New-York tribune., 1907-09-22
The Financial World.


is important-more than any other feature re-
Gently disclosed. In it is indication of an IN
vestment disposition not for long time past
discoverabe Helpful in the making Of this
new influence is the sequel to the recent New
York City bond hotation-siIly preliminary per-
formances succeeded finally by something akin
to sanity-municipaI vanity finally taking cog
nizance of world wide financial conditions
Opening through this record is the possibility
OF making an effective answer to recent
cynical inquiries to whether not the pub
lie can be induced TO come back into the mar
ket'' whether the public is tabooing Wall Street
for good and all. whether there be any possibla
basis upon which public investment interest will
be reasserted- City bonds which cIeverest stu
dents of the situation were rating barely a week
ago at barely a point above their par value COM
mand now six or seven times the original pre-
mium-the result of competition upon the part
Of the most calculating measures of investment
in the world. the trustees Of estates. savings
banks and other similar institutions
Many standard stocks a re showing strength
the weeks record made up largely Of advances.
Bond market leadership undoubtedly has rela-
tionship to this betterment-
Further-far apart from any direct market in
fiuence, however-there is TO be considered the
fact of absolute business solidity. Take North
ern Pacific as fair example-Northern Pacific
being among the substantial gamers in quota
ton changes this week Astounding theories and
foolish fables have had circulation TO explain
Northern Pacific buoyancy- Yet-appropriating
the comment of an alert Stock Exchange OBJ
server-"One good enough reason for Northern
Pacific being strong is that Northern Pacific IS
earning $4,000 a day more than it earned a
year ago"
Here is the essence Of what is sanest and
surest Of investment guides What a property
Is earning is Of vastly more consequence than
any deals" however picturesque their possi-
bilities. Of which Wall Street Imagination Is
capable
OF great moment, not merely from the Wall
Street but also from the national point OF view.
is the industrial situation We are deIused with
stories of the laying of Of thousands of hands
in manufacturing concerns and Of the canceIIa-
ton OF orders for equipment by railroads That
some recession is going on is undoubtedly true
but IL is absurd 10 suppose that It runs to any
such extent as Wall Street pessinnisrn portrays.
Current reports Of earnings from all the big IN
dustriai concerns reveal continued good bust
ness
There is however one development-the cop
per crisis-challenging serious consideration
The Price of the metal has been cut more than
ten cents per pound below the high record estab-
lished last summer and the reduction is directly
due to overproduction- This reduction OF price
in itself should be sufficient to bring consumers
into the market. but not satisfied with this alone
the great producing companies have taken the
drastic and salutary step OF curtailing produc-
tion for the time being about one-half This Is
wise and timely. and IN view of II there need be
no apprehension over the future OF the copper
business Demand for copper-at a price-is
world wide and must continue The electrifca-
ton OF railroads. the constant expansion OF troll
ley systems. and the production Of a thousand
and one electrical appliances will in the long
run more than overtake production Of copper
metal This IS economic certainty-just as un-
swervingly certain as for months and months
has been the Informed attitude Of 2. Augustus
Heinze. that overprodUction was creating pre-
cisely those conditions which now IN their final
rounding out distribute widespread disturbance
II would have been economical to suppress that
vanity which induced ArnaIgamated TO treat
cavalierly the Heinze analysis-for brains and
experience ever have the habit OF outweighing
pretence. however financed
BY unfortunate coincidence. Just as the COP
per situation became strenuous. 1Ir- H H Rog-
ers. president Of the AmaIgamated Copper Com
pany. suffers nervous breakdown compelling
him TO abstain from active business occupation:
and the ghouIs and scandal mongers OF the
Street seize the opportunity 10 disseminate every
possible adverse imaginative runor concerning
Mr.. Rogers expanding grain OF fact into noun
tains OF fiction Now. valuable as Mr.. Rogers's
personal direction would have been ar this par
ticuar time. there is no lack OF administrative
ability IN his associates. and the public IS sure
TO find that the affairs OF the Amalgamated
will be administered with ability and discretion
The situation IS far remote from that hopeless
ness with which the bear party attempt 10 IN
vest it
Inseparable from the copper complication IS
the money market Lenders. when copper began
TO decline were not slow to exact higher interest
rates. thus further hampering producers IN their
difficult tasks. This. perhaps. more than the
trade situation. has been influential In curtal1-
ment OF production. The money market months
ago assumed dictatorfal attitude toward the
business world-and may 1t not be that now ths
situation reverses itself and that the business
world is going to be able TO dictate 10 the money
market?
No sympathetio movement with copper Is dis