The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-20

represents.
 Another curio canard which the bears are working for all it is worth consists of daily bulletins concerning the health of E. H. Hartman, who is now in Paris. MT. Harrimans health does not seem to be a subject of any worriment to his fam fly or friends. That he is in Paris for serious business purposes is beyond doubt That he will accomplish what he has set out to do can be safely predicted upon his past successful record. But for the moment 1t is pleasure even a joy, for the bear contingent to get short of Harri-
 man stocks They will probably have to be very nimble to secure paper profits.
 From the business point of view the Hartman roads are wonderfully pros pering. Earnings of both Union and Southern Pacific continue to reveal net profits far and away in excess of any current dividend distribution And Mr. Hartman is particularly enthusiastic about the future of the extension of his lines into Mexican territory. He foresees vast southwestern continental system which will build up immense prosperity for the roads for which he is sponsor Those who pin their faith to Hartman will not hesitate to load up when his stocks are manipulatiyely sold down.
 The report of the Hughes stock ex- change committee Is in certain way as- tonishing For the first time in some years a body of intelligent men does not find Wall street is a sink of iniquity They actually do not discover that the stock exchange Is the unholy of un- holies. They even discover that the gentle art of short selling has It's advantages They do make some recommendatiops which arouse expert smiles. For ex- ample, they draw a distinction between parsons of means and experience" and persons without these qualifications The former are serious minded speculators The latter are gamblers, similar to those infatuated persons who patronize the roul- cite wheel. This is somewhat confusing How is person to acquire means and experienoe?' There are quite a number of persons of the stock exchange who are graduates from the consolidated stock exchange, where they acquired their fexperience" as well as their means Are such evofutions in future to be banned? Is the pixer to be forbidden to become the plunger7 Quite an interesting conundrum.
 Another rather astonishing comment of the committee is their criticism on branch offices" Their main horror seems to be that in these branch offices liquor Is served. The demon rum must not be trihed with. But what proof Is there that this same demon does not ex- ercise his wiles in main offices as well as branch offices? And if all business Is to be suppressed where this lurid fend takes hand where are we going to stop?
 The private bottle of the bank president or the dry goods merchant or the in surance officer is known to exist. Must these gentlemen quit business or join the Woman's Christian Temperance union? Surely a burning question. Then this committee thinks that no speculative con- tracts should be entered into unless a margin of 20 per cent is put up. Why? Tn what does the <>ecuative operation differ whether the margin be 20 points or 5 points? Of course, at the larger amount the speculator can lose more but in what other way the operation Is essential ly different is difficult to comprehend Wall street was shivering last week about this Hughes committee report Today shivers disappear and mild mirth replaces them.
 Another matter which excited specula- tion in recent transactions was the div ident declaration on Reading. Nobody with any common sense expected that at this juncture the Reading company would change it's dividend policy. But all sorts Ol ldlly IhlcS WeTo scattered DrOaQCa St- the dividend was to be increased valua- ble rights were to be conferred upon com mon stockholders, large sized melons were to be cut Of course nothing of the kind came to light. The dividend declaration, announced last Wednesday. was of the usual orderly character. and another Wall street bubble was pricked. Everybody knows that Reading is a valuable property. that the company has immense valuable assets on hand, but 1t Is an idle supposition that in times which reflect gradual recovery from panic conditions any body of f1nanciers will begin to fling premiums at stockholders. So the Reading enisode passes away for another six months
 It may well be that speculation will continue in state of confusion. There is next to no public participation in the Wall street game. Thus. immediate fluc- tuations are largely at the mercy of the