The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-19

ton of important facts, or their suppress sion?" The suggestion turns thought to a delicate question of ethics.
 From Boston comes word of a good fairy syndicate having bought 100000 shares of Steel common which is to be turned into the big corporation treasury at 50 The story is quite as reasonable as many of those which are in circula- tion. The identity of the members of the syndicate is carefully concealed. If 1t were known who the men are who are philanthropically handing over to the Steel corporation stock for s60,0o0.00o less than they could sell 1t for in the open market the mails and telegraph wires would be overburdened with applications for help from individuals and companies. Such benevolence would be too good to be allowed to go unworked.
 That other story, the one creditlng the corporation management with plan for issuing bonds against expenditures on the Gary plant, is worthy of consideration. There is no reason why this should not be done It is legitimate capital outlay and no surprise need be occasioned If within the next few months $b0,0Oo,0OO In Gary bonds bearing the corporations in- dorsement is not offered to the public. If these bonds go well, and they will, the issue will be followed by another one of the same amount. Before the end of 1910 fully s10oo00,000 will have gone into the Gary plant.
 President Taft's Boston speech made a hit, not altogether because Of what he said 1. but because the address is looked upon as a line on what he will say dur ing the 15,000 miles Of oratory. He said nothing to disturb confidence or to fore- shadow undue strenuosity of attack on corporations His views on the desfra- bility of holding strongly to the moral improvement accomplished under the reign of MT. Roosevelt is spoken of as "good dope" and there is disposition to let it go at that. Pulpit utterances do no harm and may do good.
 Strange to say, Wall street laughs good-naturedly at Speaker Cannon's an- nouncement that there would be no cur rency reform legislation by the present congress. Outside of the interest con- trolled by the Standard Oil f1nanciers there seems to be no urgent demand in Wall street for currency reform, and in that quarter the anxiety appears to be concentrated on a plan for a big central bank. It is supposed to be the ambition of the National City bank party to ulti- mately convert that institution into a. bank having the powers and standing Of the imperial banks of the old world. Against that proposition sis certain to be aroused the strongest kind of populist1c opposition, and also the opposition of a middle class element which sees virtue in existing banking laws and practices.
 Speaker Cannon remarked that the only thing he could see to criticise in the AL drich emergency law was that it was only limited to six years. He thought It ought to be made permanent, and 1nti- mated that this might be done. It is barely possible that the Aldrich law may be used as a successful club to defeat the Standard OiTs central bank scheme.
 The man with memory claims to recollect that "old grouch'' James J. Hill was urging farmers few years ago to stop raising wheat, corn and oats and devote their agricultural attention to other and better paying things. That was when wheat was selling at 90 cents on the farm, corn at 20 cents ana oats at 10 cents.
 There appears to be substantlai pasis for inc gossip about the gradual anal gamation of the telegraph ana .teiephone companies. Western Union, Bell tele- phone and the Mackay company are cer- tainlv working into closer utilization, result of a community of interest owner ship of large blocks of stock m the seV- eral companies by strong financiers, who have specialized for many years m that class of investments.