Life — May 2, 1901 — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Oh, George, tell them to stop,” That was the cry of Maria. But the more she cried “Whoa!” The more they let go, And the swing went a little bit higher. Old Song. $ $ 3 HE timid Maria in this case is the gentleman very frequently found in Wall Street nowadays, who thinks the market has gone mad and who Is look- ing for that Inevitable break in prices. ‘The more he cries “Whoa!” not a dealer lets go, and prices get a little bit higher —in fact, quite a big bit higher, as in the case of Union Pacific tais week. $ $ 3 HETHER Union Vacitic is to gob- ble Norwest’ and —_ guarantee returns, or Nor’west is to gobble Union Pacific, and do the same thing, has been a matter in question. Every indication has been that Nor'west was to be the gobbler and U, P. the gobbled, with a six per cent. income guaranteed on the com- mon stock of the latter. The Vanderbilt interest in Nor'west is presumably greater proportionately than in Union Pacific, and the Vanderbilt policy in the past has been to bring outside properties under Vanderbilt control—not pass Van- derbilt properties to outside control, A one hundred per cent. rise in Union Pa- cific may seem in the light of looking backward a phenomenal and dangerous rise, but regarded In the new light as a stock with six per cent, guaranteed by the rich Nor'west and the road forming a link in the more closely cemented Van- derbilt route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 108 does not seem at all a big price for it; 108 wouldn't be the market price, but a considerably higher one if the deal had been actually consummated on the six per cent. guarantee. Tae tre- mendous transactions of Wednesday in this stock at constantly advancing prices show that there is something more than a merely speculative tip abroad. 8 $ $ )VHE promised watermelon in Consull- dated Gas has not yet been cut, and speculators who bought it on the theory of getting immediately three hundred dollars in bonds, preferred and common stook, for one hundred of the Present issue have been disappointed in the market value of the stock. It should be remembered that the persons in con- trol of the property have a way of mak- ing their moves when it suits their own convenience, and that watermelon will be served when they get good and ready. $ $ 3 HE Monroe doctrine doesn’t seem to go in the world of finance. England boldly invades New York with a bond issue and gets away with the goods. The vague wording of the cables and local prospectus leaves it in doubt, at present writing, whether she gets seventy-five millions or one hundred and fifty mil- Hons of our good money, but, at all events, she got all she asked for. For- tunately for the American money mar- ket the payments on subscriptions to this loan are extended over several months, and should trade cond:tions re- main as they are we will not feel the strain severely, That always mysteri- ous and apparently unknowable factor— the extent to which English and other foreign investors are absorbing American stocks—may enter into the situation and entirely relleve us from the strain. 3 $ $ N the week's transactions to date the line of plusses which marks ad- vances is practically continuous. There have been recessions, but as soon as the public could get its breath the buying has gone on again with renewed vigor. “Where will it end?” is the prevailing inquiry, and ecao having answered “Where?” jumps in and buys another block of shares, 3 $ $ S Uncle Russell Sage right, or is he just a back number raven who has been left behind by the procession? He is pictured by the dally prints as sitting up, flopping his wings in a melancholy way and croaking that the public has gone crazy and {s paying ridiculous prices for properties it knows nothing about. Uncle Russell ‘has seen a good deal of the stook market and has been a pretty big part of it, but even he never saw such dealings as the present ones, and his experience may have lost some of its value through changed conditions, The dealings in Union Pacific alone on Wednesday last were greater than a whole day's business of the Exchange only a little waile ago. At the same time what the Sage of Wall Street says of the public's ignorance of what it is dealing in is largely true, and the tip players are bound to get the worst of it in the long run, 8 $ $ PEAKING of tip players, what about the morality of the newspapers who print the advertisements of the profes- sional tpsters who have as much real knowledge of the market as the man in the moon? Mr. James Gordon Bennett has been frequently criticised for hving on the profits of the Herald's immoral “Personal” column, but some of his se- verest critics are accepting equally dirty money from the sharks who prey on the public with their hind-sighted knowledge of what stocks are going to do. $ $ 3 HE Produce Exchange people are kicking themselves for letting the Stock Exchange in on their ground floor at a twenty-five thousand dollar rental, Since the arrangement was made the Produce Exchangers have realized that they had the only place where the other organization could conduct its business and that they might have asked any price within possibility and got it. $ $ $ QUT the Produce Exchange is a hoo- ~ doo, anyway, so far as its own af- fairs are concerned—the latest quotation for its membership being thirty dollars —and superstitious brokers are wonder- ing whether the hoodoo will be strong enough to break the present boom in stocks, $ 3 $ OTWITHSTANDING the __ persistent AN tip that Steel Preferred te a good investment and will sell at all sorts of prices before July first, the investing public isn’t taking to it very kindly. A seven per cent. stock in the nineties looks tempting, but the previous experl- ence of the public with industrials is well calculated to Inspire timidity. The general understanding was that the com- bination would not only reduce expenses and make money for its owners, but that It would justify its existence and make itself popular by reducing prices to the consumer. The only important step taken so far by the company reflecting its policy 1s an advance of two dollars a ton in steel rafls—not Important in it- self, but as showing the direction of the wind, The concern Is bound to make enemies enough without doing so unnec- essarily, and this uncalled for advance is not calculated to inspire confidence in its management. A, Lamb, Watt Srreet, ‘Turapay, April 25. comicbooks.com