by big and little frightened investors. The
selhng movement sss 80 Widespread, n
teId mp only by an extension OF credits
which most Of the leading financial interests
considered altogether inadvisable.
Two bankers made suggestions which
they said they had reason TO believe might
Tear fruit. They proposed going to tho !
root N the trouble and curing the disease |
by endeavorinx TO remove it's cause. They |
advocated intercession with tho national |
authorities and a formal and concerted |
repuest that either the Administration
modify It's anti-corporation programme |
Or let II he known precisely what this pro-
Eramme is. so that investors may know
winch stocks stand a chance OF decrease
If dividend return from imposition Of
penalties, which corporations are the sheep
and wi ich the goats
According TO one banker talk Of this kind
has crystallized in q movement to secure
4
committee as a sort OF board Of arbitration,
He would not say how far the movement
had gone, what, II any, encoura agement
had been secured and what national COM
mItteeman. il any, had been consulted
on the subject. He confined himself closely
to the statement that the movemant was
under way
The other banker. who ID connected with
4 a1x tzA b.. |
hon Of committee of proEainsnt men TO
take the matter to Oyster Bay and dis
cover II possible what securities are i'm
mune and what are not. The banker was
one of those who believe il possible to cor
rec' every corporation abuse that has ever
oeen complained OF without resort TO tactics
that upset confidence and destroy credit.
ms views as to argument and methods Of
procedure seemed vague and it could not be
'1rned that they were concurred In by
mary other men in the bond business.
Inc general impression seemed 20 be that
any attempts at arbitrating questions con-
cernins confidence in American securities
would he met with a rebuff. There was
Ieca!le1 the unsatisfactory outcome Of
many conferences between railroad presi-
uehfs and other fnanoiers on the one hand
ana President Roosevelt on the other for
weeks preceding the March panic.
II Is as idle TO lay the matter OF security I
values or questions OF general bvsiness '
oreal' before the national authorities" said n
a prominent international banker. "as be- Z
tore any Of the politicians, State or national.
Every one Who reads the papers knows the 4
iosses that are being inflicted. and have
yet 70 detect an indication that any State
~ Federal officer or politician is impressed
w the TACT that they are serious or unwar-
Ian'eh' There In clearly discernibIe In
. ,,ceh' ntterances of Attorney General c
nonaparte note Of satisfaction or even a