330 



FINANCIAL KEVIEW OF 1884. 



for loans were pressed upon the market when 

 the demand for margins was not heeded, and 

 frequently these sales gave color to reports that 

 stock-houses or individual speculators were em- 

 barrassed. The bears early in June renewed 

 their demonstrations, and the tendency was 

 very decidedly downward for the remainder of 

 the month, the most notable feature being a fall 

 in Union Pacific, aided by the enforcement by 

 the Government of the provisions of the Thnr- 

 man act. The market became so largely over- 

 sold that the bulls, taking advantage of the cir- 

 cumstance, sharply advanced it on the 28th, 

 causing a panic among the bears in their en- 

 deavor to cover their shorts. During July and 

 August, with the assistance of powerful com- 

 binations, who made the most of the abundant 

 present and prospective yield of the cereal 

 crops, the market was pushed upward, but 

 toward the close of the last-named month 

 these cliques sold out, and left stocks in a lan- 

 guishing condition. The benefit of the enor- 

 mous crops was to a large extent counteracted 

 by the cutting of rates, and by disagreements 

 in the various pools, and also by the unfavor- 

 able condition of the coal-trade, and the de- 

 fault by the Reading. The presidential canvass 

 was intensly exciting in October, greatly in- 

 terrupting business, and the dispute regarding 

 the result had a depressing effect upon the 

 market early in November, and until the ques- 

 tion was definitely settled by the official an- 

 nouncement of the vote in this State. Then 

 came a partial recovery, followed by an irregu- 

 lar decline, mainly due to the fact that Mr. 

 Vanderbilt had sold a large amount of the 

 stocks of roads with which he is identified, and 

 also aided by the liquidation of the speculative 

 pools in Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, 

 and other properties. There was no decided 

 support to the market for the remainder of the 

 year, which closed amid great depression. 



Among the incidents which at the time of 

 their occurrence influenced the stock specula- 

 tion, may be mentioned the retirement of Mr. 

 Henry Villard from the presidency of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad Company, early in 

 January; the shipment of the almost unprece- 

 dented amount of $4,500,000 gold to Europe, 

 March 8th ; the panic in Chicago caused by 

 the fall in wheat during the week ended April 

 5th ; the suspension early in May of Mr. James 

 R. Keene, owing to unfortunate speculations; 

 the payment, May 12th, by order of Mr. Van- 

 derbilt, of the Reading loan, for which 50,000 

 shares of Central New Jersey were pledged, 

 and the sale early in October of this stock ; the 

 collapse, in May, of the Bankers' and Mer- 

 chants 1 Telegraph enterprise, caused by the fail- 

 ure of Mr. Dimmock, its financial promoter; 

 the unsuccessful stock-pool in Louisville and 

 Nashville, which resulted in the resignation of 

 Mr. 0. C. Baldwin, the president, toward the 

 close of May; the retirement, in June, from 

 the presidency of the Union Pacific, of Mr. Sid- 

 ney Dillon, who was succeeded by Mr. Charles 



F. Adams ; the purchase, early* in July, by the 

 Missouri Pacific, of the June coupons otf the 

 Texas Pacific, New Orleans division, thus pre- 

 venting actual default ; the absorption, in July, 

 by the Chicago and Northwestern, of the Blair 

 system of roads, previously leased, and the issue 

 of $14,757,500 common stock and $1,968,000 5 

 per cent, debenture bonds, and the assumption of 

 $11,149,600 bonds and obligations; the failure 

 of the Wall Street Bank, August 10th, caused 

 by defalcations by the cashier; the issue of 

 $10,000,000 debenture bonds by the New York 

 Central, in August; and the retirement of Hon. 

 H. J. Jewett, President of the Erie, who was 

 succeeded, in October, by Mr. John King, Jr. 



The total sales of all stocks for the year 

 1884 were' 95,416,368 shares, against 96,037,- 

 905 in 1883, 113,720,665 in 1882, 113,392,685 

 in 1881, 97,200,000 in 1880, and 74,166,652 in 

 1879. The transactions in Government bonds 

 during 1884 amounted to $14,939,700, and in 

 State and railroad bonds to $508,815,850. 



The following is a list of quotations of leading 

 stocks on or about Jan. 1, 1883, 1884, and 1885 : 



The following is a list of some of the specula- 

 tive stocks, with the prices which they brought 

 some time during 1883, and those to which they 

 fell in December, 1884, and in that year: 



Canada Southern 



Erie 



Louisville and Nashville 



St. Paul 



Ohio Central 



Lake Erie and Western 



Wabash, preferred 



Ohio and Mississippi 



Texas and Pacific 



Western Union 



Indiana, Bloomington, and West- 

 ern 



Missouri, Kansas, and Texas 



Northern Pacific 



Northern Pacific, preferred 



Denver and Eio Grande 



Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. 

 Louis 



Memphis and Charleston 



Richmond and Danville 



Kichmond and West Point Ter- 

 minal 



Chesapeake and Ohio 



Chesapeake and Ohio, second 

 preferred 



Oregon and Transcontinental . . . 



Oregon Railway and Navigation. 



Omaha 



Omaha, preferred 



Missouri Pacific 



Union Pacific 



Highest, 



43 



SSi 



84| 



53*. 

 90* 

 51* 



28| 



27 



89 

 150 



55 

 113} 

 Iflfi* 

 104* 



Dec., 1884, 

 lowest. 



29 



13| 



8t 



I 



IT* 



12 



53*. 



11 

 14* 

 16 

 88* 



18 

 5* 



7 



12 

 69* 

 23 



82 



St 



Lowest, 



24* 



1U 



22* 



* 





 9 



80 



