Evening star., 1917-02-18
BY I. A. FLEMING.


is responsible for very effective thrift
and has made it extremely
popular through consistent and per-
sistent advertising.
Able help has been received from
bankers all over the country, who have
taken up the cry and modified saving
resources as never before, not only
savings banks. but national banks with
savings departments, and trust COM
panies that usually pay interest on all
balances.
The inventor or inventors of the
Christmas savings club and the cards
prime help in pushing along the cam
paign of thrift. Nearly every savings
bank in the city. all on the outskirts
and in the center of the city, and some
national banks. have adopted a Christ
mas savings plan, planning for savings
Of a few cents to few dollars a week
and from q few dollars to hundreds of
dollars a year.
The plan prevents any Withdrawals;
the money Is in until shortly before
Christmas, when it Is released with in
terest. to add hundreds of thousands of
dollars. and in the United States mil
lions of dollars to the shopping fund
for the benefit of merchants and good
business generally.
In Washington 1t would not be surpriS-
ing If the aggregated savings were in the
neighborhood of a million dollars. which
would add nightly to the prosperity and
the cheer of the merry Christmastide.
But not all this money will be expended
on gifts; the thrift habit is one that
takes a strong hold: the possession of a
considerable sum Of money is an fncen-
tive, and always has been, to savers to
get more, so that while much of it may
be used to make the season pleasant and
happy, enough will be lett over for the
1918 nest egg.
Thus the thrift campaign will continue
It's work for years to come, and the chain
Of effort may not run out for years and
years.
One of the most effective inducements
to save is table prepared, showing the
annual savings from weekly deposits of
81 to $40 for a period of ten years-in-
dicaung the true way to wealth and all
that 1t commands.
Thrift is a factor. a live issue, today.
Enormity of Carrying Task
The carrying task imposed upon the
railroads of the United States has come to
be something enormous.
The movement of the crops to the dis
triouting points and to the seaboard, the
products to distributing points and to
consumers, the raw and the finished ma
terial moving back and forth, frequently
half way across the continent and fire.
quantly all the way; the outward bound
freight to tidewater on ocean and gulf,
the freighting of s9,000.000,00 Of goods
OF all kinds, breadstuffs. packing-house
products. horses, munitions. etc. etc, in
the last two years have strained the ener-
e1es of the railway systems of the coun-
OF f1,eAt
with coal shortages, labor troubles and
freight congestion at Seaboards.
The American factory product when
the war began was 100000, ,O00. 900; it is
now practically s45,OO0,oOO. 200.
Today embargoes of freight are be-
ing made and miles of idle freight
trains standing stationary, blockaded
by seaboard congestion. Efforts to re-
move the embargo are being made by
the railroads, conferences in aid Of the
effort being held here.
But even before the embargo was
created there had been suffering in the
manufacturing industry for lack of
coal, shortage in this and that neces-
sity. because the railroads were unable
to take care of the demands of active
times, capital hesitating to seek in
vestment in an enterprise restricted as
railroads have been and under pressure
for taxes and other matters in forty
eight states.
Perhaps the present plight of freight
traffic may suggest more liberal con-
sideration of capital when invested in
railroad securities, through encoura ge-
ment of railroads.
Local Securities.
Clearly the feature of the week in
the local stock market has been the
advance of about 6 points in the price
of Washington Gas and much larger
transactions. Should the price go a
couple of points above yesterdays
level IS, many holders who have been
carrying the shares for long periods
would be glad to market them. 1t will
be interesting to watch the strength of
the buying power At so the stock is
a per cent investment, and in these
days of easy money should be at
tractive
The only other feature, aside from the
activity in the demand for both
stocks and bonds, in a week in which $50
shares of stock were sold and S60,40O
bonds traded in, was the weakness in
Capital Traction per cent bonds and
Washington Gas IS, which have declined
practically point from the high of 107
to about JOG. although the former issue
sold to 1858 and the latter has not sold
as low as 106.
1t is but natural that bonds should
weaken a little. Potomac Consolidated
5s are down to 100asa1O01s. Investors are
clearing the slate for government issue
tax free. which means much in these
days Of taxation, in deficit wiping out and
preparations.
Announcement has been made of an un-
derstanding as to physical valuation be-
tween the public utilities commission and
the Washington and Georgetown gas COM
panies, and the Capital Traction Com
pany. with but little chance of any clip
ping of price scales as a result thereof.
There has been some shifting of invest
ments during the week on the local ex-
change, but not enough to be worthy >of
special comment.
New Tax Warning.
J. S. Bache & Co. of New York city.
in their weekly review of the situation.
call the attention of bankers and corpora
tions to the proposed tax of per cent
on profits of industry and brains. which
Is sure to be considered on the floor of the
Senate on Monday
Bache & Co. make this comment on the
proposed measure:
1T is an audacious adventure in class
placing the burden of support
ing the government upon the shoulders of
energetic business men, leaving the vast
OF voters untaXed. Every bank
er and corporation manager should COM
with his congressman at once.
inc rYo, flor