226 



FINANCIAL REVIEW OF 1900. 



tral New Jersey increased its quarterly dividends, 

 the Canadian Pacific enlarged its dividend, the 

 Baltimore and Ohio, the Union Pacific, and the 

 Reading first preferred began paying dividends, 

 and Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis resumed 

 such payments after suspension since 1893. In 

 March the Pennsylvania acquired an interest in 

 the stock of the Norfolk and Western; the Chicago 

 and Alton bought the northern and the Illinois 

 Central the southern divisions of the St. Louis, 

 Peoria and Northern, which was sold under fore- 

 closure; the Fitch burg stockholders voted to lease 

 the road to the Boston and Maine, and the Metro- 

 politan Street Railway Company of New York 

 bought control of the Third Avenue Railroad line, 

 and subsequently leased it. The Pennsylvania, 

 which had early in the year issued $12,930,500 

 new stock at par, issued in April $9,464,500 more 

 stock on the same terms; the Chicago and Alton 

 Railway Company was organized to take over the 

 Chicago and Alton Railroad and its recent acqui- 

 sition; the Southern Pacific acquired the Louis- 

 ville, Evansville and St. Louis, the Houston, East 

 and West Texas, and the Carson and Colorado 

 roads; the Seaboard Air Line was organized with 

 $75,000,000 bonds, $25,000,000 common stock, and 

 $37,500,000 preferred stock, and the Northern Pa- 

 cific made arrangements to acquire the St. Paul 

 and Duluth. In May the Chicago and Alton Rail- 

 road declared an extra dividend of 30 per cent, 

 on its common and preferred stock, and the Chi- 

 cago and Eastern Illinois and the Lehigh Coal and 

 Navigation Company increased their regular divi- 

 dends. In the following month the Rutland and 

 the Hocking Valley likewise increased dividends, 

 and the Lake Erie and Western resumed dividends 

 on the preferred stock. In July Illinois Central 

 and Union Pacific, and in August Kansas City, 

 Fort Scott and Memphis, declared additional 

 dividends, these declarations and those above noted 

 indicating prosperous railroad conditions. In Octo- 

 ber the trunk lines decided to advance grain rates 

 between the Mississippi river and the seaboard. 

 After the presidential election there were indica- 

 tions that plans which had long been in contem- 

 plation, looking to the improvement of the railroad 

 interests of the country, had been awaiting this 

 settlement of the political and the financial situ- 

 tion. The Northern Pacific voting trust was dis- 

 solved and the common stock was placed on a 

 4-per-cent. basis; the Southern Pacific bought con- 

 trol of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company; the 

 Pennsylvania and the Chicago and Eastern Illinois 

 declared extra dividends, and the dividend of the 

 Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company was again 

 increased. The purchase in December of the Penn- 

 - \ 1 vania Coal Company in the interest of the Erie 

 liailroad was one of the most important events, 

 practically insuring the maintenance of harmoni- 

 ous relations between the anthracite coal railroads 

 and the principal individual operators. This 

 movement gave color to rumors of far-reaching 

 railroad combinations, which were partly con- 

 firmed on Jan. 5 by the announcement that the 

 Central New Jersey had been bought by J. P. 

 Morgan & Co., who had turned the property over 

 to the Heading, which they already controlled. A 

 report was then current that control of the St. 

 Paul had been bought by Great Northern and 

 Northern Pacific interests, who would lease the 

 road, and that purchase of the Wabash was con- 

 templated for the purpose of making a seaboard 

 connection through the Erie. 



Listings of railroad bonds on the New York 

 Stock Kx change during the year amounted to 

 $443,713,000, of which $147,678,597 were new is- 

 sues. The stocks listed aggregated $620,935,000, 



of which $296,550,572 represented new issues. 

 Compared with those in 1899, bond listings were 

 $81,671,240 and those of stocks were $83,237,605 

 less this year, mainly because of fewer reorgan- 

 izations and extensions. The industrial properties 

 placed upon the " unlisted " department were 8 

 in number, having a total of $132,901,100 common 

 and $31,325,000 preferred stock. 



Manufacturing Industries. It is noteworthy 

 that while in 1899 there was apparently a wide- 

 spread tendency in the direction of consolidations 

 of capital in manufacturing enterprises, there was 

 in 1900 a marked change in the character of the 

 movement. Previously old or more or less estab- 

 lished concerns were absorbed by the combinations, 

 whereas in this year new competitive companies 

 were formed. The change was doubtless largely 

 due to the fact that in the previous year the 

 capital creations were so enormous that they 

 were not only unwieldy, but they caused appre- 

 hensions among the banking interests of the coun- 

 try that they were likely to become a highly 

 disturbing factor. Moreover, owing to the ex- 

 tremely conservative treatment of these properties 

 by the bankers the digestion of the securities is- 

 sued by the corporations was impeded, the market 

 for them grew congested, and much difficulty was 

 experienced in obtaining subscriptions for even the 

 most promising of new enterprises. At the end 

 of 1899 consolidation schemes were pending in- 

 volving an aggregate capitalization of more than 

 $600,000,000, while the capital of companies pro- 

 jected and later abandoned exceeded $1,000,000,000. 

 At the close of 1900 comparatively few of the 

 above noted pending schemes had been consum- 

 mated, and a very small number of the abandoned 

 plans had been revived. The new industrial organ- 

 izations which were perfected this year repre- 

 sent $948,875,000 in stocks and bonds against 

 $5,215,795,000 in 1S99, which latter sum includes 

 concerns projected and abandoned and increases 

 of capital proposed which were never consum- 

 mated. Careful revision of the emissions of stocks 

 and bonds of companies projected in 1899 leaves 

 the then completed organizations representing a 

 capitalization of $2,543,350. 



In January a remarkably favorable statement, 

 somewhat indicative of prosperous industrial con- 

 ditions, accompanied the declaration of dividends 

 on the common stock of the American Steel and 

 Wire Company. A war between the Consolidated 

 Gas Company and the New Amsterdam Company 

 was vigorously conducted, resulting in the reduc- 

 tion in the price of gas in New York city from 

 $1.05 to 65 cents per thousand. In February, 

 English cotton spinners who had refrained from 

 buying the staple in the previous year because 

 of misleading estimates of the yield of the Aim 

 ican crop, became alarmed concerning the stalls 

 tical position of the crop and bought freely, in- 

 fluencing a sharp rise in the price of the staple 

 and consequently in the manufactured goods. In 

 March, American Malting Company was unfavor- 

 ably affected by the admission by the directors 

 that the dividends predicated upon the results of 

 1898 had been based upon expected protils which 

 were not realized. This announcement had a par- 

 tially depressing influence upon other industrial 

 properties, which depression was intensified in the 

 following month by disclosures regarding the mi 

 favorable condition, owing to overproduction, of 

 the American Steel and Wire Company and of 

 other enterprises of a similar character, which had 

 an unsettling effect upon the iron and steel trade. 

 In May this industry and the metal trades IM n 

 erally became more or less demoralized not only 

 in this country but in England and Germany, 





