The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

/
| predictions of easy money as early as
! April or May may strike some as an in
| consistency. 1t certainly betokens will
| ingness on the part of a great army OF
| people of good credit to pay handsomely
for insurance against financial, accident.
| They do not want to be caught unpre-
pared, as many of them were two months
ago.
The burden of opinion among the more
| experienced of the Wall street population
seems to be that permanent and strong
| recovery in prices should not be expected
until the cleaning up process is COM
! pleted and the compulsory liquidation is
| really over.
| The expectation in this quarter is that
| on every considerable rally offerings by
! the banking interests will be in sufficient
! volume to check any bull movement I'M
der speculative leadership. Meantime as
| the supply of funds enlarges there will
| be a gradual absorption of the better
| class of securities and the bargain coun-
| ters will in the course of time be stripped.
AT the present writing there is no end
! of spendidly attractive bargains to be
had and they are being picked up con-
| tinuously.
| There is no wild rush but the tempta-
| ton to get hold of safe bonds or stock
| on a per cent to per cent basis is
1
| terment of the stock market and after a
reasonable lapse of time, say three or
four weeks, the tendency of prices should
| be upward. The recovery in the mar
! ket is likely to be attended by very sharp
reactions, but the best judgment of the
! street is in a wholesome uplift of the
enduring kind.
| There are rotten spots in the market,
| of course, which the panic and attend
! ant disclosures have made apparent;
| there are not a few stocks which are
| destined for further shrinkage, due to
| the mismanagement or over-capitalization
of properties. There will be the unpleas-
ant incidents of an otherwise healthy
development.
Among the things which Wall street
would like to see during the ensuing year
| is the elimination or retirement of Mr..
| Hartman. The entire financial commun-
ity is giving hearty second to the
| popular motion for his eclipse He is
marked as the Jonah of the occasion
| one of the chief excuses for ill-feeling to-
ward Wall street. and the hoodoo that
| it will be well to get rid Of
This desire is daily assuming more con-
crete form. The publication OF the an
| nual report of the Union Pacific Rail
| road company has served to accentuate
hostile sentiment against Mr.. Hartman.
!
! than ever before In the light of a ire
mendous speculator who has been for
i years conducting gigantic market oper-
| ations on the stock exchange with the
money and credit of corporations en-
/ trusted to his management 1t puts him
! into the limelight more conspicuously
! than ever before as the greatest gambler
| of the day and as a man who might
easily wreck the strongest corporation in
! the world or the strongest combination
of corporations.
| There is no disposition to underrate
| his very great abilities in the legitimate
upbuilding and development of the Union
! Pacific system. In that respect he is
recognized as a genius of the first order
| and it is the regret of his admirers that
! he had not confined his activities to that
! field, instead of undertaking to domi-
nate the arena of stock market specula-
| ton.
| The annual report referred to carries
| the affairs down to the end of June
| last, leaving unrevealed the occurrences
since that date AS of June 80 it shows
! that during the preceding II months a
cash surplus of nearly $50, 900 had been
converted into floating debt of nearly
! $0.000000, thereby necesstating the is
suance of S75.OOo.0O in new securities.
The creation of this enormous liability
I
| of other railroads to the extent of about
s132, 900, 900, including the control of Bal
! timore and Ohio and large blocks of
| Atchison. New York Central, st. Paul
and Illinois Central. Ground is found
for much glorification over the large
profits accruing from the original Harri-
man gamble in Northern Pacific, some
thing like s35, 0oo.O coo. Confession is made,
however, of a shrinkage of approximate
J ly $32. 900, 900 in money ''reinvested' in
| other stocks.
Since the last of June there has been
| further terrific shrinkage in the stocks
! of these companies, more than up to the
| date of that report. In Baltimore and
! Ohio alone there is figurable loss of at
| least $16.000.000, in Illinois Central at
least $4,000, 900, in Atchison 100000 and
| in New York Central not less than $780,
900.
1t would appear, Therefore, that on a
| basis of current quotations Mr.. Harri-
! mans stupenduous gambling with the
money and credit of Union Pacific shows
heavy loss in spite of his initial VIM
! nings in Northern Pacific and in North
ern Securities AS long as he was APP
| parently making money in his titanic
gambling plays with other peoples money
and his own he was all right, but now
that the tide has set in against him
| there is a growing disposition to take a
kick at him and make him the scapegoat
for all the ills of Wall street.
| 1t is an open secret that Mr.. Hartman
| lost an enormous sum of money for his
personal account in trying to stem the
| tide and make good the speculations to
| which he had committed his companies,
| but that sacrifice does not seem to satisfy.
| Great curiosity is being manifested TO
know the details of the earlier operations
| through which Mr.. Hartman was able
in a period of less than eight years 70
amass one of the largest fortunes in
| America-to be given particulars of the
spectacular details in Which he piled
up millions with incredible rapldity for
| his own account.
Ugly talk is INDUCED in and broad
limitations are heard that revealmen;
of the facts would not be entirely to the
credit of the eminent financier. Mr.. Har-
riman has thus far refused to notice the
slurring inquiries as to just where he
| divided his own speculation from those
conducted as agent for his corporations
and to what extent the two were blended
Financial writers who were silent about
Mr.. Harriman's speculations are becom
ing most insistent in their anxiety fol
details about the Hartman specuationi
with Union Pacific funds and hint at sen
sation scandals in connection Herewith
The rumbling on this score is vivit