The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-15
VIOLENT DECLINE IN
 THE PRICE OF STOCKS
Continued from Fifth Page.)

| Icommerce commission toward the great trunk lines might be looked for. Great disappointment was expressed at the news credited to the banker quoted as authority for the statement that there will be no such change. The banker himself, when approached on the sub ject by newspaper men, said he did not 1 care to be quoted further than to say that he believed the administration thoroughly understood the financial situation and the conditions as they ap- vlied to railroads and industrial cor lporations.
 Rumors in circulation during the aft ernoon that government relief might be looked for, official confirmation of which were received after the close, were without effect on the stock mar ket trading. None of the reports in circulation yesterday as to foreign i financial difficulties received confirma- tion to-day and, in fact, the London market showed advances for American securities. This fact, however, was without effect on the New York eX- change, except for a short time after the opening of trading,
 Business on the New York exchange started rather quietly, apparently infu- enced by the better prices in London, but Sefore Il o'clock a heavy selling movement was in progress and prices lost from 1 to 4 points, Union Pacific led the early decline with a break of 5 1-2 points, to 142, and Amalgamated Copper followed with a drop of 3 3-4, to 95. United States Steel offered more resistance than most of the list, and after selling at 3G it rallied to above S7, helping to steady tho balance of the list,
 As prices steadied there was a falling off in business and the market remain ed relatively quiet until between 12 and l o'clock, when the bears centered their efforts on Union Pacific, Reading and Amalgamated Copper The whole list was affected by the rapid falling off in these shares, and the scene on the stock Iexchange became one of wild confusion. | There seemed to be absolutely no SUD- port to the market and the trading be- came demorallzed. This downward movement seemed to spend It's force in a short time, however, only to be sue ceeded toward 1:S0 o'clock by the wild est trading that has been known on the exchange since the Northern Pa cific panic of 1901. Reading fell rapid ly to below par, getting down as low as 96 1-2, while Union Pacific went to 131, St. Paul to 130 and Amalgamated Copper I1 S7.
 At this time traders thought they had seen the worst of the day, but still more sensational declines, with the most excited trading scenes, came just before the close of the market. Brok- CTS who had called on their customers, and who had not received satisfactory responses threw over their stocks al- most without regard for the prices they would bring, and it was in this slump that the extreme low prices were reach ed, Amalgamated Copper selling at 80, Atchison at S2 5-S, Baltimore and Ohio at 95, Canadian Pacific at 167, St Paul at 12b, Pennsylvania at IA, Reading at 91, Southern Pacific at 69 3-4 and Union Pacific at 120 If.
 After the most urgent selling had been accomplished there were sharp rallies in number of the shares, most of the leaders closing from to points above the lowest.
 Wall street was so excited during the worst period of the afternoon that al- most any rumor in circulation received some belief. One report that had con- siderable effect on the market and on Union Pacific particularly was that a serious break had occurred in the friendly relations which have existed between E. H. Hartman and the bank ing firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Go. Accord ing to this report Mr. Hartman has been requested by the banking firm to take up a large amount of securities which they were carrying for him. The story was almost instantly denied, but notwithstanding the denial continued tc have effect. Another reason put forth for the heavy break in Union Pacific and Reading accomplished by the sharr falling off in Baltimore and Ohio, was said to be that the Union Pacific was having difficulties in financing it's pur- chases of Baltimore and Ohio, Atchison and other stocks. In order to Anance these operations it was asserted that the road would be obliged to issue short time notes and that the issuing of these notes would be affected by the fact that the recent declines in Baltimore and Ohio and Atchison, show losses of many millions of dollars from the prices at which they were purchased by the Hartman interests. It was pointed out also that the decline in Reading shows a heavy loss to Baltimore and Ohio which holds about $3O,o0o,o0O of Read ing stock.
 After the close of the market consd- erable relief was expressed that there had been no failure during the day and that of all thu rumors in the street there seemed to be none affecting the solvency of any banking or brokerage house of any importance. The banks reported that their demands for further collateral from brokers had met with prompt response and that so far as they were concerned their position as to the stock market was satisfactory
 A remarkable feature of the present decline in Wall street values is that il was foreseen several months ago and that warning was given so that brolI- CTS generally had protected themselves by requiring their customers to deposit and maintain ample margins on theil trades. In this respect the present sit. uation differs widely from that of 1901 when the contest over the Northern Pa.