FINANCIAL TITAN'S STRUGGLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 28 May 1907, Page 4

FINANCIAL TITAN'S STRUGGLE.

REMARKABLE PLOT. SCHEME TO 01/ST MR IIARIILMAX. Xew York, March 17. The suspicion is now widespread that the upheaval in American stocks due to a subterranean batile b.'Uveen the financial Titans. Mr I'ierpont .Morgm, the great banker, and Mr James lliil, tlie great railway financier, united, it is said, in a gigantic combination to eject Mr Harnmin from his control of the Union l'aci.ic and allied lines. This end was to be -ccured by the aid of such men as Mr Andrew Carnegie, Mr Willis James, the copper king, and others.

The combination first deposited millions with the banks controlled by Mr llirriman and his friends. Then began the unloading of stocks. When they belieVed that tile Harriman pally were well "loaded up," the combination suddenly presented cheques for the millions ihcy had deposited Tic banks, however, discovered the trick m time to prevent the collapse of .Mr Jlarriman. The furious *e ling on Wednesday w'.s the last desperate manoeuvre of the combination fore.- Ml' Ilarriman to se'.l.

X»w it is all over, and the Morgan combination fs left in possesion of (iOn.OOO shave- of Mr Harriman's line". But their gains were not made ai Vhe expense of Mr Harriman, whose holdings are undiminished. He, indeed, is said to have netted twenty million dollars ( £4,000,000) bv repurchasing ' t the panic prices shares sold months ago after the roads controlled by mm announced their huge dividends. It is probable. therefore, that the Morgan combination merely profited at the expense of the smaller investor. Hence the result of the sensational drive is greatly! to intensify the control of the vast railway properties in the United States.

"GAME OF POKER." That this is the view which prevails at Washington appears certtin from the utterances of men who are in touch with Mr Roosevelt. Senator Hevburn, for instance, immediately after an interview with the President, declared yesterday that the internecine warfare of Wall street magnates was a matter of no concern to the country at large. "The game of poker has been played on Wall street," he said, "but, Heaven be praised, that no longer affects the general prosperity." But if Washington be indifferent, Wall street shows feelings quite the reverse. Railroad presidents and financial magnates are intensely curious to learn the attitude of Roosevelt towards the problem of railway traffic. Ac-cording to the President's friends, he is believed now to be urging the States to refrain from further legi-l'i-tion until the Igter-State Commission has finished its labors. He is also said to be most anxious that, when the question is ripe for Federal treatment, the presidential chair shall be occupied by a man of "iron integrity." For this purpose he is manoeuvring in the boldest fashion, in order to have the privilege of nominating the Republican candidate for the next presidential campaign. Mr Tait is Mr* Roosevelt's chosen man, his friends believe. ThcCresident is inviting thp governors'of the States and the heads of the party machine to visit him singly and unostentatiusly for a discussion of rail road problems and Mr Tait's fitness for the presidcntal chair. Mr Mellen, of the Newhaven Railroad, is the only one of the four presidents whom Mr Pierpont Morgan asked Mr Roosevelt to receive who intends to go to Wtfthington. The others say tint they will not go, because they do not believe that he is authorised to represent the railroads in.such a mattr. It is a matter of gossip, however, that they do not wish to go, because they are unwilling to appear in the role oft suppliants. The panic, says the New York Press, was due to Mr Roosevelt's determination to oust Mr Harriman as a factor in railroad management owing to his lack of moral sense and lawlessness. Mil Roosevelt, it is stated, declared that Mr Harriman was a menace to the country.