The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-22

New York, February Zl. l.-tSpecial)-Ou bankers, borrowers. shippers of any kind of merchandise, railway officials and manufacturers with hand-to- mouth sup piles of fuel or raw material have been aware all of this week that existing con ditions constituted state of war. With the prices of outstanding United States bonds showing declines of as much as
 point in some issues the widest fuctua-
 tions for the same periods in years, our
 bankers, without any further notifica-
 tions, are preparing to participate in government war loan, When the big Wall street institutions begin to mass
 their liquid assets, intariabiy the effect is immediately felt by borrowers of
 time money.
 As for those whose business is depen- dent upon the transportation industry,
 the situation was bad enough before the existing submarine crisis arose. When
 the European war began August 1, 1914.
 our railroads had behind them eight long years of rigid economy in the matter of additions to rolling stock, such as loco motives and freight cars Despite the record breaking exports of foodstuffs, be- ginning in the early autumn of 1914.
 which was followed by the outward flood
 of war materials, railroad managers were 1 skeptical regarding the industrial outlook. Practically all of the large railway sys- l tems, hungry for business, decided to
 keep down expenses and expenditures while making the most of the windfall in gross earnings
 | But instead of being short-lived, the up- ward movement in the earning power of l the carriers continued to climb to new high records. Then, in their astonish- frantieally against the war order com panies as well as themselves, for new equipment. Freight cars which had cost | from ss00 to SlO0e in 1914 jumped to $l2fe iby the autumn of 1915. to $2140 in Sep | tember of 1916. with the price at s2540 at the opening of this year. with May l, 1slf, the earliest possible delivery
 l But competition with the war order com panies did not stop at raw materials for Locomotives and freight car building Off, fering advances of 25 to 50 per cent, or even more in daily wages. the industrIai corporations, with rush orders on their books for ammunition, simply cleaned out the railroad shops of trained mechanics With new freight cars and locomotives almost out of reach in price and date of delivery, and at 8 time when, owing to the rush of business, the strain on equipment was at the highest point ever known the railroads could not get shop lmen to keep the equipment In repalr. Hence, before the submarine crisis arose our railroads had already reached the
 breaking down point in equipment, espe- cially motive power. Now, with no east bound steamship to carry off the ra pidly Iaccumulating export business, freight at all of the eastern terminals is pilng up lmountain high, and cars which should be T on their way home empty, are standing fuIp on sidetracks. In brief domestic as well as export business from one end of the country to the other IS rapialy backing up apd creating the worst con gestion and ear shortage in our history
 However, from the annual reports or some of the industrial companies for the year ended December 31, 1916, now coming to hand, it would appear that the freight embargoes being issued py Il the railroads would be welcomed to give overworked men and machinery II an opportunity to cool off. Within the Il past fortnight the American Locomo. II tive company reported for the hall year gross earnings of no les than s3T e0e. .0e0 against $14,39s,o0o for the corresponding period of the preceding \ year gross earnings of no less than T months of 1914. American Can conn rany's statement, issued week ago. showed something like 46 per cent Iraally earned for the common stock, compared with 52 for 1915, 3.e per l cent for 1914 and 26 for 1913. Then there was the preliminary report of the United States Steel corporation, which indicated 4S1s per cent earned for the s50s,000,006 common stock last | year, compared with 9.9 for 1915 and only 6.5 per cent for the $360,000,OOo ' per cent cumulative preferred shares during 1914.
 But those reports, as striking as they were at the time of publication, have appeared tame since last Wednes- day, when the 1916 du Pont powder statement was issued. That annual re- \ port showed $S2,107,000 net earnings for last year, compared with Ss7,s4o,ooO for 1915, and $5,6e5,006 for 1s14 Last
 years surplus for dividends was equal I to 1883 per cent on the S5S.S54,ooO
 common stock, against s4.S per cent for 1915 and 7.9 per cent for 1914.
 T This weeks figures of Bonar Law, chancellor of the exchequer of Eng land, showing what the European war is now costing his country, throws light on last years earnings of the
 du Pent company, When the, war hs- gan England was spending less than
 $5,00c, 900 a day, a sum that then
 seemed ckbreaking, in view of ti;e fact that our own civil war, which
 ran four years, and up to that time was the worst in history, cost. all told, sS.000, ,0A0,e00. The Napoleonie wars,
 which lasted 20 years, cost for the
 20 years from 1Tss to 1915, s6,25e, ,000,- 600. Law stated this week that the | daily cost to his country alone was
 now $2s.950.0o6. In February of 1916, Premier Asquith said the daily cost was s25.000,0o0, figure he predicted
 would not be exceeded at any time ps long as the war lasted
 Law also stated this week that so far the war had cost his country f4,- 200, ,0o0.o00. That figures out an aver age monthly expenditure for every month since August 1. 1914, of no less than $700. 900. 900. When the war be- gan Englands public debt was $3,000,-
 900; now, according to Law, it is s2o, 0o0.G0o. The national debt of the Uni-
 ted States today is only a little over
 $1. .000.000,0 900. The debt of New York city alone is half as much again.
 Germany's total debtsat the outbreak of the war. two and one-half years
 ago. including all of her indiyidua,