The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-11-30

~ EW YORK. November 29-An
old saying and one much re-
L Y speeted is; Wall street is the
heart of the country. Like many old
things. this saying has outlived its use
fulness. 1t was once true; It Is no longer
true, Certificate making has become an
art and all art presupposes a license.
Values of shares are not based on actual
trade conditions. This is merely a SYM
pathetic condition. Frequently they are
boosted" up by willy manipuiators and
sustained by the tactics of operators.
Remove this support and they would
shrink to normal conditions. OF late
years the certificate factory has run at
high pressure and the demand has not
been equal to production. The total
value of listed securities at par would
absorb all actual capital and make a
heavy draft on the developments of the
future A shrinkage in the market value
of listed securities does not reflect the
actual state of trade In the United
States The country enjoys a grand and
increasing prosperity Internal and for
eign trade was never better. New proper
ties, true sources of wealth, are being
developed in west and SOUTH Acres are
increasing the supply of wheat. corn and
cotton; coal. iron and copper are being
discovered, mined and utilized; factories
are springing up In south and west and
labor finds ready market. Manipulated
products of the certificate factory may
be menaced by the inability of f1nanciers
to sustain them and a jaundiced condi-
ton may exist in Wall street. It is pure
ly functional disturbance. Indeed 1t
may be more truly said that Wall street
is no longer the heart but the liver of
the country. Unable to rid itself of bile,
jaundice has set In and the authorities
will tell you that jaundice is not a dis
ease of the body Of the nation, but a
function, in a word. the market is glut-
ted with the bile of the certificate fac
tory
hundred and sixty persons. men
identified with the largest commercial in
dustries of the country, assembled a few
evenings ago at the tenth annual dinner
of the naval architects. Mr. Clement A.
Griscom presided. Several speeches were
made and singulariy enough. they were
not reported in the daily press. and yet
the subject each speaker handled was
one that was most significant in view of
the industrial invaton of foreign mar
kets. Mr.. Lewis Nixon. the president of
the United States Shipbuilding Company.
In the course Of an eloquent speech. de-
clared his belief that the tramp steam
ship had about reached the end of its
usefulness. He pointed out the fact of
the contemplated merger of the steam
ship companies on tramps. He also point
ed out the advantage to shippers by or
ganized lines carrying freights to all
parts of the earth, by chartered tramps.
j. ]. Hill. the father of the railroads
of the northwest who was introduced
as 1.-The first man to build a railroad
from st. Paul to the Pacific, down hill
both ways" said: There was a time
when American ships were credit to the
sea, but they were driven off. believe
we should build and that we do build as
good and cheap ships as anybody, and,
Furthermore, that we can sail them as
well as any other people on the face of
the earth. On land we have proven that
no nation can compete with us, but on
sea any foreign tramp can order us to
drop the bundle we are carrying. Amer
lean steel manufacturers prefer to sell
at home as they can get better prices,
but when they seek markets abroad they
find the Germans will not let go of the
trade. What we need as a nation for
the improvement of our trade is the
transportation of American goods on
American bottoms" In view of the re-
marks and statements made by Rear Ad-
miral Bowles and p c. Asserson, by
Clement A. Griscom, P. A. D. Widener,
Edwin Cramp and others, it is safe to
say that the nation stands at the thresh-
hold of a maritime revolution. The fight
is now on to restore the prestige of the
United States on the sea.
Apropos of the commercial develop
ment of China it is interesting to note
the enterprise that 1t has awakened on
the Pacific coast. The Pacific Mail
Steamship recently added to her fleet the
Korea" a ship with a displacement OF
about 1880 tons. On her last trip from
Yokahoma to San Francisco, she made
the distance In ten days, thus breaking all
records by three days. Her sister ship.
the Siberia" now on exhibition at this
port. She was BULL at the Newport
Shpbuilding and Drydock Company, of
which Mrs. c. p Huntington and Mr.
Henry e. Huntington are the largest
stockholders. and launched on October
10. These ships cost over two million each
end are. models of ocean passenger ves-
sells. They are designed for passenger
and freight service between San Francisco
and Hong Kong. with Honolulu, Yokaho-
ma and Nagasaka as ports included en-
route. They afford accommodations for
200 first-class passengers and 1900 Chinese
in steerage. A notable object on the ISL
beria,' is a handsome tablet with a sig
nificant inscription. 1t is an extract from
a speech by the late Coils p Hunting
ton on May 49, 1900, delivered at San
Francisco, Let us devote ourselves to
the work OF turning toward the United
States the great commerce OF the Orient
which has for so many years been going
westward and enriching the nations