The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-08-23

l one of the most profitable railroad lines in the United States.
 MT. Forbes after he had completed the | Michigan Central and diverted the termi- nal originally contemplated on the Mich- igan side of Lake Michigan to the young city of Chicago was speedily confronted with intense competition offered by the
 men of capital who, inspired by Mr. Forbes example built a railroad extend ing from Buffalo along the south shore of Lake Erie to Chicago, called the Lake Shore. If ever there was an illustration of the truth of the saying that competi- tion carried to it's logical end means ruin to one of the parties and monopoly to the successful one, it was the competition between the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore.
 At last MT. Forbes evolved, perhaps borrowed from England, the idea of end- ing competition by substituting in it's place cooperation. It was the kind of
 cooperation in some of it's features in which the railroads of the United States are now uniting so that they may aid the
 government. One feature of it's was pool ing. It ended the disastrous warfare It brought prosperity to both railroad sys- 1 tems, and it was of very great service to the farmers, merchants and the infant. industries which have been established along the line of both roads. Now, nearly 70 years since MT. Forbes taught the ad- vantages to everybody of railroad co-op- eration and of reasonable pooling, the entire railroad systems of the United Stot operation, coordination, and utilization of certain phase of pooling, the results
 of which have been of extraordinary ad- vantage to the government and to com merce.
 Although nothing is known officially of the purpose of the Secretary of the Treasury, MT. McAdoo, regarding the next offer of the liberty loan, nevertheless enough is known and reasonably sur missed to justify the preliminary work of organization for nationwide campaign in order to aid the Secretary in market ing the loan Only one thing is definitely established, and that is that the Secre- tary will offer the loan sometime in the fall and that it presumably will be for S3, ,O0o, 100000. It is also inferred that the oeCIeldTy COHlef1lpldIeS llAlnS the rate OL interest at per cent although 1t seems to be the opinion that he has not made up his mind on that point.
 But it is enough to know that the gov ernment at Washington will sometime in the fall ask the American people to lend it at least $3000, COG, 900, represented by ev- idence of that loan in the form of bonds. Not alone bankers, but business men and
 some of the leading politicians of the
 country will take part in organizations of
 one kind or another all over the country which will be made as strong and effec- tive as is possible with intent in this way to approach every American citizen, fur
 nish him with information, appeal not only to his patriotism, but his desire to make a good investment
 The loan cannot fail, for the bankers of the United States will see to 1t that it does not fail, but 1t is the earnest wish of Secretary McAdoo and of all of those who are to aid him voluntarily and with out money recompense in selling these bonds that much the greater part of 1t be absorbed by the American people. There undoubtedly will be third offering some
 time in the spring of next year, but tho experience met with in marketing the first two loans will be of great value when the people are again asked to lend to their government billions of dollars so that we may carry on the war to a silo- cessful end.