The Washington times., 1911-04-23


Very much the same condition as thi
prevails among the professional trader
J in Wall Street. who do not care whicl
way the market moves SO long as E i
| ective. Two days of decided activity
| relatively, marked the business week
and though prices broke sharply ol
Tuesday-and the list as q whole failet
| to make UP the losses on subsequen
days-speculatve Wall Street was de
cidedly more cheerful because securities
had displayed some evidences Of life.
The spasm OF activity early in th'
week was a very trifiing affair. and 4
was preceded and followed by dullnes!
of the same character and intensity al
that of the preceding weeks, but to starv
ing Wall Street professionals 1t was lik,
an oasis in a desert, and I suppose ar
oasis must be welcome to one parchec
with thirst, even II 1t is but a very small
oasis. BY contrast, however, with the
preceding interval. Tuesdays total oi
549, 9e5 shares seemed enormous. as may
be inferred by recalling that the aggre'
gate dealings for the four days which
made up the previous abbreviated week
were but 57S,sSO shares.
Missouri Pacific Incident.
Wall Street was not permitted to work
up any Illusions either as to the charac-
ter OF the trading or the origin of the
stimulating movement. In It no part
was assigned to the public, for 1t was
obvious that the whole affair was pecu-
liar to Wall Street itself, and centered
entirely around the Missouri Pacific sit
uation. Brokers affiliated with the
Kuhn. Loeb & Co. party, who bought
Missouri Pacific stock some months ago,
when the firm entered into the agree
ment with Mr.. Gould, instead OF con-
testing the election Of directors, un-
doubtedly sold some long stock on find
ing the agreement was not to be car
ried out, and this influenced consider
able short selling, but there was very
little actual liquidation and shorts COW
cred on learning Of Mr.. Gould's new ar
rangement.
Under the surface there is consider
able unpleaSsntness as a result OF the
failure of Mr.. Gould to abide by mis-
agreement as to the election of the new
president for the Missouri Pacific system,
and 1t is quite generally believed that
for the Gould party to have retained
control OF the family property. at the
recent election Of directors, had the
bankers persisted in their original in
tention Of soliciting proxies. The Gould
holdings are. Of course, the largest in
the property, but the road has made
such a woeful showing in recent years
contrasted with every company In the
same territory, both as TO credit and
service. that had the banking group
nj .
there was a fair chance that they might
have obtained the voting control OF
ma jority of the shares.
Goulds In Full Control.
That Mr.. Gould feared the possibility
OF such an outcome is, according TO the
predominating Wall Street opinion.
practically admitted by his action, In
agreeing TO all the terms indicated to
him by the Lankers including his re-
tirement as president of the road. and
the plan of selecting the new executive
by a special committee. As a result OF
this agreement the contest for proxies
was abandoned and Mr.. Gould was not
put TO the disagreeable alternative Of
having to make an open fight to con-
tinue in control Of the property with
which his family has been SO long iden-
titled. Put practically every financial
paper and nearly every financial writer
garded the incident as marking the
passing of the Gould control, and the
rather doubtful compliment was paid
to the old administration by predicting
q brighter future for the property, as
result.
AS the situation now stands. Mr.. Gould
shows himself to be again in full con-
troll OF the property, and though he did
not abide by the strict terms Of the
agreement, and thereby
loses the services and the affiliations
with one important banking firm. he has
esta blished relations with other bankers
Of prominence. and retains also several
of the directors who went I'm to
the property at the March
election. It is an odd situation, for the
plans for the rehabilitation of the Mis-
souri, Pacific are those formulated by
the bankers who have retired from the
property, and these plans were worked
out nearly two years ago when the re-
firing bankers were as prominent In
Union Pacific affairs as they are today
Some Old History Recalled.
The financial markets have not prob
ably heard the last of this peculiar cpl
sode, for the work of rehabilitating the
Missouri Pacific system and Of bringing
the Western Pacific up to state Of op-
Grating efficiently comparable with its
in the trans-Paciic terri
tory promises to extend over a long in
terval Of time. If one is of reminis-
cent turn and has his Wall Street his
tory for a dozen years or so in his
mind, he can trace the origin of the
present Missouri Pacific situation back
to the famous purchase of the Burling
ton road by the Great Northern and the
Northern Pacific railroads.
1t was, for instance, this tremendous
of interests on the north
that induced the Union Pacific to for
tify itself on the south by acquiring the
bottled up the Missouri Pacific and Dem
yer and Rio Grande in the Central
Western and Rocky mountain territory,
and induced Mr.. Gould to seek Pacific
coast outlet by building the Western
Pacific. 1t was the construction OF this
latter road in the Union Pacific terri
tory that Influenced Mr.. Hartman in
forcing Mr.. Gould off the directorate Of
the Union Pacific road. And now M:
Gould. in turn, finds II awkward to re-
tain relations with Union Pacific bank
ers in the same way that Mr.. Hartman
Gould on the Union Pacific directorate.
To Rehabilitate "Mop."
In justice to B. F. Bush, the new pres
dent of the Missouri Pacific, over whose
election the break came. It ought to be
said that there was absolutely no objec-
ton to him personally, on the part OF
the retiring banking Arm, and, as IL
well known, his candidacy and his cleo
ion meets with the warm Endorsement