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TIT.ARST'S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, OA., SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 1013
13 D
News and Views by Experts of Finance, Industry, Crops and Commerce
Amendments Proposed in Chi
cago Meeting Called Disrup
tive of Reform.
HOUSE BALKS AT CHANGE
Fight To Be Made in Senate;
Underwood Wins Battle
for Control.
One Hundred Million Bushels of Corn
Could Be Grown on Georgia Swamps
Era of Canal Diggers Here Making Richest Tracts Tillable—Reclaim
ing of Lost Bottoms in Piedmont Valleys and Coastal Plain Possible
With Great Profit.
, CHARLES A. WHITTLE .
Morgan Answers
A Stockholder
Georgia State College of Agriculture.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30.—Presi
dent Wilson will veto any currency
bill sent him by Congress carrying a
provision for a central bank of con
trol of issue of currency or any of the
other cardinal features of the recom
mendations of the bankers confer
ence in Chicago.
The President considers the sug
gestions of the bankers disruptive of
the entire currency reform plan of
the Democratic party and in direct
antagonism to the provisions of the
Baltimore convention platform which
demanded equal treatment for afll
bank customers.
The bankers’ recommendations will
not be considered by the House unless
they are presented by a Republican
member, and then they will be bowled
over with as little discussion as possi
ble. The bankers will make their
fight in the Senate. House members
will not even discuss the bankers’
amendments. Chairman Glaus and
other members of the House Banking
and Currency Committee agreed in
condemnation of the changes .pro
posed.
Henry Is Deserted.
Representative Henry, leader in the
fight for an agricultural currency,
was deserted by his followers and
saw them vote for the following com
promise provision, which was written
into the currency bill without a dis
senting vote:
“Upon the indorsement of any
member bank, any Federal reserve
bank may discount notes and bills of
exchange arising out of commercial
transactions; that is, notes and bills
of exchange issued or drawn for
agricultural, industrial or commercial
purposes, or the proceeds of which
have been us»ed, or may be used for
f»uch purposes, the Federal reserve
board to have the right to determine
or define the character of the paper
thus eligible for discount within the
meaning of this act; but such defini
tion shall not include notes or bills
issued or drawn for the purpose of
carrying or trading in stocks, bonds
or other investment securities, nor
shall anything herein contained b^*
construed to prohibit such notes and
bills of exchange, secured by staple
agricultural products, or other goods,
wares or merchandise from being
eligible for such discount. Notes and
bills admitted to discount under the
terms of this paragraph must have a
maturity of not more than 90 days.”
Underwood Forces Test.
Chairman Glass drew this compro
mise to existing provisions in the bill
at the suggestion of Deader Under
wood. Kitchin of North Carolina and
Harrison of Mississippi presented it
with explanation. It is designed to
make clear that there shall be no dis
crimination against agricultural pa
per in discount and rediscount.
Underwood forced a test vote of his
power earlier in the caucus when
Barclay of Kentucky tried to have
stricken from the Administration bill
the section providing for an advisory
board of twelve bankers to the Fed
eral board of control. He won by a
vote of 104 to 67. With this vote an
nounced the backbone of opposition
to the Glass-Owen bill was broken.
Gold Now Returning
From South America
Return of Metai Shipped Last Spring
Means Cheaper Money and
Higher Bonds.
Importation of $500,000 gold from
South America by a New York bank
ing house is of significant interest to
the bond market. If it marks the
beginning of a return movement of
the gold which was shipped in such
large quantities from New York to
Buenos Ayres last spring it will fol
low that money will become easier
and there will be cheaper and more
abundant funds for investment.
Since January 1 the United States
has lost $68,742,696 gold through ex
ports of specie, of which $22,448,229
went to South America. This big
drain on the country’s gold supply
has been a potent factor in causing
the high interest rates on money and
the curtailment of credit. The out
flow' to South America was due in
part to the hoarding of gold abroad,
resulting in a three-cornered opera
tion by which Europe paid its South
American debts by drawing on the
gold supply of the United States.
With easier money conditions in
Europe it is reasonable to expect a
return of the yellow metal from Ar
gentina and other countries to the
South.
As much as 100,000,000 bushels of
corn could be grown on the overflow
and swamp lands of Georgia. One
could nearly duplicate that for each
of the Atlantic and Gulf States of
the South. Six or seven hundred mil
lion bushels of corn Is w'orth while.
Of course, it might be expressed in
terms of cotton, potatoes, etc.
The fact is that the best lands of
the South are overflow and swamp
lands. The swamp lands are the
black belt lands in process of forma
tion. How long ago we do not know,
but sometime quite a w r ay back all
the black soil region of the South
was a big s\Vamp. Either it was
humped up and drained itself by some
internal impetus of the W’orld, or It
continued to fill up with its own veg
etation and the wash from higher
lands till it became tillable.
It is neither necessary for man to
wait nature’s process of filling up the
swamps nor an earthquake to elevate
it. He can dig and drain, occupy,
plant and gather the fat of the land.
In Florida the era of the canal
diggers is well on its way. The water
Cyprus, the bullfrogs, the water moc
casin snakes, the malarial mosquitoes
with all the dismal sounds and sights
which they suggest, give way to the
industrious chug of the steam shovel
nosing int) the so" 6 ^ soil, channel
ing a canal, drawing off of the brack
ish stagnation, the letting In of sun
light and life, the upturning of the
muck, the planting and wonderful
reaping.
“Look Before You Buy.”
By way of a slight diversion, it
may be here suggested that before
you buy of the Florida land agent,
take a look. Sometimes the canals
that are supposed to do the draining
of the particular land now on the
market—when the canal Is dug—does
not serve the purpose. An invest
ment in swamps, mosquitoes, snakes,
etc., does not pay, as a rule.
Not only are there great opportu
nities in drained swamp lands, but
great things are possible In the re
clamation of lands which were once
the glory of the South for big yields.
Along the valleys of the Piedmont
region, as well as on the prairies of
the coastal plain, you will find trust
worthy citizens who can tell you when
great crops were being raised where
now the water flags and frog's ar?
luxuriating. These are the overflow
lands. These were once the rich a’-
luvial bottom lands now lost to pro
duction.
Why? Because of the wash from
above. Look upon the gullies of the
red hills of the Piedmont region!.
There is the answer. Look at the
bare lands in the winter with no cover
crop to check the leach and erosion!
Look af the absence of terraces 3r
the carelessness with which they are
maintained! Lcok at the carelessness
of landowners ir. permitting the
^Streams to become clogged with de
bris!
South Must Pay by Ditching.
Now the South must pay for these
mistakes by ditching. Fortunately the
South can pay for its mistakes and
get for the payment the richest land
of which it can boast. It is not often
that one can recoup losses with so
great a success.
But why has the South not been
ditching and draining its overflow
lands, and why is it not taking pos
session again of its best lands which
it has been compelled to abandon and
retire to the hills? The reason is
that it is too big a Job for single
farmers. If it were only the ditch
ing and draining of his own farm,
that would not be too much; but
draining one farm, if that farm does
not extend from the source to the
mouth of the stream which has been
consuming land, is not practical.
If the farmer next below does not
also ditch and dig the right depth,
the first farmer might as well have
saved his money. If all of the farm
ers along the stream do not ditch in
exactly the right way the reclamation
work will soon be lost.
Thus it will be seen that reclaim
ing overflowed land is a stream-long
and watershed wide proposition. If
the farmers are going to succeed in
winning again their best land, they
will have to co-operate, employ an
engineer, put an efficient contractor
to work to follow engineer’s sur
vey and recommendations.
Government Offers Engineer.
During the last two years a great
deal of interest has been taken, espe
cially in the Piedmont region. In
drainage and reclamation. The move
ment has just started and promises
to assume large proportions. With
adequate State financial assistance,
these enterprises would have gone
ahead much more rapidly. As it is
the initiation is slow because tho
farmers must educate themselves to it
and agree with each other over an
area of many square miles in places
ajid raise money by prorating before
anything can be started.
With a better appreciation of the
vast public good that will follow, the
Federal Government has provided that
wherever a, body of farmers will meet
the expense of a survey, that an en
gineer will be furnished, the expense
being that which is over and above
the salary of the engineer. This, of
course, is an attractive offer and is
eagerly appropriated by the farmers.
As a direct result of drainage en
terprises, alnds which heretofore
could have been purchased for a
nominal sum, perhaps from $5 to $10
per acre, are now being sold as high
as $200 per acre, and thyr a re worth
It is a plain financial proposition,
that if drained land is worth, say from
$50 to $100 per acre, and It costs only
a fraction of that amount to ef
fect the drainage of it, the sum de
pending upon how many acres are
drained and the size of the channel—
that an inviting field for investment
is afforded.
If overflow lands could be optioned
at their present values, they could be
drained and sold in many instances
before the option time expires, netting
the drainage company all of the in
crease in the value of the land.
Overflow Land Different.
This very thing is being done in
swamp lands by promoting compa
nies whose actual capital tied up nev
er becomes very much. The only rea
son that it is being done in swamp
lands is that the swamp lands are
owned by very few people and can
be easily obtained, while the over
flow land has numerous holders, all
of whom have to be lined up to a fair
basis before the enterprise can be
financed. In many places, however,
overflow lands can be handled suc
cessfully In this way.
The co-operative undertakings
wherein the farmers affected join in
the expense, a system of bonding the
land to be Improved at so much per
acre, these bonds to carry as low a
rate of interest as possible, with the
land itself backing it with a mort
gage, has been successfully worked.
Of course, before any financier will
put up the money he must first know
how much will be required to improve
the land, whether or not the scheme
is plausible and whether or not the
land is to be sufficiently enhanced to
make the security attractive for the
money to be advanced.
Therefore, before the farmers can
carry their proposition to a banker
they must first obtain the services of
an engineer, whose report will noi
oply estimate the cost of drainage,
but will approximate the resultant
value to the land. The services of
such an engineer can be obtained free
of salary, from the Government. His
living expense, materials and assist
ance must be met by the co-operating
farmers.
Cash Outlay Is Small.
The acUial outlay of cash on the
part of the co-operating farmers,
therefore, need not be large to meet
the cost of the survey. After the ex
penses of ditching and draining should
be met by the bonds.
Ditching a deeper and better bed for
a stream will not mean a permanent
improvement of the adjoining land, if
care is not taken to check erosion o'r
the flowing sand and gravel from the
slopes of the watershed with every
rain.
To keep the channel from, filling up
again in a short time, there must be
well kept terraces on the slopes, each
terrace constructed on a water level
and near enough to each other to
prevent an accumulation of water
that would break over and cause a
wash.
Supplementing the terraces should
be the winter cover crop of oats,
wheat, rye, clover, vetch or some oth
er suitable kind. These will serve to
catch the rainfall, turn it downward
into the soil and hold by its roots a
large amount of moisture which oth
erwise would serve only to leech away
the fertility of the land.
Permanent hillside pastures would
afford a happy solution of the ero
sion problem, as well as a means for
a live stock business. No better per
manent pasture can be found in a
greater part of the South than Ber
muda grass, and none is so well adapt
ed to worn-out gullied lands which
are the cause of the choking and fill-'
ing up of the streams.
How to Save Waste Land.
The grass will grow on most any
soil, as will Japanese clover, which
grows wild in the South. Sowing
Bermuda on the land and filling the
gullies wi£h the scrub pine which has
sprung up on the land will not only
check the wash, but start the waste
land toward reclamation. The drop
pings of the cattle in pasture will
eventually bring the land back to a
cultivatable state.
Bermuda pasture will put on one
and a half pound of flesh a day on
tick-free and fairly good types of beef
cattle, as has been demonstrated at
the Georgia State College of Agri
culture.
When it is considered that the pas
ture which is doing this is land which
was gullied and long since abandoned
for agricultural purposes, and when
In addition it is considered that the
hitherto worthless land is now cred
ited with $1.50 per month pasture for
each head of cattle. It can be, under
stood how easy and profitable it be
comes to reclaim gullied land and
check erosion. A pound of beef pro
duced at 11-2 cents per day will sell
at from 6 cents up on the hoof. It’s a
good argument for stopping the wash
and waste of land.
Penalty for Neglect Urged.
The public w r elfare demanding it
very certainly, and the washing of
land being for the most part both
preventable and profitable, there ought
to be a law to compel reasonable pre
cautions in this regard. County en
gineers should survey terraces, and
farmers should be required to con
struct them, or else put their slope-
lands down to permanent pasture.
Where gullies exist they should be
filled with brush, and it should be an
Indictable offense to permit new ones
to be formed.
This is no trivial matter. It con
cerns slow death and destruction of
a vast acreage of farm lands in the
South. The State of Georgia alone is
many million dollars poorer to-day
for the sands that have been creep
ing down from the slopes.
It will spend many millions of dol
lars to lecover its submerged fertil
ity, not to mention its denuded fer
tility of the uplands, and when these
rtiillions have been spent they also
will be lost In time. If a right policy
of agriculture is not pursued on the
higher lands. This right policy prob
ably will never become effective with
out law.
Montana Tract the Best Wheat
Land on God's Footstool, Says
James J. Hill.
James J. Hill says of the new lands
to be opened up for drawing on the
Fort Peck Reservation, Montana,
next month, when asked if the lands
were good:
“They are sunkissed acres, tin* best
wheat land on God’s footstool.’’
The reservation Is the last of the
Government reservation lands to be
opened up for public drawing and set
tlement. It was a reservation of the
Sioux Indians, which they picked out
some years ago as the most fertile
and desirable in the region The
2,000 Sioux now living on the big
reservation have been allotted 124,-
000 acres.
There are to be opened up for
drawing the remainder of the 2,000,000
acres in a plot of land 40 miles by
80 miles, with its long side bordering
on the Missouri River, in the North
eastern corner of Dawson County,
Montana.
The lanc^ are big wheat lands. The
Government is already engaged in the
work of providing irrigation for 200,-
000 acres. The agricultural lands
consist of 487,000 acres; the grazing
land of 783,000 acres. For the
agricultural lands a nominal charge
of from $5 to $7 an acre will be made
to those who draw plots, and for the
grazing lands from $2.50 to $3.50
an acre.
The Department of the Interior will
receive applications for entrance In
the drawings from September 1 to j
20. The drawings will be held at i
Glasgow, Mont., on September 23. One
man can file on no more than 16p
acres.
Montana's fertility is illustrated in
an average production of 31 bushels
of wheat an acre against the average
of 15.8 bushels per acre for the
United States last year.
Russian Mills Buying
Cotton in Liverpool
Short Crop in Turkestan and Trans-
Caucasia Will Increase Imports,
Bulls Declare.
Big Building Pays Arkansas Diamond Gulf and Lakes Now
Savings Institution Fields Developed
ELEVEN-CENT COTTON
FOR OCTOBER DELIVERY
NCW YORK. Aug. 30.—Spinners
who made contracts for delivery of
yarns to hosiery and underwear mills
at the 11-cent basis are said to be
confining themselves for delivery this
side of November 1. There is not much
disposition to hazard terms beyond
that date. The maturing crop is still
uncertain, and they may easily lose
before that.
It does not appear that the yarn
contracts have a tariff schedule con
tingency. but that the mills as buy
ers or sellers of yarns are preferring
to leave months after November 1
free. And there is in that very’ fact
a good deal of speculative risk in
volved. The knitting industry may be
facing a boom when some mills aije
m»44w running day and night.
People Judge the Size and Prosperity
of a Bank by the Home It
Boasts.
NEW YORK. Aug. 30.—It pays to
build a good savings bank building
in a prominent place as a means of
impressing the depositing population
with the character and standing o(
the institution, says a prominent New
York official. A board of directors
recently reviewed the questions and
agreed that the policy which its pres
ident opposed ten yeas ago—of put
ting $300,000 into a bank building on a
leading New York street corner—wag
one of the best investments they ever
made.
The bank was in a populous dis
trict, and the people judged the in
stitution’s prosperity by the size, dig
nity and attractiveness within and
without the building itself, rather
than by any financial statement.
Immediately after the new building
was opened the deposits began to run
up rapidly and have kept going ever
since in impressive fashion.
INDIAN COTTON SLUMPS
IN GRADE SECOND YEAR
The Times of India has some in
teresting comments on the recent
deputation from the International
Cotton Federation to Lord Crewe. It
is true that in several parts of the
country there has be< ' distinct suc
cess in producing cotton of an im
proved staple, and the Bombay mill
owners have shown themselves ready
to take as much of this as they could
get.
The trouble is that in the second
year of cultivation there is a marked
tendency to fall back to the low* r
grade; this is not confined to a par
ticular case or even to one part of
the country.
The question is whether such de
terioration is inevitable, and “the co f -
ton trade” says that it is not. attrib
uting it to "an alleged erroneous way
of selecting seed from one year’s crop
for sowing the next crop.”
Total of 1,375 Stones, Weighing 550
Carats, Found Since
August 1, 1906.
Diamonds were first discovered in
Arkansas August 1, 1906, near the
mouth of Prairie Creek, in the vicinity
of Murfreesboro, Pike County, and
since that time approximately 1.375
stones, aggregating 550 carats, are re
ported to have been found in this lo
cality.
The diamonds in Arkansas occur
in a rook known as peridotite, and for
this reason search for further areas
of the rock has been made. This
search has resulted in the finding
of three new areas, the known ex
tent of which is much smaller than
that near Murfreesboro. They lie
within an area of one square mile,
about three miles from Murfreesboro.
The Kimberlite Diamond Mining
and Washing Company is erecting at
Kimberley a plant to wash the dla-v
inond-bearing earth to be hauled on
a tramway from its peridotlte area
and from another tract near the mouth
of Prairie Creek. Four diamonds of
good quality are said to have been
picked up on the surface, the largest
weighing 5 carats. Further develop
ment work to ascertain the extent of
the peridotlte is now under way.
On another tract, where a little
washing for diamonds has been done
In a crude way without machinery. 20
diamonds have been recovered
BIG RICE EXPORT DEAL
MEETS SUDDEN SETBACK
BEAUMONT, TEXAS, Aug. 30.—At
a meeting of the board of directors
of the Southern Rice Growers' Asso-
, ciatlon and representatives of the
Eouisiana State Rice Milling Compa
ny, the contract between the associa
tion and the milling company, pro
viding for the export of 20 per cent
of the rice crop of 1913, .was by mu
tual consent canceled, because of the
failure of the rice farmers of Louis
iana. Texas and Arkansas to furnish
the rice for export under the contract.
Crow(| Coast Exports
Entire Atlantic Seaboard Controls
but 65 Per Cent of the Total,
Says U. S. Report.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30.—Gulf and
Great Lake ports In the United States
are rapidly pushing the Atlantic
coast ports to the background in the
matter of volume of export and im
port trade, according to a statement
from the Bureau of Foreign and Do
mestic Commerce.
In 1900 the Atlantic ports controlled
69 per cent of the export trade and
In 1913 only 55 per cent. In 1900 Im
port trade In the Atlantic ports was SI
per cent and in 1913 76 per cent.
The percentage of differences had
gone to the Gulf and Great Lake
ports.
FLORIDA CONCERN STARTS
ELABORATE ROPE FACTORY
ST. JAMES CITY, FLA., Aug. 30.—
Th<* Sisal Hemp and Development
Company has completed Us 80-spin
dle mill, driven by fcfteam and electric
power, with a ten-hour capacity of
six tons of rope and twine. It has
also completed a machine sho*p and
tar plant for tarring the lath yarn
manufactured. Both manila and sisal
hemp are beine' used, most of the sisal
being imported from Nassau and the
manila coining from the Philippiny
Islands.
The company is proceeding rapidly
with its hemp planting, and proposes
to grow it in sufficient quantities to
meet its factory consumption. About
100 men and women are now em
ployed in the sisal fields and the mill.
PENNSYLVANIA’S STRONG BANK
The Financier’s roll of honor >?
national banks of the country is head
ed by the First National of Union-
town. Pa., which has a capital of
$100,000 and surplus and undivided
profits of $1,526,420. The National
Deposit Bank of Brownsville, Pa., is
second with a capital of $50,000 and
surplus and undivided profits of $547.-
549. Of the first ten banks seven ate
Pennsylvania institutions.
NEW YORK. Aug. 30.—The report
from Liverpool that Russia and the
continent were buying in that market
attracted considerable attention. It
is now claimed by bulls that spinners
have so cut down their reserve stocks
that they will be forced into the mar
ket. and that a buying movement once
started will soon gain headway.
One explanation for buying by Rus
sian mill interests Is expectation of a
short crop in Turkestan and Trans-
Caucasia. Moreover, consumption is
on the increase in Russia-, that coun
try not having felt the financial and
political disturbances to as great an
extent as other European countries.
Russia had a larger aggregate of
spindles March 1, 1913, than on any
preceding year, while stock of Ameri
can cotton was the smallest for four
years, and almost half that on corre
sponding date in 1912.
Bears contend that the Russian
crop promises well, that a season is
rarely unfavorable, since planters de
pend largely on irrigation, and tem
peratures are not subject to undue
changes.
‘Granger’ Roads Hit
By Drouth in West
Rail Lines No Longer Entirely De
pendent on Crops for
Their Earnings.
The railroad shares affected most
by deterioration of corn and other
crops have been sold rather more
freely than others.
There are no longer any roads
which depend almost wholly on the
crops for freight, as was the case
twenty-five years ago with the four
“grangers,” St. Paul, Burlington.
Rock Island and Northwestern, but
agricultural products still constitute
a considerable percentage of the
freight of these and other railways.
Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Mis
souri and North Dakota seem to be
the States hit by the drouth
The geographical position of Atchi
son and Rock Island should make
them particularly sensitive to the pre
dictions of the private crop experts
Northern Pacific, Great Northern, St
Paul, Northwestern and Missouri
Pacific also have large mileage within
the area where the rainfall has been
below normal.
At the stockholders’ meeting of
the New Haven Railroad A. Max-
ey Hiller, a stockholder, had the
very bad taste to ask J. P. Mor
gan, one of the directors of the
road, how much he charged the
company for organizing the syndi
cate to guarantee the new issue of
$67,000,000 bonds at par. Such a
question was unprecedented in New
Haven meetings. It shows that in
this new era of publicity any
stockholder is likely at any time
to ask impertinent and rude ques
tions about matters hitherto consid
ered purely private and personal
matters by high finance, into which
no stockholder has any right to
intrude^
• * A
Mr. Morgan replied promptly and
politely. He explained that “the
conditions of the security market
were very bad.” Bonds were hard
to sell. When the issue was pro
posed a few weeks ago he under
took to organize a syndicate to
guarantee that any of the bonds not
taken by the stockholders at par
would be taken by a Wall street
syndicate at 98. For his services
he charged 1-2 per cent on the en
tire issue; that is to say, $335,000.
The underwriting syndicate get3
$1,340,000 more for its services. In
the meantime the 6 per cent bonds
are recognized as a prime invest
ment and are eagerly bought by the
public at 106 to 107, although the
bonds are not vet issued.
• * *
Mr. Morgan will not have to take
any of the bonds; the syndicate
will not take any. The risk taken
in this case was negligible. If the
bonds had been offered to the pub
lic they would have been eagerly
taken at a premium. The New Ha
ven road would have received $5,-
000.000 or $6,000,000 more than it
will now receive. The large profit
of the issue now goes to Mr. Mor
gan and the syndicate. Mr. Mor
gan is a director and, therefore, a
trustee for the other stockholders,
but he fixes his own terms for the
bond issue, has no competition, and
“does what he thinks right” for
himself and the company. There is
no one to say “nay,” no public au
thority whose sanction and approv
al is necessary, no stockholder
strong enough or independent
enough to object in behalf of the
other stockholders.
* * •
Whenever the New Haven Rail
road or the New York Central or
the Southern Railway or the Gen
eral Electric Company issue new
securities Ur. Morgan fixes the
price absolutely and charges the
companies up to 2y 2 per rent of
the entire issue for doing so.
• * *
Other great companies, like the
Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific,
the Baltimore and Ohio and some
times the Pennsylvania Railroad,
go to Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Mr. Mor
gan never interferes with the Kuhn
Loeb companies, and Mr. Schiff and
Mr. Kuhn, of Kuhn, Lo©b & Co.,
are much too polite ever to bid for
any issue of any company of which
Mr. Morgan has the monopoly in
Wall Street. The National City
Bank has its own list of clients and
also always co-operates, but never
competes with the two private
banking firms.
• * *
ALL THIS IS PERFECTLY
REGULAR AND LEGAL. It has
been the rule since railroad financ
ing began as a purely private, in
dividual enterprise. It used to be
nobody's business what private
terms bankers made with railroad
promoters for the issue of new se
curities. BUT TIMES HAVE
CHANGEO.
• • •
The Pennsylvania, the New York
Central and the New Haven Rail
roads are now public institutions.
The Pennsylvania is owned by 85,-
000 stockholders. The issue of new
securities affects the public inter
ests, involves questions of rates,
taxes and practices SUBJECT TO
THE CONTROL OR SUPERVI
SION OF THE GOVERNMENT,
through the Interstate Comemrce
Commission.
• * *
The evolution from the old era of
addition, division and silence—of
private privilege in corporate
finance and banking—to the new
era of publicity and public regula
tion is shocking to many hi£h finan
ciers, but Mr. Morgan, by his frank
and polite response to the imperti
nent, radical stockholder, Mr. Hiller,
in the New Haven meeting showed
that he is of the new and younger
generation and that, as the world
moves, he moves with it.
It is a hopeful sign.
CGTTON MILLS
FACING NED OF
SELLS M’S
CAR SHORTAGE IMPENDING.
Twenty-two leading Southeastern
railroad companies issued a warning
to shippers that a serious car Port
age Is impending. Railroads did not
order the usual supply of rolling
stock this year and the shortugo is
now becoming apparent at the begin
ning of the grain movement. In the
Northwest there is alno a scarcity of
cars, but this has not been reflected
In earnings.
PIPE LINE SOLD.
The Texas Company purchased the
oil tanks and pipe lines of the Louis
iana Company for approximately
$100,000, according to an official of
the company The Louisiana Com
pany still retains al oil and gas priv
ileges and other right and assets
COST OF LIVING RISES.
A Government report on the cost
i of living among British working class
; shows there has been an average ad-
j vance in seven years of 10 per cent in
I fuel, food and clothing taken togeth-
I er. Wages have increased not nf*ar-
j ly enough to balance the increase in
the cost of living.
LIQUIDATE WALSH BANK.
Stockholders of the Chicago Na
tional Bank, the old John R. Walsty
institution, decided to place it in ii-
| qiridation It is said available assets
will pay between 15 per cent and 20
J per rent, distribution of which will be
j made in about a month.
Changes Which Reduced Tariff Prices for 1913 Pack Opened
Necessitates Can Be Made Only
as Conditions Arise.
NEW YORK. Aug. 30.—In the opin
ion of competent judges, readjust
ment which tariff reduction is cer
tain to bring eventually in cotton
manufacturing has not as yet run
anything like Its full course. There
have been many substitutions of la
bor-saving machinery. Standards of
efficiency in manufacturing methods
have been overhauled and cost of
production has been attacked from
standpoint of competition with for
eign goods.
There remain, however, many
things which can only be met as oc
casion arises under actual competi
tion with reduced duties.
As between the North and the
South, the former with its 18,727,000
spindles and its production of higher
grade goods, will probably feel more
of the competitive burden than th *
South. The problem of the South
covers a much wider geographical
area. In the thirteen States there are
765 mills with a spindleage of 13,-
008,083 and 650,156 looms, distributed
as below;
Mills Capital. SplniUps Umn
Ala. 64 $17,016,600 1,06.1.046 20.216
Ark - 211.000 14,362 164
(Ja ISO 36,sol,000 2,180,71*2 43,471
Ky. X 1,655,000 88,684 1.420
I,a 4 1.800,000 86.008 2,316
Mia*. 1» 2,835.400 1R6.172 4.781
Mo. .... . .3 1.130.000 42,080 060
N. C 816 58.970,582 3.718.460 63,784
Okla ..... 1 327,500 5,712
S C. 157 75.324.082 4.650.116 212.560
Tenu. ..... 21 4.823.185 297.413 3,657
Tex. 18 2.738.000 126,000 3.198
Va. . . . . . 13 10,104,500 516.200 13,904
765 $214,741,047 18.008.083 650.156
The Investment Involved Is $214,-
741,047. Since January 1 there has
been a slight, decrease, due to dis
mantling of a few small mills and
the merging of others. Tariff change.-
in prospect have not, however, pre
vented expansion. Southern mills in
creased ’ their spindles by 730.975 In
the past twelve months. The feature
has been the tendency to increase ex
isting plants rathr than build new
ones.
Credit Man Answers
Discount Grabbers
Has Excellent Letter tor Those Who
Try to Get Deductions After
Date Specified.
Southern Railroads
Moving Much Grain
Wheat Exports Through Galveston
Large, but Corn Figures Are
Smaller Than in 1912.
esti\ ‘si
A credit man who has esta\ ‘shed
something of a reputation for his po
lite but effective handling of trouble
some debtors has evolved a form let
ter which Is attracting no llttle t at
tention.
The letter la for use in connection
with those customers who seek to take
advantage of discounts after the ex
piration of the discount period, par
ticularly upon the plea that the ship
ment of goods was in transit beyond
the discount period. The credit man
puts his argument as follows;
"If the purchasing house is the re
cipient of the confidence of the selling
house, there is no good reason why re
ciprocal confidence should not be
granted by the buyer, In the belief
that any error in the execution of the
order will be promptly corrected after
being adjusted.
“We firmly believe that there is no
justification in varying discount terms
on the ground that the time required
for shipment exceeded the discount
period, or for any other reason. If
the purchaser believes that he should
bo entitled to delay remittances for
invoices until the goods are received,
this should have been made clear at
the time of entering Into the contract
and either agreed to or declined by the
selling house.
"We take the liberty, ther- fore, of
returning your check, believing that
you will concur in our ideas upon this
subject and mail us a check for the
full amount of the invoice.”
NEW ORLEANS. Aug. 30.—Rail
roads leading to Galveston and New
Orleans lu$vo had a most active pe
riod of grain trade in which wheat has
figured largely. For the year ending
July 31, John H. Upschulte, chief
grain inspector of Galveston, Texas,
reports 13,019,884 bushels of wheat
handled there, of which 1,776,800
bushels were received during July.
The corn inspection for the year was
only 197,223 bushels, and Kaffir corn
439*446 bushels. Last year’s Septem
ber and October trade ran little under
2,000,000 bushels a month and there
were six months out of the twelve In
which Galvoston handled between 1,-
000,000 and 2,000,000 bushels of wheat.
A factor in moving grain freights
to the seaboard is the backwardness
of European harvests. Rains have
delayed field work In Scotland, on the
continent and in large parts of Rus
sia.
The result is a light movement to
ports, a delay in threshing and an
urgent demand for dry wheat fit for
milling purposes such as the dry July
in America as well as the dry August
furnished to our growers of winter
wheat.
July exports of wheat and flour as
wheat were nearly five times as larg-^
as in July. 194 2. at 12,607,000 bushels,
compared with 2,778,000 bushels in
J ul>. 191$
Chinese Knit Goods
Shipped To America
Customers All Orientals—Products
of American Machinery and
Yarns Are Preferred.
The export of Chinese-made knit
garments (made in Hongkong of
American cotton yarn) to the United
States, Is tho latest development of
Hongkong-American trade, according
to Consul General G. E. Anderson. The
export of these garments is made al
most entirely for the use of Chinese
in the United States, but it has grown
to considerable volume and Hong
kong factories are paying considerable
attention to the trade. One factory
reports that almost half of its entire
output is now being exported to the
United States.
The growth of the knitting factory
industry in Hongkong is of decided
significance in the clothing and cotton
trade of till* part of the world. The
factories have been developed almost
entirely within the last three years.
The chief factory in some respects is
a foreign concern known as the Wei
San Knitting and Spinning Company,
which has been in exigence seven
years and has a daily capacity of 100
to 120 dozen sweaters or pieces of un
derwear. This factory employs about
125 people, mostly girls and young
men, whose wages run from 48 centj
to $4.40 gold a week, the greater num
ber earning about $1 gold a week
All of them use American knitting
cottons almost exclusively, claiming
that the American yarn runs better
in the machines and otherwise suits
their needs.
PITTSBURG BOND PLAN FAILS.
PITTSBURG, Aug. 27.—City Comp
troller Morrow has admitted his plan
to sell city bonds to the people has
fallen through, the issue of $150,000
for street improvement going in all
probability in a lump sum to the Un
ion Trust Company. OfT‘*rs from the
people amounted to only $35,000
FOREIGN TRADE OF FRANCE.
Imports of France during first fix
months of 1913, compared with 1912,
were $832,800,983; 1912, $803,341,656,
an increase of $29,459.327; exports.
1913, $653,604,150; 1912, $622,262,880,
an increase of $31,341,270*
Monday—Jobbers Clean Up
Business by Week-End.
“Salmon week” ended Saturday. At
lanta jobbers bought from Wednesday
through Saturday practically all of
the 60,000 cases of the succulent
canned fish which the city and its
jobbing territory uses annually.
The modern salmon trade, from the
time when the fleh are caught in the
cold rivers of the Northwest to the
time when the goods are delivered,
presents one of the romances of the
business world. W. M. Burke, of H.
H. Whitcomb & Burke Co.. Atlanta's
foremost grocery brokers, gives an in-.
teresUng account of the trade—a line
in which a year's business is done
in two or three days.
“We represent Libby, McNeill
Libby,” says Mr. Burke. “Other firms
represent other packing houses. The
competition for this business is keen
er than in almost any other line. By
concerted plan, prices for the year's
pack of salmon are announced on a
certain day, usually during the third
week of August. This year we re
ceived telegrams August 25 quoting
price*. J*
Orders in Advance.
”We had orders for thousands of
cages, subject to these quotations,
from dealers who wanted Libby quali
ty and prestige. But most oT the Job
bers wait to learrf the figures quoted
by the competing packers. When the*
price is announced, there is a scram
ble. The whole year’s business is
done in a couple of days. The job
bers know just about what they will
need for the year, and usually buy,
though some wait to see if there is to
be a decline. Others do not buy
enough, and have to supplement their
orders later on. But of the 60,000
rases of 48 one-pound or half-pound
tins each I would estimate that 50,000
are sold during the few rush day* of
August.”
All the Libby salmon is canned In
Alaska. The fish, caught in almost
every kind of net known and with
fish wheels, are brought to buying
stations along the rivers. Thence they
go by fast power boats to the can
neries. Machinery cleans and skins
the fish, slices it, puts It in can*, seals
the cans and cooks the fish by steam
heat.
The cans, the labels, the boxes and
even the nails for the boxes are taken
to Alaska when the season begins,
and when it is over the steamers re
turn with the goods ready for im
mediate shipment.
Only Salt Added.
Nothing is added to the fish except
a quarter ounce of salt for each pound
of fish. There is no more sanitary
food product than canned salmon.
As to food value it ranks high.
United States Government statistics
give canned salmon a food value of
.218 as compared to sirloin steak .165,
ham .142. macaroni .134. eggs .131,
chicken .120 and white bread .090.
The Whitcomb-Burke Company haa
received notice that the Atlantic-Pa
cific Steamship Company will run
three steamships from the Pacific,
Coast to Savannah and Charleston,
principally for the accommodation of
the salmon trade. One boat leaves
San Fra ncisco early In October, one
in November and one near the end of
December. Rates for salmon will be
60 cents per 100 pounds In carload
lots and 95 cents per 100 pounds on
smaller quantities.
Great Growth Made
By Paint Industry
Value of Products Rises Sixfold In
Forty Years. Increasing 79.6 Per
Cent In Decade.
WASHINGTON, Aug: 30.— Statts-
tirs nf the paint and varnish Indus
try In the United States for 1909 are
presented 1n detail In a bulletin soon
to he issued by the Bureau of the
Census.
The value of products Increased
JIG 327 187. or 79.5 per cent, durtmr
the’decade 1899-1909, being almost six
times as great In 1909 as in 1869.
New York ranked first at the cen
suses of 1909 and 1904 in average
number of wage earners, value of
products, and value added by manu
facture. In average number of wage
earners. Pennsylvania held second
place at both censuses, but in value
of products and value added by man
ufacture Illinois was second.
The cost of all materials used In
the combined Industry was J79,016,000
In 1909, J59.827.000 in 1904. and $44,-
739 000 in 1899. the increase 'or the
decade 1898-1909 being 76.6 , r cent.
The quantity of pig lead used In
the manufacture of paint and varnish
In all establishments- Increased 51.6
per cent during the decade 1899-1909;
that of wood alcohol 327.6 per cent,
and thar of grain alcohol, 354.9 per
cent. Oraln alcohol formed approxi
mately one-flfth of the total quantity
of alcohol used In the manufacture of
paint and varnish in 1909 and 1899,
hut a considerably smaller proportion
In 1904.
COPPER SHARES ADVANCE
AS METAL GOES UP
BOSTON, Aug. 30.—In a period of
a little over two months there has
been an appreciation of over $102.-
900,000 In the market value of 32
representative Boston copper shares.
Low prices for the year were made
about the middle of June, when cop
per the metal was to be haul at 14 7-3
cents. Since the upward movement
In copper shares started, the metal
has advanced to 15 7-8(Q)16 cents.
The shares of the Lake Superior
companies have advanced despite the
closing down of all the mines in that
district, many at present prices show
ing advances of from 5 to 10 points
from the 1913 low.
NOTES OVERSUBSCRIBED.
A London special says: Canadian
Northern offering of notes was over-
; subscribed. The issue was l.oOO.OO^
j pounds in five-year 5 per cent notes,
land was offered at 98. There Is evl-
, dently a good public appetite for 5 1-3
i per cent yielding securities.