The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-02-06
STOCK MARKET
NEEDS A LEADER
The Bulls Are Lost Without
Mr.. Hartman.
HE rs BADLY MISSED NOW
Crop Prospects for the Coming Year
Are Very Observation-Disclosures
fion of j. II. I<ecne Is Await
ed With Interest
HE rs BADLY MISSED NOW
by W. G. NICHOLAS

BY W. G. NICHOLAS
New York, February 5.-(special.)-Th
stock market has never felt the lack o.
leadership as much as it does now. Tht
bulls are lost without Hartman. The,
nave made no Roadway since his deaf,
last September. The reaction which has
carried stocks down 10 to % points dates
from his demise. Mr.. Hartman left nC
heir in the speculative world. No one
mas been born to take MS place.
Ihere was a magic about his personal.
lty. The whole speculative community
learned to look at him as the one mar
VINO would make things come to pass te
advantage. He surrounded his plans ano
his operations with mystery, but every
body felt that something was doing ano
That there was certainty of action. The
tape for nearly a year and a half re-
| 1ected In continuous upward movement
| of prices and there was a unanimous
agreement that Hartman was in a para
mount sense responsible for the develop
ment.
| There is nobody now on the stage big
enough to take his place and nobody is
| seriously trying to do So There are
| great spectators left, but they do not
command the confidence of the public
as Hartman did. Neither do they inspire
fear, which is an important element in
the Wall street game. A great field mar
shall in the battle of speculation must i'm
press the public and his following with
power and willingness to infiict punish
ment as we'll as to bestow rewards. Both
of these are necessary to the mainten-
ance of discipline.
For several years before he died every
body in Wall street. big and little, had
learned to respect Mr.. Hartman quite as
much for his ability and readiness to
slaughter his enemies as to carry out
plans for the direct upbuilding of his own
fortunes. He seemed to think that one
was quite as essential as the other in
the conduct of his campaign. In this
respect he has been likened to that other
triumphant general in the allied field
of politics-a warrior now ensanguining
vast areas of darkest Africa.
Wall street certainly does miss Mr.
Hartman, and more so now than at any
time since he passed away. OF course
the time will come when the face of the
situation will change and cheerfulness
take the place of gloom, doubt and tim
idity. Prices. have suffered a very i'm
portant shrinkage and there will arrive
stage at which investment money will
step in and absorb floating supplies of
securities, 1t would seem to most OBJ
servers that that time is now at hand,
but no guarantee is offered on purchases
around these figures, 1t still pleases the
mood of the street to blame Washington
for the bulk of the trouble Developments
in that capital of unrest continue to dis
turb and terrify. The interests refuse
to blame themselves for encouraging
transportation and insist on making
Washington the goat.
All this tallS about high prices, trust
oppression and loudly expressed COM
-. ft,,,-s In.
the face of apparent prosperity come at
very embarrassing time. The lash of
popular criticism falls on Wall street
just when it is passing through one of
those unpleasant experiences incidental
to pool collapses and failures which di-
rect attention to the neglect of the
stock exchange to inaugurate those re-
forms within itself which 1t has prom
Used as immunity from hostile legisla-
ton All these things contribute to the
general discomfort of the financial COM
munity and tend to make people want to
get close to shore and stay there until
the clouds roll by.
Many people are Voicing the inquiry,
Have we not been over-discounting the
early stages of returning prosperity, and
has not the decline in prices of stocks
merely reflected q sagacious foreknowl-
edge of the fact?'' On this point there is
now going on a very earnest discussion
among those who try to keep an open
mind on the business situation and who
are always willing to accept conditions
as they are and try to figure out the
consequences This is what gives to the
market two sides.
Advices from the surplus crop, states
are generally to the effect that the out
look for this years farm production is
better than usual. The heavy blanket
OF snow which fell throughout the west
insures plenty OF moisture and makes 1t
certain that farmers will begin the sea-
son under the best of auspices. That Is
considered good many points In the
game and is already having an effect on
sentiment. A big crop this year would
20 a long ways toward favorably off,
setting the baclkset which securities and
general business have encountered.
Therefore a strong bullish prayer Is being
raised that conditions may continue raw
orable and that the country may enter
upon the spring months with prospects
bright.
The banking and bond house of Fisk,
Robinson & Co., went down with the
good will of the whole of Wall street. 1t
is generally looked upon as great mis-
fortune that a house of its high cnar-
acter should be obliged to yield to UNI
lOTIuudte ClItulllStdHSCs oiN NAoDS ~
doors. 1t was a white mans firm II there
ever was one in the banking field The
partners were men of the highest charac-
ter and the house tried to win out by
doing business on a clean and patriotic
plane The trouble with Fisk. Robinson
e Co. was that it was too clean and too
high class. 1t had an expensive organi-
zation and very likely strict auditing
would disclose the fact that it was eaten
up by it's expenses, and that 1T did not
charge enough for services rendered
1t did not levy sufficiently heavy toll
on the traffic that passed through its
hands 1t can never be charged against
| the conspicuousy successful banking and
| promotion houses in Wall street that
| they failed to levy toll on enterprise.
| Oyer-modesty in this respect will never
cause the dry rotting of such houses as
| j. p Morgan & Co.. Kuhn-Loeb Is Co.,
| Speyer & Co., Blair e. Co.. and the doz-
ems of other concerns that stand out as
monuments of strength in the financial
| capital of the new world. They VIII
| never go broke through failure to charge
| enough for financing enterprises that
come to them for safe plotting When
Morgan & Co., organized the Steel cor
poration they took about 100000 shares
| out of the 100000 share capitalization
| for putting through the deal, an allot-
| nent that went the $200,c00000 under
writing syndicate that put itself behiHc
| the play. The syndicate was only calico
| ,,,,or IA mt IN S25 0f1 .000 and IL took down