1898 Dow Industrials Components: American Sugar Refining Company

Incorporated in 1887, the American Sugar Refining Company would become one of the original 12 companies in the Dow Industrials Stock Index when it was created in 1896.  By 1907 the firm owned or controlled 98% of sugar refining capacity in the United States.  I've yet to learn what American Sugar transactions that might have taken place during the 1898-1902 tax period that might have required the stamp below, though the firm was very active with corporate acquisitions that might have required documentary stamps.

AMERICAN

SUGAR REF. CO.

JUN 2XXX

scan courtesy of David Thompson

Meanwhile, trading in American Sugar Refining was very active, as it was one of the largest companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  A few examples of those trades are provided below:

Charles Head memorandum of sale to D. Bacon.

100 shares of American Sugar @129.00 on Dec 29, 1899

American Sugar Refining was big and dominant enough that the simple "sugar" moniker was all that was necessary on the share line.

J. H. Griesel memorandum of sale to Eames & Moore on behalf of G P. Mellick.

100 shares of American Sugar @ 102.25 on Mar 5 1900

Pearl & Co memorandum of sale to Eames & Moore.

100 shares of American Sugar @ 135.50.  no date.

Dominion Line

    DOMINION LINE

BOSTON

MAR

31

1899

PASSENGER DEPT.

Berger-Crittenden Company

BERGER-CRITTENDEN CO.

MAY

17

1901

Bart Rosenberg scan

The article below came from the Philadelphia Telegraph in 1913:

New York Evening Post, Feb 1895:

International Paper Company

International Paper's +50 year old brand logo designed in the early 1960s by Lester Beall.  Organized in 1898 of of sixty smaller paper firms, the company continues today as the largest paper and pulp company in the world.  The company is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO.

SEP

17 & 20

1898

NEW YORK.

Langlois scan

Shipping Companies: Oelrichs & Company

OELRICHS & CO.

AUG

3

1899

NEW YORK

Shipping Companies: Compagnie Generale Transatlantique

Postcard for the S. S. France of the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique

COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE

AGENCE

SEP  25  1899

DE

BOSTON

Langlois scan

CANCELED

MAY  14  1901

Cie. Gle. Tque.

Thompson scan

New York Stock Brokers: Wasserman Brothers

WASSERMAN BROS.

APR

27

1899

NEW YORK.

WASSERMAN BROS.

OCT

20

1900

NEW YORK.

WASSERMAN BROS.

JUL

X

1901

W BROS die cut cancels above and below

WASSERMAN BROS.

JUL

13

1901

NEW YORK.

Wasserman Brothers memorandum of sale for 300 shares of the Southern Pacific Railroad.  Each two dollar stamp paid for the sale of 100 shares of stock.

Chicago Board of Trade Members: John F. Harris

J. F. HARRIS.

APR 17  1899

CHICAGO

Need Some Help with Whitmay (?) Mills

Today we have a cancel from a firm that appears to be "Whitmay" Mills.  Problem is that neither David Thompson, who sent in this scan, nor I can find anything about this mill, or a person with the this name.

Two questions for the crowd out there in internet land.  Does this look like, and is the manuscript cancel indeed Whitmay Mills, and if so, can you tell us anything about it?  We've thought of Whitney Mills, but it just doesn't look like Whitney.

New York Stock Brokers: Noble & Mestre

Noble & Mestre cancels are common on 1898 revenue series stamps, yet there are no photos of Mssrs Noble or Mestre in this site's favorite NYSE 1898 reference, King's Views of the New York Stock Exchange.  Also, I cannot find much in the way of history of any kind on this firm.  So if you know anything, please write to 1898revenues@gmail.com.

NOBLE & MESTRE

??

??

??

NEW YORK.

NOBLE & MESTRE.

DEC

7

1900

NEW YORK.

NOBLE & MESTRE

MAY

14

1901

NEW YORK.

NOBLE & MESTRE.

MAY

21

1901

NEW YORK.

NOBLE & MESTRE.

APR

19

1901

NEW YORK.

Langlois and Thompson scans

New York Stock Brokers: C. I. Hudson & Company

C. I. HUDSON & CO.

MAR  27 1900

NEW YORK.

David Thompson scan

C. I. HUDSON & CO.

NOV.

30

1900

36 Wall St., N. Y.

C. I. HUDSON & CO.

JUL

15

1900

36 Wall St., N. Y.

Langlois scans

It seems Mr. Hudson had something of a temper. 

The New York Times, March 15, 1900:

Cotton Brokers: George H. McFadden & Brother

Geo. H. McFadden & Bro.

SEP

6

1898

PHILADELPHIA., PA.

Geo. H. McFadden & Bro.

DEC

6

1898

PHILADELPHIA., PA.

Langlois scans

George H. McFadden and Brother was the largest cotton merchant in the United States during the Spanish American War period. In 1868, George H. McFadden took over his father’s business and established “Geo. H. McFadden, Cotton Merchant”. 4 years later, the firm became “Geo. H. McFadden & Bro.”

The McFadden's maintained operations in Memphis and Philadelphia.

The McFadden firm has been controlled over the last 50 years by many larger firms with an interest in the cotton business.  In 1984, Valmac Industries sold McFadden to Dunavant Enterprises.  As best as I can tell, remaining McFadden interests are today controlled by Louis Dreyfus Commodities.

New York Stock Brokers: Probst, Wetzlar & Company

P.W.&Co.

What firm cancelled its stamps with an oval with P. W. & Co. inside?  For several years I have had this stamp in my collection:

P. W. & Co.

JAN   19  1899

N. Y.

Then I acquired this block of four:

P. W. & Co.

JUN   18   1902

N. Y.

then David Thompson sent in this pair:

For all these examples, there are two possibilities for the originator of this cancel, with one being more likely.  The best known P.W. & Company brokerage firm in history is Paine, Webber & Co, which existed deep into the 20th century but was headquartered in Boston during the 1898 revenues period.

The other P. W. & Co. firm was Probst, Wetzlar & Co., a prominent New York-London arbitrage firm during the 1898 tax period.  Probst Wetzlar was headquartered in New York, and given that these cancels all include N. Y., I figured these were from Probst Wetzlar but needed proof.

And then an on-document example showed up in the form of a memorandum of sale, and mystery was solved:

Memorandum of sale for 100 shares of the Erie Railroad at 37 7/8 per share.  The hole in the middle possibly came from a clerk in the NYSE's clearing office putting the memorandum on a spindle.

********

Mr. Probst and Mr. Wetzlar in 1898:

Mr. Probst and Mr. Wetzlar made much of their money by trading on the differences in price for US stocks on the London and New York stock exchanges.  Probst, Wetzlar was an arbitrage brokerage house.   In a post from November 22, 2011 on the firm Ladenburg Thalman, I featured the work of arbitrage houses:

From King's Views of The New York Stock Exchange, page 20:

Meanwhile, the "arbitrage houses" have also been in close touch with their correspondents in London over the cable, and their clerks have been busy noting prices and coding orders and instructions. The "arbitrage houses" make a business of buying and selling between the two markets, according as a margin of profit offers itself by disparity in prices, and in active markets each house will send and receive many cables in a minute. There are about eight or ten of such houses, among whom L. von Hoffman & Co., Ladenburg Thalman & Co., L. H. Niles & Co., Probst, Wetzler & Co., and I. & S. Wormser are prominent. The principal arbitrage houses in London are R. Raphael & Sons, Leon Bros., Satterthwaite & Co., Huggins & Clark, and Borthwick, Wark & Co.

The houses just named make a business of dealing between the two markets. Suppose St. Paul stock [the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, or Milwaukee Road was known as the "St. Paul" in 1897] to be 93 1/2 "sellers" in London at 3 PM, while the first quotation in New York is 91 1/4. As all American stocks in London are quoted on an arbitrary basis of $5 to 1 pound, (i. e., $1 equals 4 shillings), the London quotation is equal to a quotation of 90.69 in New York (with exchange at 4.85), so that with the opening quotation of 91 1/4 the arbitrage house [Ladenburg Thalman & Co.], for example -- buys St. Paul in London at 93 1/2, and sells St. Paul in New York at 91 1/4/ There is a pure profit in the transaction of over 50 cents per share...

New York Stock Brokers: Haven & Stout

Advertisement, New York Times, February 1, 1898

HAVEN & STOUT,

APR

26

1899

NEW YORK.

Langlois scan

New York Stock Brokers: Jacob Cahn

J. CAHN,

FEB

17

1899

NEW YORK

Langlois scan