The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-11
Pacific Railroad MIDDLE

| The Union Professionalism Pacific ONE
let is apparently as far from being un
scrambled as ever. 1t is one thing TO
| the supreme court to decree a total dis
solution of a billion dollar property tina
| has been peacefully blended for years
and quite another thing to do / twthou
virtual conhscation-a fact which has a
last sunk deep into the Washington un
iderstanding since the Attorney Generals
| of two administrations futilely attempted
the solution. To avoid repetition of thu
Standard Oil and Tobacco Trust fiascos II
the chief ambition of the department o
justice. Fear that he may not be en-
tirely able to do so is the fly in Mr.. Nc
Reynolds ointment, 1t is said. Meantime
the puzzle remains uusolyed and Wal
street is guessing its head off and gam
bling wildly and blindly on results. one
mans guess seems to be as good as an
others. If Chairman Lovett, Mr.. Mickey
nolds, or any of the multi-millionaires ant
high browed lawyers who are dealing th'
cards know any more than the farmers
boy, they have not as yet told anybody
At the same time there are runors af1oa
! to the effect that an inmpregnably pow
Ierful combination of kings of finance
have banded together to save the ssitua
| tion,' il the real necessity should arise
| a Combine strong enough, so gossip ha:
| il, to raise $4,000, 900 s easily as the aV
erage citizen can raise s. bill. There
| is an element of plausibility about thi!
story to command certain amount of re
spect-especially among those who cal
figure no other way of solving the queer
enigma.
| Nothing has so upset Wall street as this
| Hartman railroad puzzle 1t is one of the
principal factors that has delayed re
| sumption of speculative activity in the
stock market. The specter is constantly
before traders of a deluge of countless
millions of dollars worth of stocks being
dumped upon helpless and panic striclt-
en- situation by reason of the collapse OF
| all efforts to solve seemingly unsolvable
proposition. The men who may finally
take the problem OF adjustment into theii
own strong and capable hands, are less
concerned, however, than the nerve
shaekn lightweights. The real giants ol
the street are sometimes slow to act, but
they are dependable in emergencies. They
and their kind have stopped many panics
| in the past and may be relied upon to pre-
J vent further catastrophes in the business
world. But how do you KNOW" asks tht
skeptic. by the same rule of faith that
inspired the man TO bet that the sun wou,d
rise tomorrow morning-it always had
risen," answered the wise man.
Low Price Records
Several low price records were made
| this week and in not few cases stocks
were sold at figures that looked
strange, in view of past chartings. New
York Central broke through par (99%)
! Pennsylvania went under Ill, New Ha-
ven struck 1924, Union Pacic descended
| to 1861. Southern Pacific to 93ls, Bal
| timore and Ohio to 97A Atchison to
io9A Louisville and Nashville to 131
The market action was full of contra
dictions and vagaries. process OF
| l., H.
! carried on. New York Central. which
has long been popularity recognized as
one of the gilt edged things, and has
F, Seen maintained on basis that yielded
| only about to 4la per cent on the in
vestment, finally sought and found a
per cent level, at par-quite novelty
| and also a shock. New Haven, formerly
| q 1G per cent dividend payer, and fol
| many years the lordly dispenser of per
cent? among 10000 to $4,000 sharehold-
| ers, admits an inevitable reduction in
| idividends-an imminent misfortune
| which has been discounted in a
| straightaway decline of $40 a share II
| q Few weeks-days, almost The story
| OF the mismana cement of the great
New England system is filling acres OF
newspaper space, although 1t was years
| before any of them dared to publish
| the glaring facts. The New Haver
| stood al a monument of stability anc
a clxed insurance of permanent income
! tC thousands.
New England has been hard hit il
| the course of the past generation. l.
| suffered staggering losses in the bank
ruptcies that overwhelmed Union Pa
| cific, Atchison and Northern Pacific
| among other great enterprises. Thou
! sands were frozen out; other thousand
paid assessments, stuck 1T out" and goi
back their money. Only the end of q
! Lank account and the foreclosure of the
| cid homestead can shake the faith OF
| the average down easter who invests
| his money in stocks and is a recipient
of dividends on them in season and
| ont for decades. The enormous losses
! in the properties mentioned have only
been paralleled in part in recent years
| New Haven setting the example. The
| recent gamble in Wall Street has beer
as to extent of the sacrifice inflicted
on the trustful Yankees" But to Off
set their terrible to fabulous dividends
distributed among shareholders in Hec-
la Copper and the Bell Telephone
| through more than generation. United
| Fruit is another more recent bonanza
| Sc, after all. New England Is in shape
to stand punishment.
Norman B. Ream's Activity
one of the bits of gossip afioat il
\ Wall street is to the effect that Mr.
Norman b. Ream has been liqudatins
| several cart loads of stocks and get
Ting himself strong in cash. pro
cess which he usually follows when the
| situation does not suit him. Mr.. Ream
is one of the wealthiest men in the
| United States, a fact known to COM
| aaratively few. He was one of the late
| Mr.. MoAyan's closest personal friends
| and was called into the confidential
! counsels of the great banker more than
any other man. One of Mr.. Ream :
/ specialties is the direction of finance
committees OF leading corporations In
which he is a large stock holder.
| His field of activity in this direction
| IS varied, and includes Chicago, Bur
I lington and Quincy, National Biscuit
Pullman, Erie, Baltimore and Ohio
limited States Steel, Tia Clinchville Coal
road, First National bank of Chicago
] Harvester and about 80 others. lie Is
well toward the front in the list of II
capitalists in the directorates of cor
porations that represent a stock and
! bonded capitalization of more than So
| O0Q. .000, 600 In conjunction with Robert
L. Lincoln, he administered the s50,0O0.
600 estate of the late George nj. Pull
man. Mr. Ream is believed TO be worth
around $100,000.0OO. He made his frs.
| big start on the Chicago Board OF
| Trade in 1S81-S. In 1885 he helped p
! II. Armour bust the famous Harper
wheat corner Mr.. Ream is personally
q striking figure. being almost giant
| in stature, and like many other promi'
nent financiers, shuns notoriety.
The government report on winter