The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-14
POLITICS GROWING VERY D|SQU|ETING Wall Street Is Alarmed Over
 Developments ENGINEERS STRIKE Gravity of Prospective Situation Fully Realized By Those in Charge
 of the Great Railroad
 Properties
By w. G. NICHOLAS

By w. G. NICHOLAS
 New York, April 1s-(Special 1.-The
 unexpected result of the Illinois pri- inaries, followed by the half hearted in.
 dorsement of MT. Taft by the New York republican convention, affected stock
 market sentiment strlkingly. The
 Roosevelt incident was not entirely uu- lexpected. It was quite as important.
 however, as the Roosevelt triumph n Illinois, and suggests in an unmistaka- ble way the possibility of a compromise
 in the Chicago convention in June. This development brings actively to the front
 the name of Associate Justice Hughes as live possibility. although that gen.
 tleman has gone on record as saying
 he would under no circumstances accept
 a nomination in opposition to President
 Taft. That does not necessarily mean
 he would refuse to accept the honor If
 1t were to be offered him with MT. Tafts approval. These are the contin- gencies which are uppermost in the | Wall street mind at the moment. The
 surprising political developments of the week have been disquieting in the ex- treme, and bring the conservative ele- men't squarely face to face with the growing strength of radical sentiment, ard the necessity of massing every fac
 tor for it's repression at the polls in November. Wall street sees a dupliea- ltion of the desperate struggle which cGlminated in the election of Mckinley lin 1895, and the establishment of the
 gold standard. It is the same old spirit l of radicalism in a different suit Of rlo To yvCr1
 street more than it will admit, and the
 way is not clear as to how the con lserNatives are to bulk their forces to
 best advantage. Down to date, no Mark
 Hanna has appeared to represent the i Moses And there is no certainty as to
 the identity of Moses.
 The gravity of the prospective loco-
 motive engineers strike has not vet appealed to the general public in Wall
 street, although it is fully appreciated ! by railroad presidents and managers | and their intimate financial packers.
 The trouble has progressed far enough
 to open the eyes of the engineers to
 the fact that the railroads are in earn
 est in refusing to accede to the de-
 nlands for wage increase. The rall-
 roads take the uncompromising stand | that the demands of the men cannot | be met in justice to the owners of the property, and that labor is already get
 ting more than it's fair share of reve- nue. They take the ground that if they
 do not put stop to the demands of
 their employees now. they will have to do 1t later on, when they are not in as good a position to do battle It has be-
 come knEvn that the engineers are dis appointed and angered over the refusal
 Of their demands for more pay having led themselves to believe that all
 they had to do was to put up | a good stiff bluff and thav woAlG get what they wanted. That had
 been the experience in the past, and they
 saw no reason why the play could not
 go on indefinitely with the same re- suits. Railroads have come to the con- clusion that inasmuch as they have to make fight. better have it now and
 over with With them it Is a last ditch" proposition.
 It is doubtful if the engineers them selves realize what they are up against 1t is an open secret that they expect in the end to bring about compromise
 under the terms of the Erdman act which provides for a commission of three. of which one will be an interstate commerce commissioner. In such an event, there would be more than a pos sibility that the men would get at leas. part of what they are demanding The railroads will not enter into any such arrangement if they can help 1t. What they want is a strike commission. modelled after the anthracite coal strilx commission of 1902, which will have broader scope for an investigation which will educate the public as to the entire railroad situation, and show 10
 the people that the transportation in- terests are really unfairly treated un- der the guise of state and federal reg Ulation." What the railroads are most anxious for is a broad campaign of edu- cation, and this engineers strike is-
 sue may be the means Of accomplishing that end. If the trouble should take that form of unravelment, everybody would be the sainer, There is more l than an even chance, however, that such L move for mediation and enlightment will be preceded by a demonstration of force by the engineers. and, possi- | bly, by very nasty" developments The
 situation is full of dynamite, and Wal
 street Is very certain to awake to the
 true meaning of the play now going cn and that very soon. Having been full | ly advised as to inside workings and plans. have referred to this matter pointedly in my last two or three let ters. If Is of more actual stock market | importance than all the politics that can be staged, even in a presidential cam lpaign.
 ] The public has been and is fin the
 market on larger scale than the pro- fessionals and stock exchange bankers realized. The plungers and pools and syndicates were only powerful so long
 as they went with the current. Time and time again during the last six weeks heavyweight traders. operating either individually or in combination. sold out their holdings and tried to or Sanize reactions In every case, tho Public took the market away from them, bought hundreds of thousands of shares
 on the declines, and showed prices no to still higher levels. And in every such instance, the professionals w1o had sold out, got back into the market again at higher prices than they had realized on their original lines They lhat. orerestimated their own importance and overestimated the importance of the forces which had been moving under the surface It was the first chance the public had enjoyed for two or thre. years to participate in a controlling way in a bull market. They enjoyed the experience, and would not let go. When