New-York tribune., 1907-03-19
NO WHITE HOUSE PANIC.
TIE PRESIDENTS VTEWS.
administration Not Harmed By
Wall Street Disturbances.
BIRTHPLACE OF MR.
from The Tribune Brreau.l ]

Washington, March 1S-The President had
call to-day from B. F. Yoakum chairman OF the
board OF directors of the Chicago. Rock Island
& Pacific Railroad. and expects to receive Pres
ident Mellen of the New York. New Haven &
Hartford Railroad tomorrow afternoon. If any
other railroad presidents or prominent officials
decide 10 come TO Washington the President viii
receive them cordially and will listen. attentive
y 10 what they have to say. There is not how
ever. the slightest ground which they may
reasonably base a hope that the Executive will
deviate in the slightest particular from the poll
cies he has already laid down nor is there any
basis whatever for expecting him 20 make pub
lie statement with view bolstering UP the
stock market the view n,ertained here that
with the unprecedented prosperity Of the Coun-
Try and the !ar-e patr~paEe the -ailroads are &c
ceiv!ng. the shrnkage in values which is re-
corded In Wall Street .ust he the result OF
speculative tactics which have abnormaliy
bulled the matt and that securities are mere
y returning 10 their n-rmal value because the
manipulators hav" been unable 10 maintain an
unnatural imitation. The ,sident and his 1d-
visers make no pretence to deep insight into
Wall street methods. but II has occurred 10
them that perhaps the present shrnkage IS not
an altogether uumxed evil, and Z : a perfectly
safe inference that materially greater - - \
age would not produce anything -sroaching .
panic among the men in charge Of the ~@jrs Of
the nation.
1t has been suggested that the greatest GoJd
TO the greatest number may best be moted
by such shrinkage in values as Will serve to
place them on a normal basis. as that night
make for more reasonable rates. OvercapitaIiza-
tion or imitation Of values must. it is roteveo
operate an obstacle To reasonable freight ana
passenger rates. while the more nearly the paper
Df
of the property the greater will be the chance
of the public 70 obtain just and reasonable rates
Incidentally the opinion is expressed that the
greater the parity between paper values and
actual values the less likelihood there is that
the small investor will suffer at the hands of the
large manipulators Of the market And while
questions pertaining TO the stock market are dis
cussed by members of the administration with
modest professions OF their own lack of familiar
ity with the subject. any one who undertakes 10
upset the impressions here recorded or 10 arouse
sympathy for the big men Of the Street
will find himself confronted with an extremely
difficult task
In connection with this subject the public
should accept with extreme caution all state
ments about the Presidents intentions from
usually misinformed or inaccurate sources and
~eiy solely on news that has hitherto invariably
proved to he authentic and authorized For in
stance. in the last day or two numerous news
papers have devoted much space to the visit of
Governor Deneen and Attorney General Stead
of Illinois, 10 the White House. and some have
gone far to attempt to give the whole
conversation, with more or less picturesque de-
tails. 10 show that railroad questions not
discussed. but that the President summoned
Governor Deneen to Washington to endeavor to
obtain his support for Secretary Taft in the
next Republican national convention. The Trib-
une correspondent can declare positively on the
highest authority that I'm Governor Dement'S
conference with the President there was abso-
lutely no reference whatever to Secretary Taft
in connection with the Presidency. and that the
whole yarn is false.