New-York tribune., 1908-05-03
The Financial World.

! to market raids. Prominent among such feat
ures are the reduction Of the Pennsylvania dlvl-
dend. the poor statement of the United states
Steel Corporation for the first quarter OF the
| year. the failure Of great brokerage house and
sinister rumors affecting other houses To all
of this Wall Street turns deaf ear-reahzins
| that what happens reflects the past, not the
present the future. Such shock as the
panic Of last October could not have passed
without some aftermath. and this is what Is now
MISUNDERSTANDING disaster
Reduction OF the Pennsylvania dividend from
| per cent to per cent * just plain conserva-
! tive action Following other incidents Of SIM
| liar character IL testified 70 prudent financial
/ management And il may be noted that policy
/ of this character has frequently been predicted
J in TINS column during recent months But u
must be recognized that in no important case
! either railroad industrial has dividend rsduc-
! tion induced impairment of security market
/ vatues Prices as measured by yield give better
results than can be obtained from the Ioaning x
money This dlscoses the logic of natural con-
| ditions-
! So far as the Steel statement is concerned
/ there was nothing in il unexpected II was
/ matter of common knowledge that business nad
| suffered depression since December. ana ths
I statement brought no surprise The small vol
/ urna of orders on hand according 70 the best
: trade authorities. represent the hand-to-routn
] polic,- Of consumers which must IN the nature
I of things have nearly reached us IIinit- ioI
there no reason to suppose that the cois-IitS-
ton of steel products is going 70 suffer iaStlhs
| diminutiOn- The very fact that ral4roads aIe
, able to commend credit again as oorro"ess
! shows that they can provide for necessary us Us
/ bursements for track and equipments Iney
I will be heavy buyers Of rails and 0tn@r suppHss
during the rest of this year
1 Building OperaIiO show new aCtiEt,y ara ~
| is certain that there VIII be continual a.s
/ demand for structural shapes-and mere the
| wisdom of the management Of the steel COR
| pora ton is vindiCated- In despite OF the very
| Steei fixed charges and stock dividends we're
/ oyerearned. IL is true that there i passing
| of extraordinary appropriations ioT otl
I and extensions which nave oeeh d Isd,4i1 i'l
/ the last two yearS-but so lavish nave prior ap-
| propriations been that the company IS left WE
/ enormous available FUNDS on HaI,l- .3 I-Gl'L ~. -
| point of view appears anything threatening 20
J the continuance of prosperity IN the steel trade
According % best expert opinion u VIII sp@e'liS
I reveal natural recuperatiOn-
! As to stock Exchange failures. Wall street
/ INDUCES in hystsria-the actual market 70
suit being price Improvement u becomes evi-
/ dent that once more i've under .ri5A
! of sanfty-rhmsicai vaporings and owi-ilN9
! prophecy no longer governing the Streets trans
! actions
| Another element helpful u the market SHOWS
| in the actual efforts that are being made by
railway managers 70 obtain better cornpensa-
| ton for railway traffic. Associated Press dis
| patches telling of the fling by one group ot
railways of new tariffs 70 be passed upon oF
the Interstate Commerce Commission 10 Ihs
extent that these proposed changes are far II
| is altogether probable that there will issue
| prompt official approval-for in a long list of
| cases that there is not merely opportunity out
| genuine necessity for higher rate schedules IS
J recognized In many instances freight rates cur
for some petty and stragetic reason nave oeen
! continued as permanent losing factors with no
/ Justification anywhere prOducible: and changes
| in such cases will be merely getting back 70
normal standards. II idle. of course, for any
| bodv to expect that there can be at any early
| date a wholesale rearrangement or rrelghL
| charges al a materially higher level But JuSL
ON the basis Of what is fair-W hat fair men viii
recognize as fair. shippers as well as carriers
o9s ~ ncss can be anticipated as practicable
| Moreover substantial additions made durlng :
recent times 10 cost of railway maintenance ana
operation may be naturally taken into eonsld-
| eratiOn-increased expense calling 1or CORE
spending increase of revenue
| Incidentally attendant upon this phase OF the
situation there is exceptional consequences az
| taching to the spirit of the convention Just ned
1 I'm St Louis Under the leadership OF 3 r
Yoakun here IS a movement Whlch can oo * ~
| panded into doing effective Worh the country
| over-can do vast things for national prosperity
| its platform and its energies repTesentlns me me
/ crystal lliZatiOn of mutual fair deaIlng oet"eeh
| the corporations and the public. Mr. Yoakum
/ address IS bound 70 have the appreciation OF the
| honest thinking business man
| Still another factor Of current importance ap-
/ pears in the wider distribution OF security o"E-
| ershfp II may be fairly estimated that among
the standard railroads and Industrial properties
| there has during the last year been an increase
| in public hoIdings-in the number OF stocAh0id-
| ars in such c5-poratioHs-weIl above = per cenl
! In some this gain is even much larger t'ilSe-
auence in this is bound u be reflected in kind
| 1far ATTITUDE toward corporation rights. Tens
of thousands OF men and women own STOCKS 20
dav who had year ago Nnd i3 every
community these stockholders represent m
Huence IL was the Wideavake and the COM
peteut citizen who could See and Srd~isd iAe
Investment OpportInitieS the panic offered
What may De regarded as sigHihront, t''- IS
that though prices have mater'di.S 1,'Na -
; these helpful recruits show no sign 't >e.'-@
out They are permanent allies Trey sltiid
for what is more important than a passing
| speculative Interest
In the carly part of TIE week We had SONS
energetic pr. fe~zionaI efforts made 20 ram quo
tatfnns downward coincdent vith one tatuS
and a r1u!titude of rumOrs But there cam.
into distinct evidence the fact that floating
stocks are few. The scare element is out q: the
market What the public has the public .
DISPOSED tu keep and able To- keep ordinary
hear eanlua izuug thus falls short Cf usual Sc
+ OueIs And influence helping TINS atti-
! tudc appears in the current reports t1ar cor
poratfonS are udkinE-EroSs earnings >ilu
shrinking tremendously It Is true but net earn
inSS making very different EXHIBITS. ENtId'T-
[ dinary economies are being put into operation
II the market is To continue To gain-and
money market conditions encourage that eNpec-
tation-the investor viii ind the list Of bargains
sill Iong-and none any more attractive than
~th- Colorado Southern issues to which reference
} has been made in this review That property
! during the past year. after payment Of al 1Ned
/ charges. had a surplus ~ over $H.$5oHoe app-l-
/ cable L. dividends on It's capital stock. and or
/ that total only S6Sa.0oa required to pay the
/ full dividends upon the first and second pre-
& rcd = /