Evening star., 1916-10-02
CAPITAL TRACTION CO.
| EARNINGS ARE LARGER
reident Hamilton Also Tells Stock.
holders Commissions Valuation
/ Will Not Stand.
Good Bond Market on Local Stock
Exchange-Potomac First Mort
!; gage IS Favored.
BY I. A. FLEMING.

! Stockholders of the Capital Traction
Company received their dividend checks
for the third quarter of the year this
morning, and. in addition. circular
letter from George E. Hamilton, presi-
dent of the company. in which he re-
ported q continuation of the increased
receipts for the quarter, and made
strong reference to the corporations
ability to sustain its own experts
physical valuation as against the fig
ures made for the public utility COM
mission.
The communication to the shareho1d-
ers follows:
''The improvement in conditions and
The increase in car receipts noted for
The last two quarters have continued
during the quarter now ending. Thus
IN spite of increase in costs of opera
tion and larger additions to our depre
citation reserve, a satisfactory increase
In net earnings is shown.
Hearings before the utility commits
sion on valuation of companys prop
erty are impending. In preparation
for these hearings the company made
Its Independent valuation through the
we'll known j. G. White Engineers'
L
of our engineers is now about COM
pleted. and we are well satisfied with
the values shown, which are in strik-
ing contrast to the figures of the
agents of the utility commission, as
recently published-fgures which were
admittedly incomplete, and. accord
ingly, did not represent the value of
our property.
ability to maintain in it's fullness the
Integrity of the values of all of the
company's outlying securities
Municipal Bonds.
Commenting on the disposition of
capitalists and investors to turn to
municipal securities as means of es-
Gaping the additional income and other
taxation, the National City Bank of New
York has issued the following state
ment:
with the increase of the income
taxes of course the exemptions become
Of greater Importance, and this is re-
Aected In the growing popularity of
penalize private enterprise and encour-
age public undertakings by making
large sums available for such purposes.
This means that the most capable and
successful managers of business are be-
tn2 persuaded by the exercise of the
taxing power to retire from business
themselves and place their capital at
the disposal of the most incapable and
wasteful management in the world, to-
wit; That of our constantly changing
political administration in the city,
state and national governments. The
common wastefulness of these admins
trations is notorious. Criticism of gov
ernment expenditures upon public
buildings, rivers and harbors and even
upon the army and navy are always in
our ears, and municipal administration
fs generally worse than that in the
national government, but the very peo-
pie who criticise most severely are usu-
ally ipcessant advocates of additional
governmental functions.
This policy of encouraging the own
ers Of wealth to turn it over to the
state or its political subdivisions for
handling is presumably supported upon
a vague theory that capital SO placed
will be more beneficial to the COM
munity than II the owners invested 1t
themselves. The common idea seems
to be that even If it is squandered un-
more good than II used under private
management. for example, in increas-
ing the railway facilities of the coun-
try, or in electrffying the railways. so
that trains may be drawn by water
power instead of using up our coal sup
plies. Probably nobody supposes that
these taxes will cause any rich man to
spend any less for his own personal or
family use; the one effect will be to
curtaIl his constructive investments.
The law is liberalized in respect to
losses which are made upon invest
ments outside of regular business.
Hereafter they may be offset against
any gains upon the same class of in
Vestments during the year"