The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-31
NICHOLAS WALL
 STREET LETTER Financial Leaders ReCeup Their HARTMAN IS A WONDER This Giant of Industrial and Financial Power Seems To Be Stronger and
 More Ambitious Than
 Ever Before.
HARTMAN IS A WONDER
BY ". G..NIcHoLAs.

New York May s0.-sinee the good ship turned turtle last week and dumped into the sea a great mass of speculative stocks it has been grad ually fighting itself. As stated in my last correspondence the great leaders had found a market for large quanti- ties of stocks and had unquestionably unloaded the bulk of their manipula tive holdings. In doing this they prob ably made one of the biggest killings in the history of Wall street. The Messrs Harriman Prick Rockefeller, Rogers and Arch bold most likely recov- cred in large part the vast sums of money lost last fall and summer when they were caught spread out and obliged to make colossal sacrifices to save themselves from ruin.
 Not only have they made this quick and remarkable recovery. but they are today occupying stronger market position than ever before. and their power is everywhere recognized. Espec ially is this true of Mr Harrima1, whose astounding ambition. backed by apparently limitless resources and courage that never aims, puts him into the very forefront of financial and railroad mana cement. For the time be- ing this remarkable man seems to be paying more attention to the eastern railroad field, while not in the slight est degree relinquishing his grip on the territory west of the western h. diana state line.
 The latest in regard to MT. Hartman is that he is planning an amalgama- tion os the Delaware and Hudson with the Boston and Maine, a move osten- sibly to relieve the New Haven system of it's recent acquisition which is giving such offense to the Washington admin istration. It does not seem that this deal has progressed very far, but it is one of the things under discussion. Any such arrangement might easily in eidde also Ontario and Western. the three lines would make very con sidera blc system and would gridiron populoas and profitable territory. If MT. Hartman is allowed, camel like, to get his nose under the New Haven tent it would not be long before his whole body wolld be within-or woulG 1t be the New Haven that was within? , At the climax of the manipulated buil movement in stocks the public was in the game to a very much larger ex- tent than was generally ina gined. And now 9he public is carrying the load and it is already grunting and grooming
 
 and severe. Whether it is only begin ming the progress of back tracking or wheth CT stocks will be taken up again by the Hartman combination and moved to higher levels is the speeula- tive problem at this moment. The ad- vance which took place during the two months prior to the middle of May surely discounted every legitimate req son for the improvement in prices. A very considerable reaction was plainly in order.
 It Is true that general business con di3ons are better than they were two and three months ago, but they are not as good as enthusas stic stock mar ket bulls expected and have not in the fullest sense fulfilled the hopes Of those who were behind the movement ] and who predicted their deals on the belief in a larger and broader national recovery. However, the crop outlook may be called most excellent and re- ports of commercial and trade condi- tions warrant q hope that the recovery though certainly commended may con tinue.