The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-03
Borrowing Didn't Show.

Borrowing Didn't Show.
 The New York Times contains this ac- count:
 It is more than month since rumors of the retirement of John w. Gates and his son from the stock market began to be heard in Wall street, but all concern ed were so positive in their denials of the truth of the rumors and gave such plausible explanations of the foundation on which they were based that the con firmation received yesterday from C. c. Gates was a surprise to the street. Dur ing the heavy stock market slump in January 1t was reported that the Gates interests had been heavily hit, but this story was not borne out by the informa- tion obtainable In the loan market. which showed that the House of the Twelve Partners was a smaller borrower of money than was its custom--a fact which Indicated on it's face a leaning toward the bear side.
 The house has always been noted for It's extreme mobility in the market, and Wall street was quite ready to believe that, although Gates & Co. might have been heavily loaded up with stocks dur ing the high prices of the summer and fall of 1906, 1t had taken the opportunity to switch during the winter.
 Those who hold to the belief that the Gates crowd had been heavy losers went 80 1hr AS to TX the amount or lne1T losses at s6,000,000. They found explana- tion of the loan position of the firm, which pointed to operations on the other side of the market on the ground that if they needed money to carry long stocks through the slump. the Gates crowd would be the last to give their hand away by borrowing in the money market here, where their position would be made plain by such action
 Tho onera tioua of Tohn Gates and his son and their followers have been of the first magnitude. 1t has been not un- usual for the house at times to carry over sl00,000,00 of stock. If the firm was carrying any such burden as this. of stock purchased at the high prices of last summer and fall. there is ample ground for the belief of those who con tend that the Gateses have been whipped out of the market. Such a block of the stocks which were prime movers In the bull campaign of last fall. dumped on the market since the first of the year would have done much to bring about the decline which Wall street has not yet been entirely able to account for. / Neither John w Gates nor his son would discuss the reasons for their re- tirement yesterday beyond the statement Issued by C. q. Gates. iOn June the lat ter will have completed his tenth year in the stock market He entered the firm of Baldwin, Gurney & Co. In Chicago in 1897, and since then has been partner in the stock exchange. house of Harris, Gates & Co.,, here, and for more than year the senior partner in the present firm of c. G. Gates & Co.,, in which his father is a special partner.
 Deeds of Gates, Jr.
 Originally a steel man, and head of tile Illinois Steel company, John w. Gates began his market career when at the head of the American Steel and Wire com pany. he suddenly shut down twelve of the mills of that concern in 190O at time when talk of a reaction in the iron and steel trade was beginning to frighten the stock markets. The effect of the shut down. coming at critical Juncture, was to knock the bottom out of the stock.
 It was only two years later that the same stock went away up, past it's orig inal high water mark, in it's absorption into the United States steel corporation. Another coup of John W. Gates which has gone down in the history of Wall street is the wrestling of the control of the Louisville and Nashville railroad from August Belmont in the open market land its subsequent sale to the Morgan in- terets. Mr. Gates has also gained ton- siderable notoriety through his heavy bet ting at the race tracks.
 A week ago 1t was announced that MT. Gates and his son had leased a shooting estate of several thousand acres fin the French province of Savoee.