Life — May 30, 1901 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

, 2 b J em we we ee ee ee ae eae ae HE DOLDRUMS is the sailor's name for certain stretches of ocean in the tropics where days and weeks go by without a breeze to ripple the surface of the sea and where ships lie helpless and becalmed, their only motion being due to the tides and currents. The stock market seems to have drifted into the doldrums, and there is no sign of a breeze to carry it out. In the mornings some of the old standby rumors are dragged out or some professional trader tries to inject a little activity into some pet stock, but by noon the rumors are recognized by every one as old friends, and when the professional lets go there is a sag back into the same old place. When Mr. Morgan comes back he may inject a little hot air into the situation, but that is the only hope In sight. The public is out of the Street. HE Universal Tobacco Company, just organized, 1s to compete in certain lines with the American. Friends of the latter pooh-pooh the idea of any one successfully bucking that organization, but the promoters of the new concern are clear-headed persons with large knowledge of the wholesale and retail tobacco business and of the methods of the Trust. Some of them were in the Union Tobacco Company, which fought the American to the buying out point and found the process a very profitable one. Since the American has fortified it- self In a variety of ways, but it is not strong in the affections of the small dealers, and the Universal may be able to put up an effective fight. $ $ $ R. MORGAN is now nominated for Banker General of the United ates Government. This is to be brought about by his uniting in a new syndicate several of the leading banks of New York City and the resulting organization is to bear the same relation to the United States Treasury that the Bank of England and Bank of France do to their respective governments, At least this is the tale as it is told. Of course the yellow journals will have to be consulted before the deal can be consumated, for they have shown themselves very par- ticular about Mr. Morgan's dealings with the Government, And besides this, Mr. Morgan, who manages to keep him- self very busily and profitably engaged in other ways, might hesitate to take on a job which would probably bring him a good many more kicks than ha'pence. $ 3 3 HE continuous post mortem that has been going on ever since the North- ern Pacific corner has revealed nothing that was not perfectly evident on Blue Thursday itself. The small cattle that were on the track when the two big lo- comotives of the Morgan-Hill and Har- riman trains came into contact were pretty thoroughly destroyed, which sim- ply again points the fact that It is al- Ways dangerous to sell what you haven't Rot. 3 3 3 RA ominous news comes to us from England. Notwithstanding its declaration of a ten per cent. divi- dend ovt of the past year's profits Sir Thomas Lipton’s tea company 1s said to have shown a steady decline in earning capacity ever since it became an incor- porated concern. BUSINESS.conducted by salaried employes should not on the faceoft it be so well conducted as one where the leading incentive is the personal interest and ambition of its owner, The history of American industrials is as yet too short to give us much in the way of proof for or against this statement, and on that account the Lipton experience Is of some value as showing which way the wind blows, Our own trust organiz- ers may point with pride at the ap- parent success of Sugar and Tobacco, but these are more than offset by the troubles of Brewerles, Cordage, Distil- leries, Flour and other consolidations that have not met the expectations of their promoters. The power to smother competition given to the trusts by their size and far-reaching connections may make up for the zeal and Industry of private ownership, but as yet the idea has not been thoroughly tried out and market quotations show the properties at least at their full value. $ $ 3 LITTLE more frankness on the part of the managers of these con- cerns would give the investing public more faith in them, It might also induce better services on the part of officers and employes if they knew that the real own- ers of the properties were kept clearly informed of the methods and results of their operation. As it is the reports of the industrial companies are infrequent and are models of statements that state nothing definite. B noted the fact a few weeks ago that the Produce Exchange didn't know what it was doing when It took the Stock Exchange into its domicile at the modest rental of twenty-five thou- sand dollars a year. Things are now on a better basis for the former concern, as by making two separate grants of twelve feet of floor space each and each at the rate of twenty-five thousand a year, it has brought the total rental up to sev- enty-five thousand dollars, 3 $ $ T is now generally conceded that Mr. John W. Gates and the Amalgamat- ed Association of Second-story Men were rather badly scorched in the proceedings of Blue Thursday. And Wall Street isn’t wearing black sleevebands to show its grief. $ 8 $s MONG the storfes put out to-day was one to the effect that London was beginning to take large amounts of the Erle stocks. It may be that the old adage, “Once bit, twice shy,” doesn’t hold good in the British Isles, but {f we are not mistaken the late Jay Gould gave British Investors and speculators an ex- perience in Erie that even this genera- tion hasn't forgotten, In fact, it is sald that there are several large rooms in England handsomely papered with en- graved certificates from the printing presses run in Jersey City by Messrs. Fisk and Gould. $ $ 8 * course Erle is to-day on an entirely different basis from what it was at that time, and it seems to have a legiti- mate future as a coal carrier and possi- bly as an Atlantic outlet for some West- ern system, but it Is so heavily plastered with bonds and stocks that the junior certificates are bound to have a long period of waiting before they are worth even the small prices at which they are selling to-day. The practical managers of the road look on with surprise at the advance jn the quoted value of its secur!+ ties. They think that this time Wall Street is discounting the future with a vengeance, A. Lamb, Wate Street, TuursDay, May 23. comicbooks.com