Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-24
WALL STREETS PANIC
Causes Which Led to Slump in
Prices Last Week.
EVIDENCE OF STABILITY
Grip of Hartman Loosened on Some
of His Properties.
SOME HEAVY DECLINES NOTED
A Summing Up of the Situation After
Smoke of Battle Has Been
Cleared Away.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, March 23.-Wall street has
been sorely tested by panics, panic days
and panlcky markets in the last six years.
but its stability and endurance has not
been more severely tried within the memory
or the present generation of brokers than
in the extraordinary collapse of March 10
and ii last Some day interesting facts in
connection with that collapse now suspect
ed, but as yet unknown, may become pub
lie such phenomenal movement rarely
takes place without accompaniment of
important developments with regard to the
control or ownership of leading properties
and the speculative community has been
indulging itself lately with a variety of
conjectures as to just what did take place
by way of cause or consequence of the
silent or mystery panic, as it has now come
to be called. Perhaps Mr.. E. H. Harriman's
grip on some or all of his properties has
been loosened, if not removed Perhaps
the daring Rock Island crowd did more
than make a brilliant bear coup Who
knows? These things lie on the knees of the
financial gods, and in the course of time
they may be disposed or obliged by the
commonplace methods of reports to stock
holders to inform the public as to what
disposition was made of large quantity
of the huge total of securities that changed
idiluS dt Suth appalling loSSeS last Week.
A Stable Condition.
Whatever interesting matter of an ul-
terror nature affecting the recent panic the
future may reveal there are many plain
facts now in the publc's possession which
have significance and lesson for more than
traders and investors in securities In the
first place, the panic itself disclosed a
condition of stability in Wall street in
Guiding banks, brokerage houses and
traders, which must have been surprise
to those censorious critics who cannot abide
that temple of mammon. the stock ex-
change. In a way, the recent panic hardly
deserves the name of panic, for on We'd
nesday and Thursday, especially on Thurs
day, the day of the greatest decline, there
was at all times market on which stocks
could be sold.
Panic" to the stock exchange commun-
ity usually signifies condition where it is
exceedingly doubtful, if not altogether GER
tain that the next minute will disclose an
utter impossibilfty of making sales at any
price. In the Northern Pacific panic on
May 8, 1901, there was just such bot
tomless market for long period during the
day. Last week, however. although the
dealings were wild and prices fell steadily
from the opening to sthe close, the price
concessions between sales rarely extended to
more than half point. OF course. the
bargain-bunter accounted to an extent for
this, but more important as a Steadying
factor was the obvious huge quantity of
short covering which was positive indi-
cation that bearish operations on a col
ossal scale had had much to do with pre-
cipitating the smash.
Banking interests contributed sub
stantial degree of support as well. Never
thelesS, when it is considered that Thurs
days storm was undergone without a sin
gle failure reported on the part of a bank
brokerage house or a trader, it must be
demonstration of the fact that speculative
recklessness had not been dominant in
Wall street counsels in recent months.
To be sure, the utter absence of failures
was another point against the argument
that last weeks stock market upbeaval
was a true panic. Yet this and all other
negative considerations are of little force
as compared with the proof of dealings
and declines that Wall street endured this
month a panic, and very real one There
was hardly a moment on Thursday when
brokers and traders did not expect the
market to disappear altogether, when they
did not look for the announcement of
series of suspensions and assignments to
begin The way in which the best stocks
on the list were poured out at sacrificial
prices seemed to point only to the inevita-
BILE catastrophe of panic at its worst.
Heavy Declines.
The dealings on Wednesday and Thurs
| day aggregated about 100000 shares, and
| at the close of the market on Thursday
night declines for the two days were
shown, ranging to upwards of thirty points
| in leading issues. Atchison was down 93t !;
Delaware and Hudson, 25B; ST. Paul, 1S%
Northern Pacific, IL; New York Central,
on: Pennsylvania, 1O1s; Reading, BIS;
| Southern Pacific, Harriman's new dividend
payer, 1OA; Union Pacific, Harriman's 10
| per cent dividend payer, 32b; Amalga-
! mated Copper, the blind pool pet of the So
| called Standard Oil crowd, PAS; Shelters,
the sturdy favorite of all the followers of
| the Guggenheims 20A; Steel common, 63s;
), Sugar, 9s; Colorado Fuel, o. At the clos
/ ing figures on Thursday the following
losses from the high prices in December
were shown: Atchison, 207s Baltimore and
Ohio the stock of which Mr.. Hartman ac-
CURED so much recently for his Union Pa
| cific, 24B; Brooklyn Rapid Transit, 35A
| Canadian Pacific. "a: Louisville, 387s; Mis-
souri, Pacific, 31%; New York Central, 351s
| pennsylyania 34Z. Reading the stock of