The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-28
WALL STREET NOTES
Attempt to Bull Market with
D. & II. RumOr Fails.
READING STOCK KEPT ACTIVE
Union Pacific the Feature OF Dull
Day-singie Interest Said TO Retain
Larger Portion OF 10000 shares
Bought Some Time Ago - Erie
strong Despite Lack of Business.

Strong Despite Lack of Business. /
New York April Fit was announced /
unoficiaIy, but with great display and
flourish of trumpets, that the First Ma
tionaI Bank interests had acquired large
holdings in Delaware and Hudson and
would receive representation on the board
az the forthcoming annual meeting OF
stockholders. This was very much ike
an announcement that the Dutch had
captured Holland.
It has been known TO every one at all
/ In touch with Wall street affairs that
the First National Bank interests long
ago acquired stock in Delaware and Hud-
son. and it was customary last fan to
attribute 10 these any movements of inn
p0rtance in the stock. a tour Of inspee-
/ ton Of the company's property was made
few months ago which should have set
al rest any doubts that might have eX-
! listed as TO where Delaware and Hudson
was owned. and it is also a matter Of
/ history that Mr.. J. Rogers Maxwell, who
/ VIII now join the board Of managers. was
asked a year ago 10 allow himself to be
elected to iii vacancy but declined for
/ reasons that seemed sufficiently strong
/ then. though they are not regarded so to-
day.
/ In some quarters an attempt was made
10 utilize the story about Delaware and
Hudson as bullish capital FOR "a move
ment in Reading on the ground that as
/ the First National Bank interests are
supposed 10 be large holders of the lat
/ ter stock. their connection with the fos-
mer possibly foreshadowed the estab-
I lishmcnt of closer relations between the
two properties. The trouble with such
an argument was that il was based on "a
fact that every weli-informed person was
already c0guiZant OF. No new side could
/ be presented because the street had for
/ the past year frequently surveyed the
matter from All sides and il affected
NEITHER CdihcatiOn nor enthusiasm when
it was again presented from an old point
Of view That there was something of a
snort interest in Reading could not DE
denied and that certain speculative op-
orators were endesvoriug 90 utilize this
/ FOR an upward movement ia the stock
/ even the most superficial observer could
hardly rail 20 notice. The attitude toward
the stock of large interests whose opinion
I on it generally counts was that VI The
general market is on AN upward move
mcnt Reading VIII probably acquit Itself
as well as anything on the list.
The speculative clique in Reading kept
the stock active enough 10 make It con
spicuous in such a duh market as the
street had 20 content Itself with. and #
was little wonder that the bullish activ-
ties attracted something Of "A following
seeing the very limited opportunities that
lhe traders were afforded 10 do any bust
ness elsewhere. The dealings we're ultra
professional "A few daring operators EN-
teriug into a movement In which the bulls
hoped 90 profit in getting ahead Of other
professionals who in their turn were
making In effort 20 scalp a small pr0ht.
Every point in the game was skillfuliy
played, but at the end OF the session IL
would be very hard TO say Whether any
} real progress had been made by any in
} rerest
The only stock that surpassed Reading
In activity was Union Pacific and from
every point of consideration this was the
feature of the market. The old story
about a plan 20 separate the railroad
from the company's holdings Of securi-
ties. capitalize the latter, and make this
the basis of distribution to holders of
, the present Union Pacific stock, was re-
yived, and was The only ammunition that
. the bulls seemed To be able to lay their
hands on in defense Of their position.
) AS a matter of fact the movement was
net made In response TO any news. but
( 10 the operations Of a speculative pool
made up of parties supposed to have the
, / cOuntenauce, If not the substantial sup
port, Of some of the very large interests
in the company. One story, that appeared
10 have cmanated from good quarters.
, was that certain prominent interest in
! the company had a couple Of weeks ago
s bought 5000 shares of the stock and still
, retained enough of this TO make It pretty
+ certain that the market would not be left
} entirely without support for some time
10 come.
Al the Erie issues combined added only
J. 1.0C5 shares To the days business. OF the
common only 700 shares changed hands.
while In the first and second preferred
! the transactions amounted to only 200 and
100 shares respectively. Despite the lack
& of activity the stocks were strong. each
of the preferred issues advancing "a fun
point. while the common made a good
. fractional gain.
g At the opening the stock market was
under the influence Of the further sub
stantial advance in wheat futures but
when the prices of these reacted later.
quotations for securities started on an up
ward movement that continued without
. interruption till the close. The rumors OF
= crop damage were as highly coIoTed as
s ever. but the higher temperature and the
cloudy conditions shown on the weather
! map were not without their effect on sen
! timent tt was well recognized that ar
s improvement in the weather would make
a substantial change in the crop pros
70 poets and the outlook for such a change
over Sunday was so good as to leave the
speculative bull on wheat unwilling tC
go home long, and the speculative bear
on stocks disinclined to remain short
s BOSTON STOCKS.