The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-04-26
TITANIC WRECK
STUNS BROKERS
Nearly Every Man in Wall Street
Lost Close Friends.

New York, April 22.-As practically
every man in Wall street had an &C.
quaintance, if not one or more friends,
who went down with the Titanic, since
last Monday pail has been hanging
over the financial district. Besides the
lost friends the horror of the thing Is
personal.
In conducting its regular daily bust
ness the financial district has the most
intimate relations with transatlantic
communication and travel On arriv.
ing at his Office before the opening of
the market here the very first ques-
ton every banker, broker or trader in.
variably asks is How is London?"
If the ticker shows prices up or
down compared with our closing of
the night before orders are given to
buy or sell on the London exchange.
An order to buy, say, 500 Steel can be
cabled from New York, executed on
the London exchange floor and a re-
port of the price paid made to the New
York buyer in less than five minutes.
There is not fast steamship sailing
out of New York that does not carry
bonds and stocks and men prominent
in the financial world. In fact a Wall
street man does not think any more
of trip to London, Paris or Berlin
than the ordinary citizen does of a
visit to a nearby town. That is why
the terrible story of last Tuesday was
brought close to home in the Wall
street mind.
Despite Wall streets attitude to-
wards the stock market as a whole it
was perfectly natural that unusual
interest should have been displayed
towards the securities of the Inter-
national Mercantile Marine company.
The sinking of the Titanic means a
loss of between $1O,OOO,OOO and $12,-
100000 and not less than 100000 of
that loss will fall upon the shipping
trust
Bonds Bring Low Figure.
That the International Mercantile
Marine was fighting against financial
Reorganization even before last weeks
news was received is evident from the
price at which the company's securi-
ties have been selling for several years
last. A safe Az per cent twenty-year
bond should be selling close to par.
The Az per cent twenty-year bonds of
the shipping trust have not sold as
high as in over year. .
During the same time the per cent
cumulative preferred shares have been
selling around 20 and the common
stock around 5. How the company
will withstand the loss in money and
prestige just suffered is a question
which Wall street has been asking all
week. ...-.
The International Mercantile Marine
company was the last consolidation
formed by J. P. Morgan during the
merger craze of 1901 and 1902. 1t was
Mr.. Morgan's original intention to in
clude the powerful Cunard line and
also to secure ship subsidy from the
United States government. That is
why the capitalization was made so
large.
But the Cunard line declined to go
into the shipping trust and each con-
gress since 1902 has fatty refused to
lass the proposed subsidy bill The
International Mercantile Marine, with
its fleet of 1877 ships, is made up of the
following companies: The White Star
line, the American line, the Atlantic
Transport line, the Red Star line, the
Dominion line, the Leyland line and
the National line