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Published every Saturday.

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J. T. LINDSEY, Busineas Manager,





Vol. XLTII





APRIL 25,  1891.





No. 1,S06





NOTICE OF REMOVAL.
TM offices of The Record and Guide will be rernoved to Nos.
14 and 16 "Vesey street, over The Mechanics' and Traders* Exchange,
on May lst.

ALL the woes of Wall Street ate generally laid to the door of
that vague but very powerful entity known as the general
public. If business is dull, it is because the public are out of the
imarket; if business is active, it is because they have returned to
their proper places. This public undoubtedly has something to do
•with the rise in quotations, which is at present taking place; but
the more powerful force, obviously, is an able and active bull clique,
■which is sending prices up with really very little opposition. The
-single depressing influence has been the constant shipments of gold.
"Whenever one of these shipments was announced the market
reacted half a point, only immediately to recover and continue on
its rising course, thus showing the strong arm behind it. As the
general public need to be tempted into a market by promise of
easy  profit,   it   may   well    be    imagined    that   if   the   present





bull      party      can     continue
taken     up    by   outsiders    and
The  Times of Thm-sday,  in its
lowing :   " One funny  incident





its      hold, '   stocks      will       be
advanced   ac    a   merry   pace.
" Wall Street Talk," had the fol¬
of the   day   yesterday   was   the
campaigning undertaken by manipulators of Pittsburg, Cincinnati,
Chicago and St. Louis stock.    Though it has not been on the tape
before in any conspicuous way for months, and though the road is
not of enough consequence to have a list of its Board of Directors
quoted in "Poor's Manual," the Stock Exchange ticker was fairly
kept   jammed   yesterday   \*ith   the   announcements  of   transac¬
tions   in   the   stock—which   is   funny   and   may be   profitable."
The   same    paper,    taking    a   contemporarj     to    task    for   a
gross   mistake,  recorded   as    "a   curious   fact,"    says,    "this
would   certainly   be   curious   if    it   were    only    true.     Many
other things would  be  curious   if   they  were true."    Now,  the
facts are that this inconsequential  company was created m  June,
1890, so that, of com-se, no list of  its board of directors nor much
else connected with it could be discovered by reference to " Poor's
Manual" for 1890, the last issued ; but fancy a writer on financial
subjects not knowing that th's stock  listed on the New York Stock
Eschange was that of one of the   greatest corporations in the
country,  formed  by tbe consolidation  of all the principal  lines
controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad  Company west of Pitts¬
burg, excepting the Fort Wayne, its officers beiug substantially the
same as those of the Pennsylvania.     The same day the above
appeared in the Times they were engaged in declai-ing a dividend
of 1 per cent on the preferred stock  of the P. C. C. & St. L. from
the net earnings of that company for the three months ending
December Slst, 1890, being practically the first three months of its
existence—a  dividend which,  it   is   understood,   would   not   be
declared were it not that the  history of the separate companies
shows   their entire ability easily to earn 4 per cent, annually
on   the   new   preferred   stock,   no    matter   whether   crops   are
good    or     not.       It     is     just    such    printed    " talk"    which
make   most of the   Wall   street    paragraphs    appearing  in the
great dailies not only valueless   but misleading.     As for   any¬
body who was deceived into  buying shares by the manipulation
referred to, they can now sell them out at a very  handsome profit.
This is a kind  of   manipulation   the   public will   nevt-r seriously
object to.    For the further information  of the young man of the
Times and our readers we will say that the preferred stock of the
P., C, C. & St. L, is limited to 4 per cent, annually until after the
common      shares     shall       have       received       3       per       cent
annually.    " After  payment   of   3   per   cent,    per   annum   on
the common stock, 1 per cent, additional shall be paid on the
Preferred stock.    After payment of said additional  1 per cent on
the preferred stock 2 per  cent   additional  shall  be  paid  on the
common stock.    After payment of said  additional 2  per cent on
tha common stock  all net earnings found and declared as afore¬
said, or so muph thereof as the directors shall deem proper, shall





be paid in equal percentages on all outstanding common and Pre¬
ferred stock of the Company." So that now the common shares
selling at seventeen are within easy distance of dividends. In¬
deed, it is predicted that the full 3 per cant applicable to divi¬
dends on the common shares will be earned by the company this
year, making it, perhaps, tbe lowest-priced speculative stock on

the market.

---------•----------

IT is understood that there was but little response from the public
to the invitation to subscribe to the bonds of the Akron &
Chicago Junction Railroad Company which we treated of at length
last week.    This is as it should be.    If the Baltimore & Ohio Rail¬
road Co. is willing to make itself unqualifiedly liable   for   the
$1,500,000 required to build this piece of road, why does it not
undertake the work itself, issuing its own bonds for that purpose ?
Investors may well ask themseives why does the Baltimore & Ohio
form a nominal company to do this work and have apui-ely nominal
company lease the first company,   the B. &   O.  assuming  and
guaranteeing the lease so as to render the bond paJhtable.   Your
guarantor,  even if a creature of soul and honor, is thus placed
two   removes   away,    and   at   the   end   of   the  chain   the only
resource is a suit at law with a corporation which gives all claim¬
ants a wrestle   with  lawyers paid   by the year, the appearance
being in too many cases before complaisant courts.   Consequently
investors may be pardoned for declining even so well worded an
invitation.    It is time  that corporations should  learn that they
cannot  any more than an individual   afford to ride rough-shod
over those who have entered into  solemn  obligations with it or to
espect to retain credit when they offer but one answer to those
who     ask     tbat     engagements    be      kept,      namely:     "The
Courts   are   open   for    you.     We     hire     our    legal     depart¬
ment   by   the year.      One law suit more   or   less will  cut   no
figure in our expense account."   A great railroad company will
get control of say one-third of a profitable railroad or coal  com¬
pany, then, through the bankers, who act as its fiscal agents, will
contrive to secure enough additional proxies from brokers carrying
the shares for customers to put in its own board of direction, which
too often is shamelessly made up of its own officers and directors,
none of them having any personal interest in the property.    Now,
before   the   law   the    men    thus   presenting   themselves   to   be
voted    for    as    directors   offer    to    become   trustees   for   all
the    stockholders,    and    if     elected     take    an     oath     that
they will honestly and faithfully perform their duties   as   trustees
representing all the  owners; but if one of them should attempt,
ever so mildly, to resist an imposition  or resent any crime against
the smaller company proposed by their  masters in  the larger one,
how long  does any  one suppose  he could  retain any position he
held.   What does happen is this, thei/ simply do as they are told,
and lend themselves to give the appearance of legal form and regu¬
larity to whatineffectisnoihing but downright, unblushing robbery
of the scattered owners, for in many cases these scattered owners
represent a clear majority could they be gotten together, andthe older
the corporation the more the stock is sure to be distributed by death
and partition among heirs or held by trustees and esecutors.     In
the last report of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Eailroad Com¬
pany it is shown that of nearly 13,000 shareholders over one-half
are women, minors, executors or   trustees.     A similar state of
holding in a small company renders it an easy prey to wreckers or
to competitive  larger companies, who, in the manner described
above, contrive to get in  the management, assuming the trustee¬
ship BO as to freeze out or tire out tliis nebulous, dispersed owner¬
ship.    This  evil has become so serious  that it well deserves the
attention of legislators; and the men, who in theirdailywalk would
resent the imputation that they belong to an organized band of
, brigands, should be shown in their true colors and the public made
to understand who and what they are.





THE total foreign trade of Great Britain, during the March
of this year exceeded that of March, 1890; for, although
there was a decrease of about 3i-^ per cent in the imports, the
exports increased by nearly 8 percent. The decrease in the imports
is spres.d thi-oughout all groups, excepting manufactured and mis¬
cellaneous gooda, and excepting hemp, cotton, tin and zinc. The
increase in exports took place largely in cotton piece goods. Woolen
exports also show a considerable augmeniation, in spite of
the falling off in quantity takeu by the United States. In metal
exports, the most notable feature is the continued increase in ship¬
ments of tin plates to the United States—38,638 Ihis March, against
17,245 in the March of last year. The iron and steel
trade continues to be in a i^st depressed and unsatisfactory
condition, and there are few if aDy indications of au early revival,
The causes of the depression are stated to be the same which have
reduced prices and restricted consumption in this country ; but in
case the winter wheat crop turns out as well as is expected, it is
probable that the revival will first be felt on this side of the water.
English economists are engaged iu discussing some figures recently
called to the attention of the public by Joseph Chamberlain, which
show not only that one-seventh of the entire population of th»