Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-24
Financial News Letter
BIZ W. G. NICHOLS.
Special Correspondence Of The STAR.

BIZ W. G.. NICHOLS.
Special Correspondence Of The STAR.
NEW YORK. N. Y, March %, 1907.
The enormous liquidation In securities
that eliminated for the time being in the
panicky selling of last week has left Wall
street in a very nervous state. good
many people of wealth were badly hurt in
the long decline. and the street is full Of
rumors of narrowly averted trouble in high
quarters. That no failures Immediately re-
suited from the collapse has caused a great
deal Of wonder. The street would really
feel easier IL there had been some failures.
Some who were badly hurt were, carried
over by their friends. and the nervous. fiuc-
tuating market Of all this week Is evidence
that the wounded ones have been trying to
get out whole. Stocks bought in large
blocks during the panic to save the market
from going to pieces utterly have been
coming back on the market again this week,
and the market has been taking them with
bad grace. The buying power for the time
being has been greatly impoverished. The
investment buying from all over the coun-
try has been very large. but this has only
been in small lots and IL has done very 1T
tie to steady the market. Men OF wealth.
although they believe that many standard
stocks are on the bargain table, are very
cautious in making heavy purchases until
they are assured that the conditions that
brought on the severe decline have per-
manently improved. Nothing can be GER
tain about the future Of Wall street nut
it is as reasonably certain anything can
be here that opportunities such as very
seldom come to investors are now being
offered. Railway stocks, which earn very
large SURPRISES In excess OF their divldends.
are selling at prices that return the investor
from ) to ~ per cent. When money gets
cheaper again standard stocks will sell
nearer a per cent basis.
-
Among those who have been most hurt in
the market are some of the sons of the
great captains of finance and industry.
Some of the richest young men in the 400
have lost millions Of dollars No one seems
to be very much worried over this except
the young men themselves. 1t Is under
stood that some of the young men In the
Newport set formed big pool in Union
Pacific last summer on the expectation of
an increase in the dividend. They had big
paper profits on the sharp rise in the stock
above $50, and they held their pool intact
with the expectation of selling their stock
at 500 share or better. They were SO
sure that they could sell 1t at 500 that they
neglected the opportunity to sell when the
stock rose above $3.50. Their cupidity
was their undoing. The 1870 price was
ers saw their paper profits fade away. They
hung stubbornly. buying more stock on
the decline with the expectation that the
price would recover to the old high figures.
1t is said that some of the forced selling
of Union Pacific at the bottom prices last
week was for the account of this society
pool that could not hold on any longer.
The losses of the young men have been
placed as high as $2O0,OGOO. One story
was that big block of Union Pacific was
taken off their hands at price considerably
below the lowest panic price.
Wall street men are running over to
Washington every day or SO to see what
Mr. Roosevelt is going to do to help them
out. but they do not get very much salts
faction at the White House. 1t Is under
stood that the President may make some
general statement about his policy toward
the railways in his speech at the opening
of the jamestown exposition April 90. But
those who know Mr.. Roosevelt we'll do not
believe that he will say anything radically
different from what he has said before in
his messages and speeches. The President
seems to be pretty well informed as to the
true inwardness of affairs in Wall street.
and he evidently does not intend to be used
to help speculative Wall street out of it's
dilemma. The men directly interested in
the management of the railways naturally
feel that the President should make it very
plain to the people at large exactly what
his wishes are In the matter OF railway
legislation. 1t is not that the railway men
have any fear of what Mr.. Roosevelt may
do, but they are intensely disturbed by the
radical action taken in the various common
wealths by lawmakers who believe they
are following out the Presidents wishes
when they are not. 1t will take some time
before Wall street becomes settled again.
The situation here is disturbed and is
the situation abroad. A year from now
the country will be entering upon a Presi-
Dental campaign that may develop into
one of the crucial electoral contests in the
history of the country. Some of the con-
sentative banking interests in Wall street,
while they recognize that it is a little far
off to make any campaign predictions, feel
there is going to be a change of admins
traton, and that 1t is time for caution in
branching out into new ventures. From
now on the talk of the next administrator
will be more and more in evidence in the
money markets.
Il
When Mr.. Morgan sailed for Europe he
was richer than ever before in his life.
When tho great railroad systems of the
country began issuing short time notes last
summer he commenced getting out from
under. The tragic death of his closest
friend, Samuel Spencer, accelerated the
Morgan liquidation. He is said to have
sold out nearly everything he had for which
there was a market and converted his as
sets into cash. Early in January he called
in about $25O00,0JO, which he had loaned
out in the street. He is believed to have
locked up large sums of money and con-
tributed in this way to the stringency. He
is believed to have been the commanding
figure in the most colossal bear campaign
ever conducted in Wall street. During the
last two weeks of the decline his brokers
were remorselessly pounding stocks. par
ticularly the issues which were backed by
Hartman and the speculative branch of
the Standard Oil crowd Incidentally one
of his close business associates, Mr. Prick,
had cast his lot heavily with the Hartman
party.
The fact that four such powerful leaders
of the great Wall street game as Hartman,
Prick, Rogers and Rockefeller, have been
hurt to the tune of many millions of dol
lars ought to go long way toward show
ing the amateurs of the game that there
is no royal road to success in Wall street
The great public outside of Wall street,
that only reads about the speculative game
when something big happens here, has had
idea for a long time that a man branded
with the IS. o. label has nothing to do
but to find new places to hoard his money
The trouble with all the big fellows in the
gal m q that they Overplav II