The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-24

Mr.. Hartman is the big figure in the
market The future of his companies is
Of absorbing interest. When the North
ern Securities Company was broken up
the Union Pacific treasury was left with
$S3 900, 900 par value worth Of Hill stocks.
In the bear market of 1908 the Union
Pacifc's holdings of Northern Securities
stocks declined to a market value of
s6S, 200, 900. In the big rise in the fall
of 1908 these same holdings reached a
market value of s15S, 100000, gain of
$90, 100000. II was this great rise that
gave impetus to the Standard Oil bull
campaign In Union Pacific that took the
stock from $40 to above $3.50. When the
Northern Securities Company was dis
solved and the courts decided against the
Hartman party and in favor Of the Hill
party on the pro rata plan of distribu-
ton, by which the Union Pacific, as Mr..
Hartman recently acknowledged, got q
lot of Hill stocks that 1t did not want,
1t was plain that the Union Pacific peo-
pie would get out of these Hill stocks
, as soon as they could.
One of the purposes of the bull canl-
paign following the dissolution of the
Northern Securities Company was the
liquidation of the sS3,000,000 worth of
Hill stocks in the Union Pacific treasury.
The great problem In the Hill camp was
how to support the market for Northern
Pacific and Great Northern at their very
high prices. while Mr.. Hartman was I'M
loading these stocks out Of the Union
Pacific treasury. The Hill plan OF dis
tribution gave the Union Pacific 100000
shares of Northern Pacific and 100000
shares of Great Northern The Union Pa
cfc, however, did not exercise its privi-
lege to exchange all of its Northern Sc
curities stock into the Hill stocks. The
big market in Northern Securities on the
1nJ n, If,in poptno RI aa11 q
great deal of this stock direct without
exchanging 1t for Great Northern and
Northern Pacific. At the top prices for
the Hill stocks last year the Union Pa
cific holdings extreme market value was
100000 shares Great Northern at
$34S ...... ......................,..S of,VV,WO
10000 shares Northern Pacific
at 1922 Observation-Disclosures. o'VV,oo
Total m .,...............s16 3, 900, 900
At the low prices of the recent slump
their market value was:
$50, 900 shares Great Northern at
$132 ...... .........,.......,.......S 35,VVV,Wu
100000 Ore certificates at s55...... 14,0oOOoO
$4,000 shares Northern Pacific at
at S115.. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. oo,WV'Wo
stoc,s .....,s............... s,o0o,O
Total .........s.8s.s.. .9vi,VVv,VVV
The Union Pacihc's holdings In last
weeks panic, therefore, showed an ex-
treme decline of s72000,0O0
All the time that the rich followers
OF Mr.. Hill were putting orders into the
market to buy Great Northern and North
ern Pacific Mr. Hartman was putting In
orders at Kuhn, Loeb &c Co.'s to sell
them. Mr.. Hartman never supplied too
much stock in any one day. man who
wanted to buy a few thousand shares
Of Great Northern when 1t was above
$500 a share was sometimes forced to
bid up FIVE or six dollars a share to get
the stock The man who was feeding
out stock to the market all the time had
won his spurs on the floor Of the Stock
Exchange.
A bungler would have swamped the
market with these hgh-priced stocks.
But Mr.. Hartman knew better than this
Mr.. Harrimans bankers made report
to him every night Of the amount Of
stock they had sold. They were amazed
at the manner in which the Hill fol-
lowing paid high prices for the Great
Northern and Northern Pacific.
II the Hill followers had paid for their
stock and put It away, thing might
have gone along very well. But the trou-
BILE was that a great many or them,
eager to build up their fortunes, bought
these stocks on as narrow a margin as
They bought them on margin, and when
they rose bought more on their paper
profits. Conservative old holders of
Great Northern and Northern Pacific
who had bought these stocks all the way
UP from a few dollars a share, borrowed
money on them at the high prices and
bought more When money began to
get scarce last year. and the great banks
of the world began to preach caution
the Hill following discovered that they
had stocks returning little more than
per cent. in a 6 per cent. money mar
ket. They were In vulnerable position.
They could not liquidate at the high
prices because the buying power In these
stocks had been exhausted for the time
being. Plain, ordinary investors would
not touch them at the high prices. When
the world liquidation began this winter
the efforts of the Hill people to scale
down their holdings brought on a col
lapse in the Hill stocks. Mr.. Hartman
sat back and smiled while he saw the
followers OF his old time rival trying to