The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-20
RECORD PRICES
 MADE IN STOCKS
Market Has Shown Sustained
 Strength for a Week
ALL FRICTION REMOVED
Subsistence of Activity on the Part of Bears Who Hammered Union Pa ofic and Steel Stocks Helps
 the Market.

New York, September 19.-The specula- tive demand for securities expanded and broadened materially last week and car ried prices comprehensively upward, mak- ing record prices for some of the most ac- tive speculative mediums. The motive for tie revived activity ostensibly was the renewed confidence in the growth of busi- ness with the results to be shown in the increased profits of corporations and en- larged disbursements in the form of divi- dends. The movement owed much to the supposition, which was general in the financial district, that more occult forces were at work growing out of agreements between great banking powers looking to the harmonization of vexed problems and their removal as possible sources of l friction and antagonism.
 While explicit information on this topic
 was not to be had. there was obvious | willingness on the part of some of the representatives of the interests involved l to foster the belief in such an adjustment. | The effect on speculative sentiment was | magnf1ed by the fact that a fear had l grown up that a. clash had been threat ened which might have upset the calcu- lations of the capitalists who have sup ported the great speculative movement of ! the recent past. In both of the last for
 nal statements coming from the late E. H. Hartman before his death there were | references to the interest shown in his | condition by friends, land others and to | attempts to raid his properties during his absence in Europe which bore strong | flavor of resentment.
 Market Pool Fails.
 | Information emanating from the Amer l ican Bankers convention alleged the mis- carriage of a plan for the reorganization of the finances of the Union Pacific and l the segregation of it's investment assets through the furtive formation of stock | market pool in the securities of the com ! pany, which prompted MT. Hartman, on | his return from Europe, to repudiate the l plan. There has been some dread that
 an open breach would result amongst the insiders in the property, and that the
 integrity of the market pool in United
 States Steel would also be endangered by the hostile measures likely to develop. It
 Mas relief from this apprehension that had much to do with the buoyant recov- cry of securities last week, in fact of | depletion of the money market that would | have checked such a speculative out | break under ordinary circumstances. l The announcement made by Kuhn, Loeb l S Go. on the day following MT. Harri- | mans death that they were acting in uni- l son with the National City bank and | other interests in the Union Pacific gave ! the first check to anxiety on this matter ! If was renewed to some extent at the | onening of last week by the failure to elect I. P. Morgan, Jr., on the Union pacifc hoard as had been rumored would he done. The return of enormous blocks of Union Pacific stock following the clos ing of the books of the company, Which | had been borrowed for the purpose or rep resentation at the Union Paclnc annual meeting, figured as an additional cause or nneasiness in the sharp break in prices which occurred at the opening or the | week.
 Importance of Election.
 | In this mood, much importance was at-
  | Van as A. director of the National City | hank and of Chairman James Stillman 1 of that hank as a director of the Cleve- l land Cincinnati Chicago and St. Louis | railroad The fact that one Morgan part | ner already sits on the National Cty | bank board, and that James Stillman has l long been a director of the New Hork | Central controlling the western connec- | ton. was not allowed to detract from the
 importance assigned to this episode Tn the l prevailing spirit of the speculation
 | Set free from the restraint of these | fears of ouarrels amongst financiers, and | from the long dread of shock to follow | the passing of MT Hartman, the stock
 market showed extraordinary resiliency. | United States Steel mounted by long | strides to far above its previous record l nrice and the enthusiastic reports from
 authorities In the iron and steel trade
 were accepted as certain harbingers Of
 coming great prosperity in all depart
 ments of industry. The hopeful tone of
 President Taft's utterances when setting
 out on his long trip set an official seal
 on the confidence prevailing, and his
 words were construed also as pledges of
 exemption for all legitimate enterprise
 from government harrassment
 Drain on Money Reserves.
 |
 calculated to foster speculation, the fur
 ther heavy drain on the cash of the banks
 threatening the extinction of the surplus
 reserve before the week was half over.
 The rise of New York exchange at Chi
 cago to par, and the depression of the
 foreign exchange rate in New York under
 the placing of bills against bankers bor-
 rowing from foreign money markets
 showed the line that replacement of
 credits was taking. The activity sof the
 time money market in New York carried
 interest rates to higher level than has
 been touched since the business revival
 set in, and larger offerings of mercan-
 tile paper raised the rates also for that
 form of credits. The per cent rate for
 call loans, which was established, has
 been touched before in that time, but not 1 sustained. The Russian and Egyptian de-
 mands for gold threaten to complfcate
 the money situation on the foreign ex-
 change side.
 Discounts are rising abroad, as well