Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-20
Financial News Letter
BY ". G. NICHOLAS.

The element of politics has entered more
tangibly into the stock market this last
week than at any time before. AS the
campaign grows older it begins to be
apparent that the battle is not alto
Sether one-Sided. and there has come
over the hard-headed ones a sense OF
uneasiness lest after all the November
result may have a bearing on business
and prices. Things have happened within
the last few days to bull Bryan's stock
and to give rise to further opinion that
the democrats may elect majority in the
lower house Of Congress. Mr.. Bryans
presence in the enemies country may
have had something to do with this, but
that is only one factor among several
Mr.. Bryan is personally highly encour-
aged. He has met with wonderful re-
ception along the route, and reports that
reach him as well as his own observations
lead him to sincerely believe that he is
going to be elected. He was greatly
moved by the many evidences of devotion.
oid campaignerS are always q tTifie
skeptical as to the baIlot-Sox Importance
of demonstrations of hero worship and
are prone to regard them more as evil
dence of intensity of feeling than as i'm
portant foreshadowing of numerical re-
nect1on in votes.
The mere fact that the veterans of
previous Bryan campaigns think more of
MN than ever does not necessarily imply
the requisite additions to the number of
voters who will deposit their ballots in
November. The visit of Charles G. Dawes
of Chicago had more influence than any
thing else in arousing Wall street I'M
easiness. Mr.. Dawes came to New York
primarily to raise money for the republi-
can congressional campaign committee
and he gave the people he called upon
very clearly to understand that the re-
publican majority in the House is in
danger.
the opportunities of political canvassers
for funds. but Mr.. Dawes visit was I'M
questionably impressive. The people who
saw and heard him were convinced he
really meant what he said when he an
nounced that unless means were taken
to arrest the current and change the
situation the democrats would swing into
control of the popular branch of Con-
gress and possibly elect a President. MI
Dawes did not confine his visit alone to
bankers and fnancierS He devoted a
good share of his attention to leading
representatives of the manufacturing in
terests He carried away some money
but not nearly as much as he had hoped
for.
The election in Maine also contributed
to the disquiet. 1t was all right enough
for the republican oracles and publicity
bureaus to say that the election in that
announcement did not explain why the
decreased republican vote and the in
creased democratic vote in that state
should have applied to representatives as
well as state and local officers. There is
surely something national in the election
of representatives
The democratic state convention gave
every surface proof of restored demo-
cratic harmony in the Empire state, and
the result here has become involved in
doubt. And last, but not least comes a
letter from Richard Olney. closest politi-
cal friend and adviser of the late Grover
Cleveland. setting forth at length his rea-
sons why the republican party should be
defeated at the coming election.
Old-line conservative democrats who had
been holding out against Bryan set about
asking themselves why they should gag
al Bryan when that hardest of hard
headed Cleveland irreconcilables, Mr.. Oh
ney, can stomach him. Altogether, Mr..
Bryans chances appear to have been look
ing up lately. according to the Wall street
viewpoint, and for the same reason there
has been disposition to reduce specula-
tive risks in the stock market
AS feature of the growth Of this feel
ing of uncertainty, a good many stocks
have been sold out which had been bought
TOT greater advance In prices than has
yet been seen. New buying has also been
checked. simultaneously, specialists In
the iron trade report a dulling in the buy
ing demand for pig iron, incident to the
apparently growing chances of demo-
cratic success and consequent harsh tariff
revision.
4
The return Of Mr.. Hartman was sig
nalized by an immediate decline in the
stock market. Rightly or wrongly, the
street attributes this to Mr.. Harriman's
influence In some degree. He talks with
every. appearance of Indifference to the
political outcome. and reports most en-
couragingly on the western business Sit
fnf i'm r,-;,,
great wizards of Wall street. sometimes
shoots one way and looks the other Ac-
cording to common belief, Mr.. Hartman
and his associates are carrying an enor-
nous load of securities in which they
nave a colossal paper profit. If it were
their program to unload the natural play
would be to hand out line of optimistic
conversation and then begin quietly to
sell while others were buying
The public has been landed with the
goods so often on this procedure that 1t
took alarm on this occasion and started
to sell the minute it heard from Harri-
man, who seemed unusually anxious to
get lot of bullish talk out of his sys-
tenn. He summoned to his presence all
the newspaper men he could get hold OF,
and to an audience OF twenty or twenty
five of them he let loose great chunks of
Information about the glories OF our
country. especially that part of 1t ira
versed by the Hartman and near-Harri-
man railroads The next morning it was
apparently race between the Hartman
brokers and the public who could sell
theirs first. The bears felt greatly en-
couraged by this selling furore. but they
have not as yet become aggressvely
active, fearing that the great leaders
might be leading them into a trap. as
they have done many times during the
last four months.
The new Mr. Hartman seems to like
to get himself under the headlines of
newspapers as well as the veriest SOU
brette. He really enjoys the delights of
the advertising he gets, and while pre-
tending to be Indifferent to criticism and
attack he is really very sensitive and is
getting more SO.
The Improvement in railroad earnings
as shown in the reports which are being
printed from day to day are quite uni
form, although the gain is not enough to
inspire in the bulls wild enthusiasm. 1t Is
noted that there at the present time
only about 100000 idle cars. whereas last
April the number was more than 400. 900.
In round figures each car earns about
81 900 d year. 1t is. therefore, evident
that the gross earnings of the railroads
of the United States are now running
at the rate Of about 5000, O0Jh00 a year
less than normal instead of S4GO,0oO.OO0
as was the case four and five months
ago. Matters might be worse for the
railroads. Likewise they might be very
much better