The Paonia newspaper., 1910-12-16
new ERA IN FINANCE
ACCURACY AND PUBLICITY
PROVES TO BE A POPULAR
MOTTO.

PROVES TO De A POPULAR
MOTTO.
Prompt Response 70 Bold Move -
President valI-~Accuracy" Reduo-
ID Western UnIon's Surplus @13,-
ooo, oo,ooo.-sPublieIty'' Restored Cen
Adence and lts stock Went Up.
Arc the great Ananciers Of The
country beginning to see . new lightf
Time was. until recently In fact, when
the men At the head Of the big cor
porations kept their business to
themselves" A. far - the law would
allow. Capable men at the head Of the
big concerns. long realised the weak
ness Of their position. but what was
needed obviously. ~ in all great rs-
forms. was an unmistakable occasion
and . courageous man. The occasion
arose In the purchase Of the Western
unioa Telegraph company by the
American Telephone and Telegraph
company. and the man appeared m
Theodore N. vail. President Of the
purchasing corporation.
II was last December when public
announcement was made that the
Gould holdings of Western Union had
been taken over by the Telephone
company.
On account Of the high esteem In
which the management Of the tels-
phone company II 10 generally held.
great things were predicted a. . re-
suit Of the absorption Of Western
Union. By tho press Of the country
the deal" was most favorably COM
mentsd on. II being widely pointed
out that under the direction Of such
men a. Theodore N. Vail and his ~
sociatss. the telegraph company was
bound soon to work itself into . po-
sitSon where II could offer the public
far more sfncient service than II had
ever before been able TO offer.
But . very few months had elapooA
when II became apparent to the new
nAnagsmsot that . modern and ND
toAats appraisal Of the oompany's
asssts would maks possible Q far
greater degree of efneisncy of opsr>
atioo- Here. they saSd To them
solves. we've bought control of this
property and We know IT'S immensely
valuable. but We don't know just
how valuable. These appraisals a
real estate and securities owned we're
made . long time ago. II ws have
complete inventory made of svery
hing we've got Ne can announce the
facts 70 the public. start . new 81 q
books. and begin our responsibility
- stockhoiders right there"
How Inventory Was Taken.
The most expert accountants ana
appraissrs To be had were put at the
task Their labors lasted over eight
months. Their report and IL publ
cation By the company MARKS IN %
ech IN finance.
II began By recommending an a.
5ustmsat Of the differences between
The appraised and book values By Q
charge Of es.sss.oss against sur
plus. Book values Of securities held
were reduced To market values, bad
and doubtful accounts were "charr.
"a on an allowance Of $4,000. 900
was made for depreciation" another
Of $500. 900 for reserve and 30 on.
until the old surplus of s1s,ss7. 900
sams down To s5.i3s. 900.
IL required courage. the publication
Of this statement to stockholders, say
ing In effect: The property of
your company has been reva-
usd: the surplus isn't ninstssn mill
IONS. ~ you have been led to BE-
hsvs. but i've millions" but II was
The truth. and President Vail did not
finch Accuracy ana publicity he
declared. was essential The stock
holder has . right to know. The
shares Of this company are scatter
Cd from one end OF the Union to the
other. This is moro than a private
corporation II 10 a great national
enterprise. The public 10 entitled TO
the facts
Tho report was ordered published
forthwith. Ffnanciers Of tho old
school and speculators generally were
aghast What would happen, Would
the bottom drop out of Western
Union when the shareholders reaIix-
ID that their property was worth
e13.ooo.o00 less than they had sup
possdf But the amazing thing
happened. Tho stock went up and
stayed up. The public had respond