The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-16

uous person arrives from Europe, goes to Europe, or comes in from inspec- tion trips over our home railroads, he tells in detail about the splendid pros poets for agriculture, Industry and com merce. Sometimes this sort of talk is recognized as an attempt to bolster up an unfavorable situation On this oc- easion there is genuine ring of truth fitness about the talk and fl Is hay
 ing weight. Occasionally a note of warning Is heard. as in tho interview with John F. Harris of Chicago and New York. On the eve of his departure from London to home base, MT. Harris found time to make some remarks, a tendency which he believed to indicate a permanent movement in that direction. From this point he argued that rail roads would hereafter be obliged to pay considerably more for the billions of dollars of new capital which they would noed during the next few years. From this point the deduction was made that If Congress, the legislatures, the courts, and the intermediate machinery for the regulation of railroads did not permit the transportation interests to make more money than they are now doing, the public would suffer from made quate facilities. Also that stockhold- CTS could not escape their share of the infiiction.
 This is a matter which Is foremost in the minds of the most important people In Wall street and in the railroad man agement of the country: How are we going to get the money that will be needed If earnings are to be permanent Iy curtailed, while expenses of opera tion anrd maintenance increase. This is a matter which wll be threshed out at the hearings before the commission ap- rIt a ha. tween the eastern railroads and their engineers This commission will prob ably not begin its sessions until after the conventions are out of the way in Chicago and Baltimore. Both sides will want as much newspaper space as the importance of the matter merits, but they all realize that the hearings might be oyershadowed by sensational news in other quarters The ebb in the tide of sensations likely to occur after the convention furore, will be a good time to obtain the popular ear. it is felt Beyond doubt the subject will be Il by the testimony submitted at these hearings. A broad campaign of education seems about 10 be en- tered upon.
 A new set of promotion banking has come into the field with lot of new Industrial enterprises. Most of them represent cancellations of going businesses, and in a majority of cases. the schemes appear to be grossly over cs pitaIized feature of these fresh promotions Is the absence from the un- ierwriting names of concerns hereto fore in the vanguard. Whether the public will fall for" these dizzy proj- ects remains to be seen. It Is very evident that the promotion crowd has lots of money to spend in advertising and other forms of inspiring literature, but as yet 1t does not appear that the public is breaking it's neck to get in. The public has paid very dearly for it's education in the buying of stock in rew and experimental enterprises and is slow to adopt novelties. however at tractively the hook may be baited.
 Investment attention is being directed interestingly toward the south and southwest Millions upon millions of fresh capital is pouring into these re- gions and 1t looks as though the vast and inadequate developed empire will soon take more leading position. All of this will tend to increase the value of the railroads that serve the country south of the Ohio. and long headed in-