The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-31

pression Of opinion now so freely heard on every hand.
 He said in substance: We are skepti-
 cal about these stories of abnormallly
 heavy American borrowings in London.
 No doubt a good deal of money was obtained there by our capitalists because
 they found it very easy to get accom- modations. New York is the greatest stock market in the world today, and the ease with which securities can De marketed here makes our standard stocks very attractive collateral in Lon don. It is quite possible, indeed alto gether probable, that our capitalists bor- rowed a somewhat larger aggregate sum in that market than is usual, but noth- ing to the extent many people seem to think
 Tt is true. however, that London over extended itself in loans made to borrow CTS all over the world, and there came time when the gold position of the Bank of England became endangered. Gold had been drawn almost stealthily from every part of the world and when the Bank of England awoke to sudden realization of the situation 1t had to adopt the very drastic plan of Jumping it's rate from 215 to per cent in three weeks as a measure of self-protection. In order to cover its indiscreton in per hitting itself to be so 1eopardized, 1t allowed the impression to go out that the furry might be due to alarming polit- ieal complications abroad. This alarmed nervous people into thinking there might be war ahead.
 ."To have corrected this idea too sharply would have called attention In an un- pleasant and humiliating way to the fact that the Bank of England had gone asleep and allowed too much gold to be drawn from it's reserves. In the hur- ried readjustment of credits which has been going on the last two or three weeks, New York has been called on to take over in precipitate fashion quite it's share of the London burden.
 Tt would not surprise me if New York did not lose considerable gold before the operation of readjustment Is com pleted. We have the gold to spare. and it will not hurt us if we lose It. l do not believe We are going to have any thing remotely approximating tight money in New York. not even an uncomfortable situation Money will be tight enough to discourage reckless speculation, but nothing more Nothing can occur that will in the slightest interfere with the progress Of our prosperity or that will interfere with legitimate business.
 Another financier equally well informed but of rather more cautious tempera- ment said that while there would no doubt be plenty of money to go round" he was quite convinced that within the next 10 days or two weeks a large volume of stocks sold by Europe would be deiv- cred in New York and payment therefor exacted. He said he had every reason to believe thar a great many stocks are on their way here, and that in taking care of them the New York money market
 | at In The bulk of these stocks, he said. had been bought by European investors dur ing panic times, and were sold back to us at a very large profit. He would not undertake to estimate the aggregate profit on these completed transactions, but said 1t must run into tens of millions of millions of dollars.
 He had been informed that between 100000 and 100000 shares had been bought by Europe at bargain prices and that at current quotations the purchases of dollars.
 He did not look for a serious break in prices. but thought quotations might work lower. pending the absorption and digestion of the load being thrown back on this market.
 The foregoing set of views are from two of the best equipped men in New York, one of them strictly a banker and the other fnancier and speculator, who is admittedly out of his speculative back in.
 holdings and awaiting a chance to get
 It took nearly three years for the iron and steel business to work up to the cli- max that preceded the panic of 1907 At that time the Steel Corporation had over s0O0O00 tons of orders on it's books. Great disa ppointment is felt by the tape crimpers because the big corporation is not able to show at the end of the first three months of returned prosperity as large an increase in orders as could be shown at the end of three years on the last boom.
 Some folks are hard to please. The quarter ended with September was tho first since the revival in the iron trade fairly started in, and a good share of the business done was on orders taken during the spring season of cut-throat competition-the period in which the cor poration put the independents through harsh discipline. The current quarter will be at a profit of at least H ton over and above that of the last quarter. On the same volume of business, that argues about s11.ooo,O0O more net income, which would bring the last quarters figures close to $5o,0O0, 0o0 Everybody looks for another raise in the common dividend in January. The corporation, according to the last exhibit made more than 15 per cent on the common. ihe current quarter will show at the rate of not less than 20 per cent. Is there an important stock on the list, railroad or industrial, selling under par that can make a showing anywhere approaching this?
 Amalgamated Copper Is being most in- and consistently tipped for big advance, not on merit but on mys- tery. The commonly expressed Judgment of Amalgamated Is that it sells for about double what 1t Is worth. The alleged reason for the bull tip on the stock Is that before long a large number or inde- pendent copper companies will be taken over into the Amalgamated, and that when this is done it will be possible for that company to produce all the metal that can be sold as cheaply as the Gug- genheims, Senator Clark or Phelps, Dodge & Co., Indeed, rumor goes so far as to connect at least two of these factions with tho i,,,nendinR merger The street