The times., 1901-03-25
LIVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

According to A D. Macpherson, anyone
who wishes TO get rich should put money
into business in the South preferably into
banking and in Texas. Mr. Macpherson
is from Chicago, and is the special rep
resentative of credit company, which
publishes bankers register, containing
the rating and condition of every bank
in the country. As representative of
the company, Mr.. Macpherson investi-
gates the books of the banks, making a
tour of the country every year. He has
just come from the South. where he has
been conducting Investigations during the
winter. AT the Raleigh last night, he
said:
The condition of banking throughout
the Southern States has never In the his
tory of the country been so good. There
has been a gradual Improvement noticed
during the last few years but it is dur
ing the last twelve months that the great
step has been taken. 1 have words to
express my surprise at what I have seen
during the last few months 1t is moth
ing short of marvellous, and the best
feature of it all is that the increase in
business is normal, and not founded on
any wildcat basis. The reason that
Southern banks are doing so well Is that
they have adopted advanced methods.
In the early days a bank in South
ern town did business as far as it's mar
row-Ininded directors could see. which
was usually about 10 the nearest big
city, and that was all What was good
enough for their grandfathers was good
enough for them, and the consequence
was that they got into a rut that wore
deeper and deeper each year. Latterly,
however, they have begun to see their
error, and have imported new blood from
the North, young. energetic, progressive
men, who have a business horizon as wide
as the world. That has been one of the
factors in the revolution. The other fac
tor has been fine crops. The South has
never seen time when the land has been
so fruitful and prices so high. Cotton
once used to sell for IL cents pound.
1t sells for 10 cents now, and it does not
cost a cent more to produce 1t. / saw
a man come into a bank In Dallas and
make a deposit in cash OF SCI 900, and you
would not have given him 50 for ali the
clothes ne had on his back. Thousand
of negroes with little farms are weI-to-
do. and you can see them any day in the
banks crowding around the teller to make
deposits.
.''The great improvement in banking
down South is shown in the increased
deposits. | can say. without fearing to be
contradicted by any figures. that since
last year. throughout the South. the de-
posita have been added 10 by at least 90
per cent and in many places by much
more. One bank in Dallas which / visit
ed had Sc.5G0,000 deposits last year and
when | looked at the bOoksfthis year they
showed deposits of over 50, 900. and that
Was i'm addition to an immense Increase
in surplus and undivided. profits One
bank with $4,000 capital that | have
watched for several years showed sur
$3.50 coo"
J. Rivers-Bennett, M D., F. r. c. s..
and an assistant surgeon in St. Bartholo-
news Hospital in London, is on tour
of the United States He was at the
Ebbitt House last night seated in the
gentlemen's waiting room, watching,
however, not the passing pageant on the
street. but the quiet show inside. He was
evidently amused BY Jove." he ejacu-
lated sit is queer custom. but 1 believe
that / have got at the root of it," When
asked what he considered a queer custom,
he pointed TO the row Of men with their
feet on the rail just inside the front win
dows
Il could not for the life of me under
stand why you do it, at first, but l am
beginning to have a desire to elevate ny
own heels. and / surmise that the infiu-
ence has begun TO work on me. | think
l have discovered a physiological reason
for your custom. You lift up your feet
to let more blood flow into your brain.
You work at such high pressure that
the ordinary blood supply is not sufficient
to keep your thinking machine going at
the speed at which you want it TO go If
YOU keep this habit up l can see that, by
the natural process of evolution, you
will become a nation of people with big
heads and small feet"
They will take nothing but auto
mobiles, said the liveryman at an up
town hotel yesterday afternoon. as he
hung up the telephone receiver which he
had held TO his ear nearly continuously
all day. Il have routed out the last ma
chine in the stables. and if | had them
l could fifty more. No one says
order me q carriage any more. 1t is
Get me an automobile, if you want to
be in the fashion.
1T is a sunny day IN the early spring
like this one that sets everyone to
hankering for the country roads and the
open air. For my part, Ia like to take
my spin behind a spanking pair of bays,
but the entire populace seems To have
been completely won over to auto |
don't believe | have sent out more than
dozen horse rigs today, and I'd be
afraid to tell you how many mobiles I've
packed parties into. The fad Is at its
height. and somebody is making coin
"A day like this in Washington brings
everybody out, and at o'clock today !
don't suppose there was a soul in this
entire hotel but myself. the clerks, the
help, and the people who were waiting
around TO catch an automobile If any
should chance to come back.
THE manner in which public records
are kept is a matter which should have
some serious attention" declared Colonel
Bingham. Superintendent of Public Build
ings and Grounds. I'm my office there
is not to be found a single record CON
cerning the ceremonies of unveiling any
OF the monuments in the city. The un-
yelling of the Logan statue will take
place very soon, and I shall make a rec
ord of the proceedings and see that it Is
properly hleu away
mo inscription has ever been placed
upon the Lafayette statue. / do not know
faann9so on9sno Ana al It's el-