The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-26
b|G BUSINESS |S HAVING TROUBLE. Much Is Being Said About Prosecutions" PUBLIC IS TRAINED Has Learned How to Buy Stocks and Steer Clear of the
 Wall Street
 Advice
PUBLIC IS TRAINED
BY ". G. NICHOLAS

being oppressed and persecuted and pounded out of shape is finding express sion in great banquets and feasts at which politicians and bankers and law yers make speeches demanding amend ments to the Sherman antitrust law and a. general let-up. There Is no trouble in finding speakers willing to add to the clamor and contribute to the discon- tent and dissatisfaction over the business and political situation. That kind of talk is very popular just now and inter- ests Wall street immensely. The kings of nigh finance, captains of industry. cor poratlon attorneys, bankers and ambi- tious politicians are only too willing to encourage attacks upon the adminlstra- l ton and the prevailing order Of things. Between harsh criticisms from the west | and south that the administration Is not going far enough or fast enough, and I loud outcries from the ''big business' in-
 terests that it is going too fast, poor Mr. Taft is having a. hard time of it. Bricks, decayed hen fruit, tin cans and | other missiles are all coming his way these days.
 | One strange effect of all this commo- l tion is to steady the stock market Out I of the din and turmoil there has devel- oped feeling that when the worst is done no very great harm will certainly | result to the business interests of the country. The trust crowd makes no con- cealment of the belief that the depart | ment of justice has fallen down in its campaign for the reorganization of the Icx u,11 md l that in spite of the great work it claims to have done in the way of reorganiza- ton, dissolution and readjustment it has really failed to 'get anywhere '-that it has merely cut up the stocks into smaller pieces and distributed them among original owners without making any change of ownership, control or
 management-that practically the same old methods are employed for carrying on the business as before. The claim is made that the only actual change Is
 Tn an increase of the bookkeeping force at the various trust headquarters and in the creation of a lot of minor offices to be filled by clerks and poor relations. This indea is being industriously culti-
 vated and is beginning to be accepted as the truth. What then," asks the trust spokesmen, lis the use of burdening the business organization with a lot of cum borsome deadwood and clogging 1t up with useless machinery, when the real object and purpose of the law is not being accomplished or advanced in the least?" That there is something in this comment and criticism is being admitted and sentiment adverse to the further experimental enforcement of the Sher- man law is unquestionably in process of forming.
 The general average of prices has not
 undergone important change during the week. number of specialties have en- joyed market rallies of more or less con- sequence, but somehow or other the pub lie is not taking a very live interest in places where most has been done to en- courage it. For instance, there has been
 no outside trading in such speculative leaders as Union Pacific, Steel, Reading,
 Lehigh Valley and New York Central, except in the shape of a dribbling and feeding for account of miscellaneous
 holders. There has been lively trading in these stocks but it is confined to the
 professionals and the floor traders on the exchange There is a marked lack
 of confidence in the genuineness of the
 movement in these speculative favorites. Manipulation has been altogether too ap
 parent Indeed, the juggling almost
 merits the description "coarse work This has been notoriousy so in the case of the Copper group An advance Of 1a cent in the price of the copper metal has furnished an excuse for a theatrical bull
 campaign in Amalgamated, Shelters, Utah Copper, Anaconda, Nevada, Consol- dated and some other well known cop per securities. There is a deep seated be- lief that the whole play is largely ma nipulative and that as matter of fact it is without any other excuse than a de- sire to make a market upon which pow erful insiders can sell stock. The pub lie, however, is filled with suspicion and lat rfy a1o | Doubtless the gamblers were enabled to get rid of some of their shares, but the campaign thus far has not been a howl ing success. It is doubtful if the visible supply of the metal has undergone any where near the reduction claimed by the specialists on the stock exchange. How ever it is still possible for the insiders to
 make fair distribution of shares, even l though the great accumulation of metal
 undergoes slight reduction.
 l Ire public is in the market none the less on fairly generous scale. It ab sorbs considerable quantities of such | stocks as Pennsylvania, Louisville and | Nashville, Baltimore and Ohio, Atchi- son, Norfolk and Western, Southern Pa- ciic and properties of that high stand ard character. The investing public takes kindly to the steady. conservative and established properties-snose that earn and pay dividends year after year, maintain plant and lay a little away to the credit of surplus. There are many such stocks on the list, not only rail- roads, but industrials, and it is into these companies that the public Is putting its
 money. There is good reason why pru- dent and saving people should fight shy of the securities that are made favorites by the gambling element in Wall street.
 The public is exercising sharp and trained discrimination. There Is no doubt but that 1t has become educated. An increase of GO00 to the number of stockholders in Pennsylvania in one quarter is eloquent testimony of the | truth of this statement. There Is be- l lieved to have been no actual decrease ] in the number of stockholders of the gambling specialties. Wall street finds amusement Hl the so called cleverness of the Steel trust at torneys in balling up the Stanley com- mittee and embarrassing its investigation
 into the affairs of the big corporation. Officials and spokesmen of the trust have
 made great bluffs from the very outset or all entire willingness to take Congress and the public into It's fullest confidence. Loud and continuous professions have been made that the Steer trust had noth- ing to hide-nothing to cover up. The
 public has been led to understand that the trust fairly yearned to give everybody ] a chance to look at the inside machinery | and see how the wheels went around. | Under these circumstances, it is looked | upon as rather strange that there should | be such 8 change of attitude. It would appear now that there are many things !!
 the trust officials do not like to have Con- | gross inquire into. The plea that the ob-