Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-24

thousands of shares about a month ago
and turned very bearish in his talk That
did not last long. however. and he got
back into the market again on his usual
Titanic order. Just where he is now no.
body pretends to speak by authority. 1t
is one Of the sayings of the street that
Mr.. Prick makes as many market mis-
takes as anybody. Being a whale of
first magnitude. he makes big stir in the
financial pool when he gets into action.
For that reason he always commands an
audience. Fewer people seem to know
what his associates are doing. although
on the stock exchange they have fair
idea in a general way by keeping watch
of the houses through which they dis
tribute their big orders.
u
The entry of Mr.. Hartman into the
Gould game and the simultaneous re-
entry of John D. Rockefeller into some
of the Gould properties is not as new
development most people think. 1t
came to the knowledge of Mr.. Stuyvesant
Fish several weeks ago that Hartman
was buying into Missouri Pacific. As
soon hi could confirm this in Ormation
positively. Mr.. Fish resigned his official
connections with Missouri Pacific. and Is
once more off the reservation He is
great railroad man out of job, and the
villain is still pursuing him. With Mr..
John D. Rockefeller in virtual control OF
Western Maryland and Mr.. Hartman
growing powerful in Missouri Pacific. the
Gould family seems to be sliding farther
down the toboggan every day. The Gould
blight on properties with which they are
Identified has come to be commonly recog-
niZed as a tangible misfortune. Strong
interests representing important invest
ments in Gould properties have at last
taken formal cogniZance of the blight"
and taking measures to get rid Of the
Gould mana cement.
The prediction is freely made in Wall
street that within five years the Gould
family will he relegated into the back
ground and stripped of active control in
many quarters. OF special significance is
the formal announcement made in con-
nection with the Western Maryland deal
that the building of the proposed link be-
tween Cumberland and Pittsburg $50
miles in lengthy, which was to complete
the Gould system to the seaboard. has been
abandoned. Millions upon millions have.
been poured into that costly Gould knot
hole. VIII the Western Pacific be as
costly and as ugly a loss?
Reports of improving business through
out the country are at last taking on
more real substance. They contain a
larger percentage OF actuality than for
merly. and afford more genuine basis for
the hope and sunshine SO copiously in
dulged in by the Faith Cure League. The
decentralization in the pig iron market
seems to have climaxed. and the founda-
lions of that division OF the trade are
hardening. Constructive industries in va
rious lines show signs of a desire to re-
sumo action.
The crop outlook is all that could be de-
sired and the background feeling is ap-
probably better. Railroad earnings show
almost no Improvement, but Increased
earnings in that quarter can hardly be
looked for in the begir ming of d resump-
ton of good times. That will come later,
when the products Of the mills and fac
tories begin to move. Besides, railroads
are generally adopting the policy of
gloomy talk. They are doing this on the
theory that it will help out the program
for raising freight rates. The greater the
poverty the less opposition to the advance.
Politics as a disturbing factor is like
ly to get more in evidence for the next
few weeks. More than ever 1t is being
taken for granted that Secretary Taft will
/ be the republican nominee. Also. more
than ever it is dawning on the conscious
ness of Wall street that eastern opposition
to the denomination of Mr.. Bryan at Den
yer may not be eiIective. The growing
probability of a contest between Mr.. Taft
and Mr.. Bryan has also set people to
thinking earnestly about the November
chances. and it is no longer esteemed a
dead moral certainty that the Nebra Skan
will be defeated. The many elements of
doubt which are likely to enter into such
a presidential campaign are for the first
time being seriously discussed. That such
contest might easily degenerate into a
rough and tumble gouging and biting
match is recognized as among the posi-
biities-a battle in which no attention
will be paid TO the rules of the game. All
of this will not conduce to market calm.
The situation becomes pregnant with un-
certainty and agitation having direct
bearing on Wall street prices.
Everybody is glad that Congress Is 60
ing home Not that it has done any very
great harm this session. but SO long as it
remains in Washington there is always a
chance that it may smash things in some
way.
The outlook is for an international
trade balance o: more than 100000, 600
for the year ending June 80. In view of
this fact there is considerable mystifica-
ton over the continued outflow of gold
On the surface of things the movement
should be the other way. One explanation
is that the old world has been reselling
and shipping back American stocks and
bonds on a large scale.