The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-11
Newman Erb's Comments on Fortunes of Men Heav-
 fly Interested in Stocks
BASIS OF FORTUNE |.
 MADE BY HARTMAN
Washington Not Regarded as Good Place to Get Best Tips on the Business Situation in the
 United States
By HOLLAND.

New York, April 10.-(Special. )-There was an unintentional coincidence in point . of time between statement made day or two ago by Newman Erb and the pub lication of the authoritative appraisal of the estate left by MT. Erb's predecessor in railway management, the late Edwin Hawley. The face value of MT. Hawley's s estate was fixed in round numbers at s1o,- 100000. But there were set-offs in the form of debts and probably depreciations of securities which reduced the present. day value of the estate to a little over s5,o00ooo.
 MT. Hawley was in his lifetime con vinced that after the development of his railway properties and with a recurrence of normal business activity the securities of his railway companies would greatly appreciate, and it was in that confidence that he bought no small part of the rail- way stocks which were enumerated in his estate.
 MT. Hawley seems to have taken the same view which Otto Kahn attributed to the late E. H. Hartman. MT. Kahn, in speaking a year or two after MT. Harri- mans death to an organization of stu dents in finance and others interested Tn that subject, said that MT. Hartman was once asked if he had not bought his Union Pacific railroad stock with the knowledge that the company would in due time fix a dividend rate at 10 per cent. The inti- nation was that Mir Hartman had been speculatng on a certainty and upon a condition which was entirely within ins control.
 MT. Hartman replied with frankness that he had bought almost all of his Union Pacific stock at a timo when he was con- vinced that the company would be earn ing sufficient to justify 10 per cent divi- dends. But much of this stock he bought at the beginning of his association with the Union Pacific. within two or three years after the company had been raised from bankruptcy by the reorganization committee of 1S97-S. At that time Union Pacific was not earning very much in ex- cess of fixed charges. and MT. Hartman was probably the only railway man or financier in the United States who dreamed of 10 per cent dividend rate. He accumulated large blocks of stock when the price was low and some years before the traditional 10 per cent divi- dend was declared. The appreciation con- stituted no. small part of his fortune. MT. Hawley's Expectation
 Edwin Hawley was a man of taciturnity. His views were usually judged by infer ence and not by statements made by him, vet many things which he did and the manner in which Newman Erb, his suc- cessor, is now undertaking to develop the Hawley properties make it impossible not to infer that MT. Hawley looked forward to the time when there would be great ap- preciation in the market value of his rail way stocks. Business conditions in the latter years of his life did not facilitate his purpose and his unexpected death De- fore his plans had been perfected and put into operation undoubtedly explains the comparatively small estate of a little over $5,000000.
 President Erb's Statement
 President Erb's statement was made a day or two after his visit to Washington. It must reflect some things which ,.e learned in Washington and to which he has, in fact made confidential references since his return to New York. Some Of his friends surnise that MT. Erb may oe a little apprehensive lest the interstate commerce commission look upon the -ail- road conditions from the point of view of politics. If that really be his view it must be reported that it is one which he shares with many other leading business men. They do not regard Washington as the best place to gain accurate judgment of material conditions in the United States or or the currents ana unuercur- rents of our business life. The capital is unsurpassed as a place for judging CO., ltical sentiments, but it would be diff cult to persuade business men that ifs atsmosphere is favorable to clear vision of business conditions in the United States.
 Mr. Erb has caused an estimate to be made of the difference between the mar ket value of railroad securities at the present time and the market value of such of these securities as existed in 1906. He fixes the sum at $3,0O0,O00 900. That is to say. these securities are of market value