The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-11

the money trust by President A. E. Still well of the Kansas City, Mexico and Or tent railroad. Mir. Stilwell has gone out of the regular channels to raise capital for the construction of his projected rail- road system, which is to connect Kansas City with Topolobampo and grab off the trade of the Orient, thereby taking large business from the other transconttinental lines. Naturally. existing systems and the men behind them do not look kindly upon the Stilwell enterprise, and they are not contributing to his success any more than the law allows. To MT. Stilwells mind this is proof conclusive that he has been marked for destruction by the cold blood
 ed money trust. He therefore mounts his fiery charger, buckles on his sword, and with lance aloft hurs himself upon the oc- topus. It laughs at the intrepid assail- ant, and isn't even fighting back, al though some bankers are saying that the reason Mir. Stilwell cannot raise money for
 his enterprise Is because it Is foredoomed
 to failure. and therefore not deserving
 of financial support MT. Stilwel has
 raised most of the money that has gone
 into the scheme in Holland, which ap-
 pears to have shut down on further ad-
 vances leaving the ambitious project about half finished. beginning nowhere and ending nowhere. MT. Stilwell will of-
 fer his services to the Congress commit
 tees which are empowered to inquire into
 he so-called money trust, and locate its
 various tyrannies and villainies, He will
 undoubtedly make considerable noise. but
 will it get him anywhere?' Will it raise
 him the money he needs to complete his
 railroads, or will it convince people with
 money that the big bankers are wrong in
 the theory that the Orient railroad had
 better remain unbuilt? Mir. Stilwell Is up
 against it for fair.
 The sensational rise of about 6 points
 In the price of silver is a development of
 international importance, although it has
 not yet been a factor in the stock market.
 If there could be any assurance that the
 advance in price would hold for any con siderable length of time 1t would greatly stimulate production. There are hundreds of mines in the United States alone that
 would reopen or increase production The trouble is most people believe that the advance is speculative. and that 1t will soon be followed by a collapse. The spec ulation originates in London, with a small group of dealers in the metal. The excuse is offered that China and India are mak- 1 inS heavy demands upon existing stores | of silver. demand which will increase | and continue for months or years. This | theory Is not generally accepted, however, l and the boom is believed to be short lived, hence it's failure to become an influential l stock market factor
 The action of the New York public ser ! vice commission in ordering the Third avenue street car line in New York city | to set aside slSO,O00 a year as an amor tization fund to provide for the extinguish-
 ment of outstanding bonds of the corpora | ton, is destined to be far reaching in- l fuence. The order will be in the courts, and the whole matter will be brought up | for public discussion It is not improb- able that the outcome will be nation wide agitation. for the application of the amortization theory to the business of all corporations having bonded indebtedness. No corporations ever really pay off their | bonded debts. Theretare invariably re- lnewals and extensions and refundings, and all that sort of thing. but never extin- guishment of funded debt. There is real need for a new deal in this particular. The Equitable Life Assurance company l Is planning to build a SIS. 100000 skyscraper l on the site of the burned down structure, having obtained MT. Morgan's assent to l the proposal.