Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-28
Financial News Letter
BY ". G.. NICHOLAS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

| maI:d for funds for crop moving purposes
begins TO be felt. The current of money
from the east will start in a few weeks
and continue with increasing force during
the remainder of the year. 1t therefore be-
comes necessary for whatever bullish
! manipulation there may be in the stock
market to work its course between now
and the LIST OF September The efforts of
the pools to mark up stocks at this time
encounter almost no opposition of an in
huential kind. The bear leaders are put
| ting up no fight. leaving the field entirely
in the possession of those who want to see
prices established on a higher level After
long season Of liquidation, when mar
ket has been sold to standstill the bears
themselves are willing to see price uplift
in order that they may resume operations
, to better advantage Manfestly there IS
more in 1t for the bears to begin selling
from the high level than from the low
level, assuming that their reading OF gen.
cral conditions is right
Market action these days is within mar
row limits. The chapter of accidents has
several times operated to check manipula-
ton for the advance. but nevertheless
prices hold well and the trend seems to be
slowly upward for the time being. Few
are found who believe the movement to be
we'll grounded or who look for perma-
nently higher prices. At the same time,
| for reasons mentioned in the foregoing,
| the prospects rather favor the theory of a
| further small rise, and the professionals
are acting in conformity with that idea.
The markets We're -unfavorably affected
| by the North Carolina incident and the
| strike at the Lake Superior iron mines.
| Some few wide-awake traders had advance
info hn, fha cfrilra do
turn in the steel stocks. The general pub
! lie, however, had no intimation of trouble
| in that quarter, AMI the news came as an
unpleasant surprise. The theory entertain,
| ed whereabouts is that the steel trust Will
be in no hurry to settle matters. 1t Is IN
d good condition now to stand strike and
will be easily reconciled to the cessation of
production extending through period OF
several weeks. A strike of long duration
would be a serious matter but as this par
ticular trouble has hardly commenced
there is little to speculate on remote
possibilities.
The friction which has developed between
the federal and state courts of North Car
DINA is looked upon in Wall street as being
| full Of market danger. The prevailing no.
| ton IS that while the railroads directly
concerned may gain a victory over state
authorities they were impolitic in making
| the fight the way they did. The contention
| is that if they mad gone about their defense
| in a less defiant manner they might have
gained their point just as quickly with
out antaSonizing the masses of the people
as we'll as gaining public i'll will in every
| quarter. Knocked out on the broad prop
| ositions advanced by the railroad compan-
! les the state retains the indisputable right
| to pass laws for the local regulation of
| railroads which might make life very bur
| densome to them. In war OF reprisal and
| retaliation an aroused state can hurt rail-
| roads within its limits worse than the
| railroads hurt the state. This phase
of the situation is the one which Is attract
| ing attention in Wall street and calling
| down upon the heals of the management
| of the Southern railway harsh criticism.
| President Finley and his associates ara get
| ting it on every hand both by wire, mail
and word Of mouth, that they have made
| a tactical mistake in the course mapped
out for their North Carolina campaign.
The trouble with some OF the people in
| trusted with the management of railroads
| and other corporate property is that they
| feel impressed with the need of convincing
their stockholders that they are powerful
and fearless characters and that they
must demonstrate In way to prove this
regardless of consequences. 1t therefore
! turns out that some Of them are head
| strongly bent on taking the wrong way to
| do what they consider the right thing.
*
| 1t was not until Wednesday that the
| street took stock in the report that South
ern Pacific was to be placed on G per cent
dividend basis. The story had been going
around for several days that there would
be something doing in Southern Pacific,
but nobody knew exactly what was meant
thereby. Meantime steady absorption was
going on and the stock rose. Speculation
was for the time being shifted from Union
Pacific into that issue and the market con-
tinued to harden. On Wednesday it took
a jump from low point of S4A on Tues
day to 9Ok. The extreme advance on the
cay was nearly five points. and the closing
only fractionaly off from the top. The
: sympathetic rise in Union Pacific on We'd
nesday was full ~ points. and the whole
| market a corresponding uplift. Out of
| total of 675.Oc0 shares, Union Pacific and
Southern Pacific contributed half. For
many weeks the Hartman issues have
been the leaders. with activity centering in
Union Pacific, which rose several times to
the neighborhood of IN, only to be hit on
the head and set back again. 1t took
something more than mere sentiment and
tips from headquarters to put stock up and
keep it up. This something came in the
form OF emphasized rUmors Of a contem-
plated advance In the Southern Pacific div
idend. These various rumors took con-
crete form on Wednesday in an inspired
statement that the junior Hartman was
to be really favored as indicated. Then
followed the market splurgc and its at
tendant excitement
Back of the Cats1ills there is famous
summer resort at which there is a hotel
which takes care of 400 guests every sum-
mer Nobody with less than a million dol
lars get a room. Out of the AGO guests
.,ob were women over fifty years of age. 70
per cent of the 200 being over sixty These
old DANES wore more jewelry than Tiffany
carries any average date. The male
colsCrts of these wealthy danes foregather
attic rnoons and evenings and discuss Wall
street. They are In constant comnunica-
ton with the market. although really
above and beyond the pale OF speculation.
A man just back from there epitomzed the
Information he acquired in this brief par
agraph:
Everybody at the hotel was in receipt Of
daily mail from Wall street or from some
banking friend adviser. The gst OF the
correspondence seemed to be that the coun-
try Is going right ahead prospecting and
earning money for security holders. Among
other things l learned was that all the
Hartman railroads prospecting beyond
anything that could be conceived of: that
Union Pacific was to be maintained on a
10 per cent basis and that Southern Pacific
to be put on per cent basis this
year and per cent next year. The talk
about New York Central was not so rosy.
rod tha inf ri Il