The evening times., 1896-11-13
LAWS PREVENT BUSINESS
Prohibiting Statutes Relating
10 interpretations.
EFFECT UPON CAPITALISTS
Requirement That the Capital Must
Be Paid in Cash Within Two
Years and One and a Half Per
Cent Tax Annually Exacted to Sc
cure Charter Here.

Practically prohibitory laws keep local
| capitalists from Incorporating their busi-
ness enterprises under the statutes OF the
| District.
1nIs is the reason there are so many cor
| poraeions doing business here that are ad-
vertised us having Beeh chartered in nearby
| States. =
Form many years these la ws almost chokcd
off The Development and employment of
| local capital, as. iB the days gone by, the
pracuce OF incorporating elsewhere was
| not SO wen understood nor SO prevalent
In The District. the law requires capital
lists who wish to incorporate company.
say OF 100000 cGyi,al, TO pay In cash
aii OF that sum withGi two years. and also
annually 10 pay AJAX of l 1-2 per cent,
amounting. upon tie sum named, to , ,oUU.
very rev concerns can afford 10 pay that
for taxation In order to enjoy the Gacs-
uonable protection of the attachments here
| CASE IN POINT.
The uneven working Of the rule may be
seen in considering the fact that a large
manufacturing concern, Incorporated else
where with capital OF S3,O0O,000, can
establish an agency here upon the payment
| oil a Small license fee Of not over $50.
Therefore, SO long as this can be done the
local money owner Ca mot be induced to add
| to the revenues of the District what is evil
oehe.s al uhiSdsOudUle ttliOuHb Ol tstAts. TO
Then again perhaps more serious obJec-
| tion lies in the requirement. that the capital
must be paid in in cash within two years.
An instance the hardships imposed by this
Is seen In the case OF an invent He gets
together u humber Of nIoneyedmen whoare
willing to help him financially They de-
sire to capitalize the concern at 100000,
the inventor to receive $4,000 In shares
of stock for his invention, the balance to go
to the investors
This is prohibited here-only money can
be paid in.
In other States, Maryland, Virginia
and West Virginia, the laws are not SO
burdensofne, and are designed To encour-
| age investment, enterprise, even specula-
ton.
The Spectator all modem business men
admit, Is the one VINO Keeps the wn .els of
trade and commerce in rapid motion, who
pushes the market up or Gown; WHO takes
hold OF the good things in every line of
barter, sale or exchange, and who seeks to
turn INTO gold everything he touches
The men who loan money are not the
schemers. plotters. planners; not the kind
who lay awake nights devising novelties TO
gratify the artistic taste; inyentiuns To
/ economize operating expenses; devices TO
sa .e human tabor, or 20 reDie the prod,rtivc
power. The money lenders fuEi sh the
Drawn, SO to speak, the spectators the
brain. -.-
IT Is "GAMBLE"
The speculaJor stands TO win twent y dimes
out OF nifty, but the "bloated bOuuIuidcr'
either gets all his money back through the
bursting of the schemer's bubble, or he
hanis in large interest on the money he
owns in the other fellows possession
Looked at on one side, business is very
largely n gamble Take the case Of a
company with what they think is - good
thing Under d liberal law of inc prpOra-
ton they can get charter representing
Sl00, 900, with authority 10 issue The first
block of shares at % cents on the collar,
The ready money so gained may bush the
business TO such an extent as To warrant
another iss'i. ut ~ ce nts on the dollar; later
one at 75 cents, and a final at ST. 10.
In each issue the estoekhol,ier might be
assessed the iaHder up to the par value
in case OF necessity, but when a good
thing is isde"elopcditis never reqli -,tl: and,
as can he seen, those who bonght ST 10
cents came in ION the ground tloor" and
when the stock risesio par Ut abose they
gain sometimes .n06 per cent IN the orgi-
nal investment, besides receiving the regu-
lar dividends
It's 'gamble,r of course, but should
the company, after the issue II stock, find
they have made asnIiseake. the amount lost
is only the La cents paid in Ipun share
Under the laws here such a deal could
not he made, and therefore development is
retarded and investment is discour ecd
Under the laws OF many States capitalists
may subscribe money, land, labor an.l many
other things for stock, thus keeping capital
from being unnecessarily invested or lost
In enterprises
WANT OF PUSHING.
tits well understood that many a schcme
that is good goes under for want Df push
ing, and many another of small value is
made 10 pay big profits by persistent and
energetic showing. The so-called speculator
does this, because by investing a little
capital, lots OF nerve, and da VS. and nights
of labor he gets double, treble, zen times
the money he borrow ed to invest or he
stands to lose all his labor little OF his
nerve and less of his capital.
A wellknown invention by a citizen
here was first taken hold of by local cap.
italists who saw 1t had promising future
but who Individually had no time to push
it. Lacking a business manager they kept
paying in to the inventor and others for
models, etc, thousands of dollars and,
after reaching the 100000 mark, they
were still but little farther along than at
the beginning. 1t looked then as il the
concern would go under and every dollar
Invested lost.
Along came three or four shrewd New
Yorkers. They wnra. invitel !, .Lyest,
looked the matter over and then dictated
tHsiT q" IL teElLS uCie was no dlueIndllNe
f. the original stockholders but to ac.
cept.
they were squeezed pretty tight and |
had to take in the reorgaDized company !
stock representing on its face only one
fourth the amount they had invested. 1t |
was hard. but there was no use in squealing. |
THE BEST INVESTMENT.
The New Yorkers went home and capital |
ized at $3,OOO,0O0, Sold every dollar |
OF it right off, their money bought ex-
ecutive ability and experience and today |
that invention is, bar one, the best pay |
ing Investment in America.
The stock given the original holders at |
one-fourth value jumped along until each got |
ter times theamount invested and has been |
drawing big dividends regularly.
1here are hundreds OF corporations doing |
business here entirely with local capital, |
butincorporated at Alexandria, Va. Wheel |
ing, W. Va, or other places, under reason |
able statutes. The purely local concerns |
here are few and far be- |
tween They are solid. perhaps, but pay |
only a sure interest on the entire cash |
capital paid In. There is no gamble"
about them. but the city would have been |
dwarfed today but for the gamblers" or, !
better. the enterprising fellows with more |
wits than wealth.
Killed In a Barroom.