The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-20
RAILROAD MEN ARE
 TALKING OF FUTURE Seem to Expect Steady and
 Regular Business M KE INSPECTIONS E
 Their Reports Cover the Country Pretty We'll and Give Very Little Comfort For the Pessimist ~
MAKE INSPECTIONS
By PRESTON c. ADAMS

averse to telling just how the business outlook strikes them. several such utter ances have been made recently which may be taken as typical.
 President Howard Elliott of the North ern Pacific declares that underlying con ditons west of the Mississippi are good. Banks are in a strong condition ond peo- pie are not In debt.' sri Advices received by MT. Elliott state that merchandise distributors in the northwest are conservatively sanguine as to the immediate future. One of the largest jobbing firms in the northwest, which is in close touch with conditions, is working it's factories on full fime and anticipates steady fall trade. Chairman of the Frisco system says bus but nothing, however, to indicate anything beyond the normal. Crop conditions are very good, barring corn and wheat in
 parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and northern Texas. Cotton, up to the present, is in excellent condition.
 MT. Yoakum does not look for any large business increase, but looks for | steady and regular business if present conditions continue.
 President Jeffery of the Denver and Rio Grande says:
 While one is forced to believe that
 there is a general feeling of uncertainty
 in commercial life, it cannot be said that
 the country is suffering from depression;
 rather there is a general Hull in business
 of a temporary character only. I All over the country business is rather
 slow It is evidenced in every line. But l this does not mean that there is a finan-
 cial or a business depression. It means
 simply a lull in business. I differentlatc lbetween those conditions In regard to conditions in the south,
 President Finley of the Southern raiI- lroad said they are excellent, and that
 Indications point to the finest crops. 1 Prospect were never better,' he said. | These expressions pretty well cover the
 country and give very little comfort for
 the pessimst.
 | Railroads have sold $91O, 900 rev
 securities since the beginning of the year,
 or fully s305, ,000000 more than the first
 seven months of 1910. Short term notes
 have supplied $257 100000 against s17SOOo, zoo l a year ago. an increase of $S4000,G0O. | Stocks have not been popular and as consequence only $S5, 100000 have been | f1oated, a decrease as compared with last year. Bonds have supplied the major part of the total; they have been utilized to the extent of $56S, ,000, ,000, whereas last year only $44O,000O00 was put out. July, though it brought few issues, sho vs an increase of nearly $2O,O0O,0 600 over July, 1910, the output of this occasion having been s4000,0O0 A good part of last months off, ferings has not yet gone farther than investment houses.
 Only 5,600,OO0 shares of stock changed hands on the New York stock exchange Iduring the whole month of July. This total is the poorest in many years. As lmuch business is frequently done n enc week.
 Nothing more forcibly marks the growth lof perfection in American automobiles than the steady and consistent decline in automobile importations, as indicated by the reports of the New York customs house. While it is well establish sd that some of the foreign cars mark a degree of material selection and workmanship approached by only one of two American manufacturers, it is evident that the great average of demand is for cars in which American engineers and inanufac- turers can more than compete+with their foreign rivals e
 According to figures compiled for the fiscal year ending June 30 just past the comparative importation of automobiles during the past three seasons was as fol- lows:
 1909. 1910. 1911. No. of cars..... I ,9SI 1,S2l 1,346 Value of same. .$4, ,311, ,296 A44O,O17 s3661, ,157
 Since the close of the fiscal year another month has elapsed which shows a con- tinued reduction in importation of foreign cars.
 The following figures for July of past three years are interesting.
 1909 1910. 1911. NO. or cars....;- IA 123 100 Value of same ... $421, ,661 $s2O31s s290. .7t3
 Similar comparisons from January, in- cluding July, in the various years, shows as follows:
 No of cars. ..... 97S 73O 5S1 Value of same .$2032,14 s1,56s, 51s S1, ,429. .4so sIts sappears to me- said one observer. .rthat' our American industry is gradually. attaining as high a degree of efficiency as any foreign make, especially on cars of medium price. or course the tariff op- crates largely against the foreign car. but the matter of having convenien, base of repairs part and, the disposition of American manufacturers to jnuintain efficient service stations is more of mn influence than the foreign tariff barrier.
 'On one or two very expensive cars price appears to have little or ro effect in the demand These cars are beyond question as to workmanship and elegance and find steady sale whatever the cost, tariff to the contrary notwithstanding Bnt the flood of cheaper cars which threatened an invasion a few years ago has evidently been turned back by the force of American, inventive and execu- tive genius. Motor transportation got |. tremendous start in Europe by reason of priority and later made great strides be cause of the better roads prevailing abroad. In few cars the engineering of today is still considerably in advance of the average American types,y but these customs house figures convince me that America is fast reclaiming her own II 4ai- lxets as well as making marked advances in foreign trade.'
 Westerners delight to tell that, while l5 years ago the farmers out there were burning corn for fuel because there vas no profit for them in It's market price as cereal within half decade they were burning eastern mortgages that they had cancelled and now are fairly burst ing the local bank vaults with their ash and taking live hogs to market in 5000 automobiles.
 ! The south has made the same sort of . tile to tell. albeit there is less of ex-