The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-26
HEAR THE GOSPEL
 OF PROSPERITY Business Interests Have Week of Better Feeling STEEL CORPORATION BUSY Production of This Concern Is to Be lncreased-stoeks So Far Furnish
 Only Market for the
 Rich Man.
STEEL CORPORATION BUSY
BY W. G. NICHOLAS.


 posed 1t was walloped good and plenty
 by his seniors on the appellate bench in i a decision which is expected to serve as , a warning to other judges who may have 1t in their mind to punish wealthy
 malefactors,' and, last but not least, the big Steel Corporation is taking steps to i increase production whether there is a l present demand for the stuff or not-just to show that the management has con- l fidence in the future and is willing to l take chances on its judgment.
 l This course may strike campers as akin to creating prosperity by legislation, but i so long as men are given employment l and the big men show willingness to i help along the prosperity game in ad- l vance of the actualty, it Is all to the i merry. Then if by good fortune improve 1 ment should take on a faster pace the danger of oyerproducton would be avert ed and there would be an actual return of good times ahead of the schedule To what extent politics is mixed up In this concerted and heroic effort to boost business along and accelerate the indus
 trial swing Is a mooted question; also If the move Is actuated by a desire to boom the republican ticket then is 1t not good politics, politics of the highest and most patriotic order? This latter view seems to be very generally accepted in Wall street as being the correct one, and at the end of the week the general theory in the street was that MT, Taft is already as good as elected and inaugurated
 Wall street takes Itself very seriously in the discussion of politics. and gambles 1 cheerfully on the infallibility of its judg- ment. It finds satisfaction and pleasure in l dwelling on the fact that the so-called II l in evety presidential election since and 1 including 1880. From that the politicians l of Wall street argue sagely that the eec- i ton this year will go as Wall street de- 1 cides To them 1t Is inevitable that the l voting masses will fall in line with the i Wall street judgment or at least enough
 of the masses to constitute majority 1 in the electoral college.
 i At the higher range of prices establish l ed this week about half the ground lost on the great slump of last year has been 1 recovered. At the low point which was made last November the average of 20 of i the leading railroad stocks was about 80, l a decline from the high-water mark of the previous January of 50 points. The high level reached on the same 20 stocks l the middle of this week was 105, just half way back from the starting point.
 1 The price record of the industrial stocks is even more remarkable. The high mark reached in January, 1907, on 12 of the 1 principal industrials was % and the low l point in November 53 This week 79 was reached on the road to recovery. This l latter figure marks a rise of 26, which is within Is points of the top for last year. The recovery in the whole market has gone on steadily for more than three months, with only minor reactions, The advance in the stock market has led the recovery in actual business, and in the opinion of a great number of conserya- lives the bull movement has been entirely too rapid. The market has moved, how ever, with entire indifference to the opin- ion of this hold-back element Manipu- lation has been glaringly in evidence nearly all throughout the campaign, but the price action has been just as disas- trous to the bear party as though it were genuine.
 The market has run over everybody and everything that got in the way. The great market leaders have had the com i mand of an enormous amount. of money which was placed within their re7ch by controlled banks and trust companies, and they have used 1t with extraordinary courage and ability By common con- sent, the chief credit for the gigantic market upheaval is given to MT. Harri- : man. MT. Prick and their Standard Oil allies with Mir Morgan and his follow ing lending late aid with evident signs of more or less reluctance.
 The Morgan party was clearly drafted and the bull movement Is generally under stood to have interfered with some of the firms plans, looking to the reorganiza- tion of certain railroad properties, nota- by Erie and Southern It now looks as though these and several other corpora tions which were under the harrow might pull through. All they need to win out is business, The apostles of prosperity and sunshine predict that the business will materialize in the immediate future Tie one thing certain is that 1t has not yet appeared in evidence. It does not show in earnings.
 Prosperity according to the rules of Christian Science is all right as far as it goes, but something more substantial IS ! needed to make a showing on the ledger. The later phases of the bull campaign in the stock market are based almost en- i. tirely on faith and hope If there Is vir- tue in concert of conversation along the lines of returning confidence and pros perity, then indeed are we on the eve of another splendid boom, for all of the big : ones seem to be in accord in prophesying good times right ahead of us.
 Thus far 1t has been a rich mans mar ket. The general public has participated In the speculative movement only to limited extent. On the big break of last fall and winter hundreds of thousands of investors big and little took advantage of low prices to get into securities. It does not appear that the stock and bonds then acquired have been sold out. The bar gain hunters appear to have taken the stuff to hold. The time may come when the securities will reach a point that will tempt sales, but that point does not seem to have been attained yet. The specula- tion was originated and engineered by . combination of very rich and very auda- cious operators In Wall street backed by the resources of a dozen Or more of the great banking houses, with Standard Oil, Hartman and Morgan affiliations. MT. Thomas F. Ryan is also supposed to be another important factor. He is believed to have accumulated vast amounts of se- curlties under the hammer Some of his enemies accused him of having, helped along the great slump In order that he might get a better hold of properties in which he is interested, conspicuously the New York fractions. In this connection 1t Is said that MT August Belmont has entirely lost his grip on the Manhattan 2 situation, hint of which was broadly given in these dispatches three months ago.,
 Control of the destinies of smelters is reported to have been entrusted with John D. Rockefeller Jr That highly moral young man Is credited with being inNentirc charge of the Wall street end oe the game. He Is not a novice i, that fiald