The Washington herald., 1908-05-26
PRICES MOVE SLOWLY
Movements Depend Upon
Three Operators.
STRENGTH TOWARD THE CLOSE
Spectators for the Fall Cannot Re-
sist Temptation TO Reap Profits, So
Vigorous Buying Results-keeps
Business steady During the Late
Hours of the Afternoon.

New York May 25.-Before the opening
of the stock exchange this morning. pro-
fessional operators in Wall street agreed
practically unanimously in the judgment
that there ought TO be at least a fair
sized rally in prices during the day fol-
lowing the extremely violent fall in the
preceding Saturday.
This was grounded upon the commonly
accepted belief that there was nothing in
the situation 10 warrant conditions OF
great further Generalization in the mar
ket, this is TO say, that no wide specula-
tion for the advance with consequent pyr-
amiding OF stocks had been INDUCED in,
and that the business situation proper was
certainly no worse. But these more hope
ful views were all rather vague since II
was realized that the market has passed,
TO an extent seldom witnessed. into the
hands OF two or three individuals. and
that ideas as to the immediate course OF
prices were simply guesses as 20 the per-
sonal whims, predictions. and idiosyn-
crasies OF these men.
Run.or of Trouble.
II was, however. pretty well established
that ono Of the capitalists who have been
engaged In advancing prices in such a
headlOsg and sensational way had sud
denly thrown upon the market on Friday
and Saturday Is a large proportion Of his
speculative holdings Of securities, and
rumor was busy during the day with
gossip TO the effect that this capitalist
and one OF his partners in speculation
had had falling out. with the result that
they were at cross purposes in the market
for the time being.
Another story was that on account OF
the suit brought by the government
against the New York. New Haven and
Hartford Railroad Company. the Euro
pean bankers who had agreed 10 part.ci-
pate in the foation Of the forthcoming
Union Pacific bond Issues had abandoned
the undertaking. or at least were not
willing to go on with It on the terms
that were formerly talked Of, while an
other view Of the case was that the drop
in the market had been merely engi-
neered for the purpose Of covering q new
short interest.
GuesSes Are Hazardous.
Whatever truth il any, is in any OF
these suppositlOns-save for the con-
ceded fact that there had been a large
amount OF real selling Of stock Of the
nature referred to-it was clear that the
general market position had become 80
involved with personal speculative enter
prises as 10 make opinions regarding the
immediate trend of values more than usu-
ally hazardous and this uncertainty was
reflected in the hesltatIng and backing
and filling course or prices during the
greater portion Of the day.
Quotations at first were considerably
below those made on Saturday. a lower
range for al the principal stocks being
established in the London market. and
London houses figured here in the first
two hours OF business as relatively heavy
sellers
But there was an eager desire on the
part Of the spectators for the fall 70
seize the large profits that awaited them.
and that had so quickly mounted up.
and vigorous buying from this quarter
not only kept the market comparatively
steady during the morning, but resulted
in an advancing tendency later In the
day