Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-11-06
CURB 70 SPECTATORS
JoeRlNo OF RAILROADS sTocKa
HIT BY NEW MOVE OF COM.
MERGE Commission.
MONTHLY REPORTS TO BE MADE
ON EARNINGS AND CONDITIONS
Statements Issued by the Roads HavA
Heretofore Been Misleading to In-
vestors-stock Gamblers Will Net
Have Easy saiIins-Protection 4
Legitimate Investors.


Washington. Nov. 4.-stock specula4
ton will get another black eye IL a new
move by the interstate commerce CONS
mission works right.
: The commission has issued the first
number of a series Of monthly reports
on the railroads Of the country. This
report gives the essential facts about
each road, and Is intended to give the
investor all information which is nee.
essary to enable him to reach q cons
clusion about the value OF any security.
BY following these reports It is be-
lieved by officials OF the commission,
investors will be able to keep pretty
close to the railroad situation all over
the country.
The first Of the reports shows the
nine months ending March 81, 1909.
The next reports, which win be issued
will bring the accounting to date.
Thereafter q bulletin will be issued
each month.
The statistical work Of the commiss
sion. which is under the direction Of
Professor Henry c. Adams of the Uni
versity of Michigan, has reached the
point where its practical application in
this way Is believed to be justified.
The position Of commission officials is
that the uncertainty regarding railroad
securities has led to much Of the stock
jobbing of Wall street. Such infor1na-
| ton as has drifted out to the little
lambs has been voluntary furnished by
the railroads, and II it has been pub
lished at all, it has been put forth in
some publication without official stand
ing and without means for investigat-
ing the accuracy of the railroads
statements.
Some roads, like the New York. New
Haven e. Hartford. issue the annual
statement so late that Its information
is not helpful to the ordinary investor,
and occasionally a road makes Its re-
port only to the people on the inside.
Apt to MisIead Investors.
| Until very recently, too, the figures
Of the railroad reports were apt to be
misleading. There was no uniformity,
and an important schedule with the
same name would mean one thing in
one report and another thing in an
others. So, all in all, the ordinary in
weston was left subject to the greatest
uncertainties and was glad to catch at
those elusive tips which are supposed
to haunt Wall street in sleeps cloth
ing. 1t was a game in which the fell
lows on the inside had all the advan-
tage, and it. led to stock ambling, say
interstate commerce commission peo-
pie.
But the statistical work Of the CONS
mission has changed all that. With
the cooperation of the railroad ac-
countants, Professor Adams has estab-
lished uniform method of accounting.
To a considerable extent he has given
them their own way about details. pro-
vided that they construed their ac-
counts in such fashion as to show the
facts. But the one thing he has In
sisted on all along has been unifor-
nifty. And so, when investors see fig-
ures given under the same title for diff
!, ferent roads in the new government
publication, they may know that these
figures are made on precisely the same
, basis. and mean the same thing. The
belief of the officials is that COMPARE
sons made between roads upon these
nRureS Will Do Ic1idDlC.
Returns Are Examined.
. Professor Adams also has means a
y hand TO make sure that these figure!
are kept right, too He has organized
Il a division of examiners, with . suffi
a Gent force to go after the things in tn
r railroads reports which look SUSPECT
# Gus. And the examiners are now goint
n from railroad office to railroad office
h landing very suddenly and unan
: nounced. and helping themselves to tn
n books.
A. These examiners are not sufficient.
numerous to permit an examination o
the books of every railroad every littl
while, as the national banks are exam
ined. and a. the interstate commerc
>. commission believes should be done i
the case Of the railroads. But they ar
sufficient to keep the railroads guess
OIL ing. and to insure at least fair de
Re gree of accuracy in the accounts.
re The plan is that these monthly re
re ports shall be kept just as fresh q
st possible, and to give much satisfactio
al on current affairs, they will have
Of appear considerably sooner than tn
L. average government publication. Th
promise is that the bulletin OF eac
month will give the figures for tn
second month preceding. The sys1ei
). will work like this: The railroad
70 figures for August were due in Wash
u. ington Oct. 1. 1t is necessary to CIV
10 the roads a month in which to sett
ef their ACCOUNTS with other roads IN
to in which to make up their own sun
maries AS a matter of fact, the az
counts are seldom all In Washingto
:. before the seventh or the tenth:
nv nv the month. Then the statistical e'
o'i perts Of the government will requil
VIC two or three weeks to examine the n
SO ports and prepare them for pubhcs
ne ton, and 1t is expected that the repo
q for August will be issued about Or
80, when the system is we'll under wa
II F. / M00pE