The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-15
PLENTY OF MONEY | IS NOW AVAILABLE
 ID SEND ABROAD Switzerland Gets $15, ,0O0,000 Without Causing Ripple in
 Financial Circles GOULDS ARE OUT OF :.
 RAILROAD CONTROL George Gould Not Criticized for Aban- dOning Former Ambition to Get Control of Transcon- tinental System
By HOLLAND

| New York, March 14-(Special.) 1.-The | export of American capital or the employ
 ment of it by foreign nations not only
 continues, but increases. Some of the econt nlists have asserted that when | nation begins to export capital it thereby demonstrates it's strength and its position as Q creditor nation. The placing here | of S15,000,000 of the obligations of Switzer-
 land is a transaction which in proportion
 to the size and wealth of Switzerland is
 credit in the United States of s1Oo,0Oo, 0O0
 for Great Britain.
 Furthermore this transaction and the
 ease with which it was negotiated are so
 far as Switzerland is concerned. without precedent Before the European war, Switzerland if in need of funds would
 have applied to Great Britain or to France. This Swiss loan is contempo-
 raneous with the marketing of $27 ,000, 900 of New York state bonds. There was
 reasons for inferring before the bids were made that an informal, private and sat | isfactory understanding between the au- thorities of the state and leaders in the | financial district was reached which made l it certain that the offering would be | aco opted There seemed to be no reason why the state of New York, even at this time, should not be able to market at par or better bonds which bear AZ per cent interest. The man who purchased | these bonds at par will receive AZ per cent net upon his investment since the bonds are nontaxable and not even the 1 income tax collector can demand pay l ment of tax upon them. Negotiations and transactions of this kind are likely to be continued throughout the spring, since it is considered of the first impor- | tance now from the commercial and finan- cial point of view that nations across the
 sea which need money as much as they need supplies shall obtain both from the United States.
 For the present, however transactions of this kind and those which undoubted- ly will be completed during the remain ing months of the spring and summer will
 make 1t impossible to secure capital which | is needed not merely for the improvement of railroads, but also for the construc- l ton Of new lines. In some parts of the west, particularly near the Pacific coast, the development of resources and growth of population have been so great as to cause earnest appeal for the construc- ton of new railroad systems. It will not be possible to meet this need during the present year and perhaps for a year or two to come.
 The Passing of the GOulds
 The name of the Goulds in association with American railroad ownership and | management is now to become merely a
 tradition. The Missouri Pacific railroad property is. in conformity with the gen. eral desire, in possession of those who are aliens, so to speak, to the Goulds. l ct 1t is observed that those In Che financial district who comment upon the passing
 Of this and other Gould properties into
 new hands say that it would not be fair
 to George Gould to inferNthat the with drawal of him and his family from rail- road management is due to his own in- ability or at least wholly due to that. Some think that it Is explained partly by the loss of the ambition which once possessed George Jay Gould to carry on the constructive work begun by his father and to make the Missouri Pacific and it's allies what Jay Gould believed could be made of the property and furthermore, incidentally, the building up of the "em- pire-like southwest" Jay Gould and E. H. Harriman were of the same opinion about the relation of this region, which includes what was called at the time of the civil war the great American de- sert,' as containing possibilities for the creation of new wealth which were unsur-
 passed by any other fegfuh of the United States.
 | Not little credit was given to George Gould for his earnest attempt at first to | be recognized as the true constructive | heir of his father. But MT. Gould had
 other things than the Missouri Pacific property upon his shoulders and for these his responsibilities were great. To him was intrusted the responsibility of pro- | tecting and increasing the greater part
 of the estate of nearly 900 of which
 Jay Gould died possessed. George Gould
 was, therefore, responsible to his brothers and sisters and he has met that respon- sibility so well that from none of them ! has come any words of complaint respect | ing his management.
 Furthermore. if the true test of ability
 is made when the conservation of great estate and the increase of it are recog- nized, then George Gould must be re- | garded as having been exceptionally able.
 The common impression in the financial
 district is that through his management
 the estate left by Jay Gould has been | doubled. He has learned the fine art, and science as well. of utilizing his capi-
 tai so that it will produce steady income and of reinvesting that income with suc-