The Sun and the New York herald., 1920-04-18
Ryan's Name Gains
Place in History
Along With Jim"
Fisk, Gould. Gates,
Vanderbilt and
Others of Renown
"He ,rho scls what bnt hiS'n
Must buy u back. or 90 TO prtG'"."


regulations, contains few starred names
OF men who. of high middle or low es-
tate, through superior financial backing.
quicker thinking power or more Skilful play
ing Of their dollar pawns, have co-nered the
market in a stock They include such re-
noHued names as Jim" Fisk. who twice cor
nered Erie and sheared the fur from crowd
Of bears because they would not believe that
Ye could corner the same stock twice; Gould.
who cornsred Northwest: s. V. White. who
cqrnered Lackawanns; John W. Gates. who
engineered a squeeze In Louisville and Nash
,Ille; Anthony ". Morse. ". ". Marston and
Commodore Vanderbilt. all shrewd and re-
ientlesA market manipulators.
To that galaxy, In financial history, Of men
Who cornered the marker and made those
who had sold what isn't h4s'n" walk right
I'D 70 tie engineer and, as the Wall Street
phrase go4s, pay through the nose" has
been added another name. IL is that Of Allan
A. Ryan, son Of Thomas Fortune Ryan Of
New York railway fame, head Of his own
brokerage firm. stockholder and director in a
dozen Industrial enterprises, enormously
wealthy in his own right and With back
ing that Apparently Is unlimited.
Plight Of the Shorts.
The stock cornered Is Stutz Motors That
!. is cornered there is no doubt Tie Stock
Exchange authorities. on this ground, have
suspended its dealings. People in all parts OF
the country who have sod 1t short" eX-
pect!ng TO buy It in later at lower price.
find themselves unable 10 buy, unless they
purchase It across the counter At an e1-
orbitant price.
A legal battle in behalf Of these shorts.
who range from tie little five and ten share
trader 10 the man who is short several thous-
and shares. appears TO he probable. Mean
while the 2T2 stockholders Of Stutz and tho
few other lucky folk who have few shares
in their safety deposit boxes. are holding on
Ike grim death. No one. apparently, wants
70 sell the stock There the matter rests in
a complex and disturbing deadlock.
When the final chapter in Stutz has been
written and the page turned on this blotted
incident Of finance. the last long holder has
been satisfied with his price, and the last
shorr has delivered his stock, or has been re-
IievAd of the obligation by the courts, Il
probably will be found that the squeeze does
not compare. IN size and importance. with any
Of the other corners enumerated. or 10 the
more recent Northern Pacific corner Still,
it has been of suffcient Importance 10 rock
Wall Street from centre 70 circumference. to
divide the Street into Ryan and anti-Ryan
eliuues 10 win huge fortunes for some and
10 establish crushing losses for others.
Its the most spectacular event Of the year
in the financial district, and whatever It's
settlement. will go down in the unwrtten
history Of the financial district as one Of the
biggest battles Of dollars IN the last ten
years II kas brought charges and counter
charges, Il has arrayed bank against bank, It
has caused bitter feelings all around, II mas
led 70 Wild rumors OF all sorts and. taken
altogether Il has been the most disturbing
factor with which the authorities OF tho
Street have had 10 deal in many years.
The stock cornered-which is merely the
pawn in the big battle Of dollars--is not OF
great Importance in the financial district. AS
automobile concerns go. II is comparatively
email. Its plant is in Indianapolis, where It
turns out about 5000 cars each year, OF
enappy model that has proved popular as
sport car The capital stock Of Stutz. until
recently. has been 900 shares. on which
last year IL earned approximately 50 per
share. Applicable for distribution among
stockholders.
4 glance at the records shows that here
tofore it has never been thought OF very
highly as an investment or speculative
issue. For instance. in the bull campaign
last year II cold as high as Sl44 per share,
advancing from the years low OF $42. In
1918 IL highest price was 355 and its low
sS7. In 1917 the high was $53 and the low
s35. In 1915, in which year 1t came to the
'"big board" as the Stock Exchange list IL
called, it reached high Of $7s and sold as
low as S4S per share.
Beginning of the Fireworks.
Before the start OF the fireworks that re-
suited in the present corner the stock was
selling around Sis share, bringing the
total value Of the outstanding securities to
approximately s11.500.O00. Its gyrations
within the brief space of thirty days shot 1t
from that price TO 1891 a share, or to an ag-
WreEate Of approximately s39.000,0oo for the
outstanding stock. 1t is in the record, too.
that 200 shares Of stutz brought $70l at
public auction shortly after trading was or
dered discontinued on the Stock Exchange.
This for a corporation whose entire prop
critics inventory at about S5,oo0.O0o. OF which
S2llS79S is "goodw will and trademarks"
Just what brought about the corner IN
Etutz has never been explained by those who
could give an explanation. Much OF the fire.
works has been obscured by the fog OF Sc
crecy. The unofficial Ryan explanation Is
that while on a trip TO the Stutz plant at In
dianapois Mr.. Ryan was laid low by In
f1uenza The professional bears" took ad-
vantage of his illness and conducted drive
against the stock which brought it down
dozen points.
On his recovery and return to the market
Mr. Ryan discovered that more stock had
been sold for future delivery by the bears
than were contained In the normal floating
supply. He decided then to make them pay.
IN justice to Mr.. Ryan 1t should be stated
that he has several times declared that the
corner was not Of his manufacture.
~ did not create tho Stutz situation" he
declared recently. ~ begged the Stock Ex-
change to stop selling when the stock was
s220 share. have been fair and patient.
I believe in this property for I built II up.
] do not care for the profits Of fluctuations.
1t does not matter to me II it sells for IS
share or $1,000 a share. have sufictent re-
sources to take UP every share Of the stock"
The other side Of the story 10 that Mr..
RD-,n hfa vaHoua rOnnertinNa