Naturally there ensued a period of depression, but it was short-lived. The ensuing months of activity and buoyancy surpassed anything of the kind in our history. After the apprehension as to how the business world would adjust itself to war conditions had passed away, business began to boom all over the country. We were on our feet again with financial health restored. That wonderful boom in the stock market, begun in the summer of 1898 and lasting until the spring of 1899, will not soon be forgotten.
It seems more like a dream than a fact that trade and commerce and financial operations could swell to such well-nigh inconceivable figures, revealing a degree of prosperity almost past belief, like some marvelous good fortune of an individual in a Persian tale, favored by good Genii, actual fact rivalling fancy or throwing it far into the shade. In other words the oldest and most experienced merchants and financiers in this country were astounded at the degree of solid prosperity attained by the great Republic, the lion’s whelp, rivalling or surpassing the strength of the old lion, the mother country across the sea.
To the late Ex-Governor Flower belongs the credit of fearlessly taking the initiative in that marvelous rise in values to which I shall revert later on.
The formal close of the Spanish war gave fresh impetus to trading and prices kept soaring well on into the spring of 1899. The year 1898 has the distinction of marking the beginning of the greatest era of trade combinations, those gigantic commercial engines, that the world has ever seen. The capitalization of those inaugurated during 1898 and 1899 reached the fabulous aggregate of $3,500,000,000. The mind is staggered by the possibilities of enterprise which such a sum suggests.
The tendency towards centralization in the railroad world was first shown in the merger of the Lake Shore road with the New York Central.
The year 1899 was one of great prosperity, the greatest since we have been a nation, albeit its close was marked by one of the worst semi-panics the Street has ever experienced. In order to account for some of the most important features of the panic of December, 1899, it is necessary to take a glance backward at certain great financial events of the year even as early as April.
In that month was formed the famous Amalgamated Copper Corporation, a creation of the Standard Oil magnates.
The capital stock of the company was $75,000,000. The shares were said to be subscribed five times over. Owing to its parentage, the stock became popular, and was sustained at par for some time, but scarcely two months had elapsed before a break of 25 per cent. in the price occurred.
This break was regarded as a rather suspicious circumstance, and was supposed by the “knowing ones” to be a part of the deal. The Amalgamated Company was a mammoth combination, comprised of large share interests in over 30 companies, the famous Anaconda of Montana heading the list, and being the most prominent
The panic fell most severely upon the copper companies, the shrinkage on the share capital of which for the year is alone estimated at nearly $200,000,000.