Evening journal., 1916-01-25
Steel common UP
IN FEVERISH MARKET
Wall StreetW onderS Wheth-
er Company Will Declare
For or Against Dividend
REPORT DIVISION
IN DIRECTORATE
BY Tie United Press.

NEW YORK, Jan. 2j.-Wall Street
expected one OF the most lc,crish ses
sions of the stock Exchange to-day. as
most of the brokers and public spccu-
lated and guessed ON the action to be
taken 10y the United States steel Cor
poation OF it's common dividend.
Books have been made aud thousands
OF dollars bet ON whether the steel III
rectors will declare The regular quar-.
terly dividend or pass IT,
Answer TO the question that has kept
the market stirred up for the past week
viii come this afternoon. probably i'm
modiatcly after the close of the Stock
Exchange. Experts declare the action
finally taken will have the utmost fnan.
cial, commercial, industrial and politi.
cal significance.
The hasty and unexpected return from
the south of Directors j. r. Morgan aud
llepry g.. Frick hast night was looked
upon by Wall Street authorities as final
proof OF the Importance of today's
meeting
steel common, TO the tune Of rmor's
disquicting orchestration. danced jig
all over the Stock Exchange all day
Monday. A food OF selling orders ham
mcrcd common down 20 50 3.s al 2 p.
m.. and then rumors of the Frick Nor
gan return rallied it and il went un
then back to 50 - at the close.
A financial man in close touch with
the situation today outlined the status
and significance OF the matter as fol-
lows: "It is common knowledge in
Wall street that there Is a sharp divl-
sion among the directors as 10 the
advisability OF declaring a dividend
today on the Steel common. Morgan
and Frick are believed TO be strong
eXponents Of declaring a per cent
dividend on the common stock today.
Judge Gary may or may not be Oppos-
ing them. but they have opponents
and no one knows exactly what Judge
Gary Is thinking these days.
There Is $50S000,000 worth Of
Steel common. Normally that stock
pays a dividend OF IA per cent.
quarterly. Everybody in Wall street
knows that war orders and other busi-
ness has doomed the steel bcsiness
until the ommon stock is earning
every bit of 25 per annum.
yet the last quarterly dividend was
not declared. II is common knOwl-
/ edge in Wall street that this dividend
was withheld, not because the stock
was not earning enough 10 pay II, but
for another reason. There is a fac
ton in the directorate strongly op
posed Ia the Wilson administration
Another faction feels that the corpor
alton has prospered legitimatel.
under the present administration ant
is disposed 10 let we'll enough alone
zone faction strongly favors a divi
dend today regardless OF any bOos
that the dividend may prove TO th
Democratic administration. The othe
faction in the directorate is OppOs
ing the dividend on the ground tha
the present prosperity Of the corpora
tion is due solely TO war conditions
and that the dividend would not bl
analyzed properly by the men In th'
street, who would see iq II only an
irrefutable evidence OF tremendous
national prosperity.
There is no doubt, but that a con
siderable faction Of the directorate
are strongly averse to playing poll
tics with the steel common situation
They feel that such a course regard
less Of which political faction il favor
ed would in the end cause more trou
bic than would be justified by the re
suits. This safe and sane faction
favors proceeding on strictl.
business basis relying upon the gen
eral intelligence OF the public to ap
preciate what per cent. OF the pros
perity Of the corporation is a norma
growth. and what percentage is at