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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.