The Washington times., 1911-07-02

Of the stock market to sustain the &C
tiyity and Improvement which set III
with the favorable decision IN the mar
| riman merger case, a week ago. tue
rank and file in wall Street experienced
another disappointment The very sharp
advances In Union and Southern Pacihc
and a few other issues on Saturday were
duplicated in London on Monday s
opening. and there was further improve
ment in the local market on that day,
out II was not long continued, and so
far as the. general list Is concerned,
practically all the initial gains were
Cancelled before the close of the inter-
val. The special report of the Bureau
= of Corporations on the United States
Steel Corporation yesterday was re-
garded. on the whole. as favorable to
the company. out the market was so
dull that opinions on the matter are in
conclusive.
1t became evident very early in the
interval that the selling Of stocks. made
possible by the favorable decision OF the
circuit court OF appeals in the merger
case. was Of a much better characteE
than the buying. The latter was very
largely professional, and was chiefly IN
the nature of shors covering. The SELL
ers represented actual owners who
utilized a hard spot to get rid Of long
stock in order TO secure profits. The
elimination, or rather the reduction. OF
the outstanding short interest weakened
the technical market position. and
brought about the subsequent irregular
and sagging tendency In prices as
natural result.
Market Highly Professional.
In other words, there was no deep
Significance 10 the market movement,
for the action of prices demonstrated
that the entire performance was pro-
fcssional. That the general public did
not respond to the favorable decision
IL the Cnion-Southern Pacific case Is
no doubt regarded as q serious matter
by stock brokers and large operators
who would like TO see the wheels spin
around all the time, but there are rea-
sons plenty why they should not spin
around in very lively fashion at pres
ent. For instance, there is the all-im-
portant question Of the crops. as yet
undecided, the unpleasant tarirf revi-
sion problem remains unsolved. and q
batch Of new cases against the irdus-
trial corporations haye been forced up
on the consideration Of financial and
commercial interests.
The decision in the Hartman merg
err case is an important matter: not so
important, perhaps, as some persons
have tried to make out. for II is not
final Judgment by the supreme
Court, but an opinion by the circuit
court OF appeals, and IL does not
stand on all fours with the Northern
Securities case, with which II has
been compared. There never was
Company was regarded as a lawful
concern, even by some of the members
to that merger. No money hao
changed hands between the company
and the constituent roads which mao
interchanged shares for Northern Sc
curity shares. II was always appar-
ent that the Union Pacific had acquir-
ed Southern Pacific TO secure for all
time the direct connection over the
Central Pacific between Omaha and
reasonable but a necessary acqutsi-
ton and a proper cash consideration
had changed hands for the property.
Antitrust Agitation.
Naturally, some Of last Saturdays
enthusiasm over the outcome OF the
merger decision oozed out when 1t
DcCdIHC llloN AAAO
would carry the case on appeal to
the Supreme Court, but that is the
usual procedure in suits Of this char
acter and Importance and ought not
to have been a matter for surprise.
What remains true of the decision
now and what will doubtless be heard
from in the future. is that the dictum
of the Supreme Court in the Standard
OIL case, that reasonableness should
determine the legality or illegality of
a combination or agreement, was GER
tainly applied by the lower court in
the Union-Southern Pacific case. and
1t will be taken into consideration
with all other combinations.
This ought to be borne in mind at
the present time, when Wall Street is
again becoming FESTIVE and despond- !
ent over the new batch of suits insti- |
tuted, or believed to be under con-
against industrial COM |
binations. Wall Street was filled with |
rumors of impending litigation. during
the past week. the United States Steel |
and the American Smelt- |
ing and Refining Company figuring |
repeatedly in Street gossip. In fact, |
on Thursday, the early Street rumors |
had the Steel corporation officials in
dicted. the report, of course. growing |
out of an action of that nature |
a gainst eighty-three individuals and |
nine corporations-two of them sub |
salaries of the Steel corporation
which together formed a pool among |
wire manufacturers. This is coming |
rather close to the big corporation, |
but a pool which admittedly suspend |
ed operations two years ago Is vast |
ly different from a corporation which |
is alive and operating.
Sentimental Influences. |
Litigation and possible criminal prose- |
cutions are not things which capitalists |
and corporation managers relish, and |
they can scarcely do other than exert a |
harmful influence on sentiment, but that |
is really about as far as the new cases |
go or can go. The suits will destroy |
no property, and before any of those |
announced. or impending, can |
be brought to a final adjudication, Il is |
wholly likely that the readjustment plans !
of the Standard OIL Company and the |
American Tobacco Company will have
been determined. Surely, If corpora
tons, as yet unsued, have a concrete |
example of what is considered a lawful |
plan of organization before them, they |
can adjust their affairs to that stand
ard in comparatively short order, and |
without undue unsettlement of their
business affairs.
To listen to the discussions of the !
average stockbroker, at the present |
Time one would think that we were liy-