Twenty Climbers

The touch of Midas turned things to gold. In the legends of finance the name of J. P. Morgan is supposed to have the same effect. All sorts of stocks are sometimes labelled Morgan stocks, yet no one save the uncommunicative partners at 23 Wall St. really knows exactly what companies have Morgan connections, or how much stock interest, if any, J. P. Morgan Co. holds in them. Speculators eager to know how much the name of Morgan is like the touch of Midas, have spent much time calculating what profit Morgan stocks have shown in 1929.

The following list gives 20 stocks labelled with various degrees of certainty as Morgan Stocks. It shows a wide diversity of Morgan interests, a wide diversity of Morgan profit. The stock prices given are respectively the closing prices on Jan. 2, 1929 and the closing prices on Aug. 17, no allowance being made for rights issued in the intervening period.

Seven Railroads: 1) Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe rose from 197 1/4 to 275, a gain of 77 1/4 points. On the basis of 2,416,293 shares of stock outstanding, this was an increase of $186,658,634 in the market value of the company's common shares. 2) Chesapeake & Ohio rose from 218 1/2 to 274, a gain by similar calculations of $65,542,170. 3) Great Northern preferred,* from 111 to 123 1/2 or $31,193,325. 4) New York Central, from 188 5/8 to 241 3/4, or $246,362,682. 5) New York, New Haven & Hartford from 81 1/2 to 123 3/4, or $66,382,313. 6) Northern Pacific from 109 to 108 5/8 or a decrease of $930,000. The seventh is not a railroad company strictly speaking, it is Alleghany Corp., a railroad investment company of the Van Sweringen brothers. It was not in existence at the beginning of the year, but stock was issued at 24, has risen to 50 3/4, or $93,625,000.

Two Farm Implement Makers

J. I. Case & Co., from 504 1/2 to 320, or a decrease of $23,295,892; 2) International Harvester from 100 to 118 1/4, or $80,467,626. (Volume of shares made the Harvester gain more than thrice the Case loss.) Columbia Graphophone, from 80 3/8 to 62 7/8 or $4,475,100 decrease.

Continental Oil (Delaware), formerly Marland Oil, from 45 7/8 to 36 7/8, or a decrease of $21,215,421 (not allowing for the shares issued to acquire Continental Oil of Maine).

Fleischmann (yeast) from 83 7/8 to 96 3/4, or $57,937,500.

General Electric, from 215 1/4 to 395 1/2, or $1,083,525,170.

General Motors, from 84 3/8 to 70, or a decrease of $62,531,150.

International Telephone & Telegraph, sold for 202 in January, has since been split three-for-one. The new shares have reached 119 5/8 or $288,618,416 gain in value.

Johns Manville (asbestos, magnesia) from 198 to 192, a decrease of $4,500,000.

Kennecott (copper) was 158, after a two-for-one split is 86 3/8, or $69,101,242 increase.

Montgomery Ward (second largest mail order house) from 156 to 124, or $110,898,432 decrease.

United Corporation (utility investment company), shares were offered at 27 1/2, now sell at 67 7/8, or $228,761,116 increase.

U. S. Steel, from 162 3/4 to 238 5/8, or $609,299,316 increase.

Gain of 13 stocks . . . $3,107,140,757

Loss of 7 stocks . . . 227,815,995

Net gain . . . $2,879,324,762

Thus in seven and one-half months tens of thousands of holders of these 20 stocks, including the House of Morgan, acquired a paper profit equal to between two-thirds and three-quarters of the national budget for a year's expenditures.

Chief of the Morgan stocks in last week's fame was U. S. Steel which gained more than 20 points, touched a new all-time high of 245. Great was the rejoicing among the more than 100,000 shareholders of Steel common. Greatest of all should have been the rejoicing of George F. Baker, president of First National Bank of New York, holder of 76,000 shares, showing a gain of $5,700,000 since the first of the year.

No rejoicing over Steel, however, was Calvin Coolidge entitled to. Formerly he held 50 shares which were increased to 70 by a stock dividend in 1927. At the annual meeting of U. S. Steel last April, it was disclosed that he was no longer a stockholder. Assuming that he sold his holdings before the first of the year, he lost a chance for a profit of some $5,250. Grinning bulls asked last week whether curious Mr. Coolidge had gone bearish too soon. Others shook their heads scornfully--too wise is Mr. Coolidge. Doubtless some friendly tycoon advised him to reinvest his money in another company where it has since made a great deal more than $5,250 for him.

*Calculations for all other companies refer to common stocks. Great Northern has never had any common stock.