The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-20
President VaiI's
 Annual Report
By HOLLAND

tue annual report which, since he be- came president of the Bell Telephone company, he has taken great pleasure In preparing. It is safe to say that there Is nc other president of a great corpora ton or of any railroad company who spends the time and labor in preparing an annual report which President Vail devotes to his annual report.
 It is done as though he were absorbed in the composition of a literary work for which the author entertained hopes of securing and maintaining high reputa- ton. Those who are familiar with Pres ident Vail's methods say that when the tlmc approaches for the preparation of the annual report, he withdraws to some secluded place. well fortified by all of the statistics, figures and details of which be has need, and then occupies himself for many hours each day, in whipping these details and figures into attractive shape, so written as to be un- derstandable by all men, and so pre- pared as to have peculiar literary charm.
 Ii was said at the time Gladstone was chancellor of the exchequer of Great | Britain that although he was no fnan- eier and had never been behind the coun- ters of bank. nevertheless, he was able so to present budget to the House of Commons as to cause it to be listened to as though the great statesmen were tell ing a story that contained all the ele- rlents of real romance. He knew how to | touch with the magic of his genus sta tistcs and figures which ordinarily fur 1 nished the dryest kind of reading so | that they seemed to be infused with an unexpected charm
 l President Vail possesses gift of this l kind Then after weeks of study and preparat tion he puts forth his annual re- port, he knows that it is as well done as it is possible for any man to do it, and that it will be attentively read,s not only for the information which it con l tafns, but also for certain subtle charm I Of composition of which he has the | secret. Having completed this work, it I is President VaiPs custom to sojourn for 1 a few weeks at that delightful and healthful resort of the south which is | the exclusive possession of wealthy men, whose name is Jekyl Island.
 WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN 1 Shortly befort the war in Europe be- gan President Vail received a communi- cation from the department of justice at l Washington. It contained a monition. l There was an implied, if not openly ayowed, purpose to. bring the American Telephone and Telegraph company into the courts for the purpose of securing a mandate which would compel the dis meinbering of the Corporation, the tear ing of it apart. and severing from it one or two of it's subordinate companies
 Preferring not to fly in the face of the government, or to seem to be in any way disposed to antagonize the department oi justice in it's view, President Vail put himself into communication with the de- partment He was anxious to learn what could be done to meet without litiga- tion, the purpose of the department. He was told that if certain of the subordi- nate companies were torn away, made absolutely independent, then the depart ment of justice would be content and would not begin the prosecution of the corporation.
 President Vail heard, with some dis may. this statement but he bowed his head respectfully to the utimatum of the department of justice and tore the cor poration into pieces, So to speak. In doing that he was obliged to give up vast and far-reaching plans which he had in mind for the expansion of plants and methods whereby swift communica- tion by means of the telephone and the
 telegraph could be made to all parts of the country. The department of justice Sdlo HOy dliu IL WIS IcCCSSdiy tO ODcy the Attorney General
 If there had been no interference on
 the part of the department of justice the entire system over which President
 Vail was executive chief, by the time
 the United States began as one of the
 belligerents to take part in the war with
 Germany would have been able to give
 service of the highest value to the gov
 erhment.
 Az wo Nn1 oh f.
 give great service, cordially cooperating
 with the government, partly by estab-
 fishing precedence over the entire sys-
 tenn for government service. It was nee
 essary in order adequately to do this
 to make Washington the great central
 station for telephone service. It was
 also necessary greatly to increase the tol
 service. Furthermore, President Vail au-
 thorized the construction of new un-
 delground cable connecting New York
 and Washington This cable represents
 the latest designs and improvements oi inventors, and contains S0000 miles ol wire. No blizzard nor any electric storm
 or cyclone can interfere with this serv- ice since the wires are laid underground
 The Pittsburg company also estab- lished near a water power in Canada about halfway between Montreal anc Quebec another plant from which comes
 aluminium in various forms, almost ex
 clusiyely absorbed by the Canadian mar ket The company obtained control ol
 the largest and best deposits of baux
 ite in the United States and since the
 war in Europe began secured control o
 a large deposit in New Guinea, Soutf America. Some day this South Amercar
 bauxite will be transported to new plant at or near Baltimore there to b.
 used for the manufacture of aluminium.
 One of the reasons why the unique
 deposit of alunite in one of the noun tains of Utah, cannot be made. as it is l said, readily available for the recov
 cry of the potash that is in it, lies il
 the fact that the alunite contains : large amount of alumina for whici
 there is no market The great Amer ican industry occupied with the manu fracture of aluminium possesses all tht deposits of bau...te which it will neet for years to come. no matter how grea , the increased demand for aluminium < may be.
 The statistics published day or twt l age report that prior to 1870 the markc
 price of aluminium was SIP pound cheaper precious metals. So greatly re
 duced was the cost of production by th'
 methods invented by MT. Hall that tn
 price fell to 20 cents pound in 1915 ] 1 The great demand occasioned by tn war in Europe compelled an increase il price which has now been fixed by th' President at g cents q pound Tn 1, lmcney value of the aluminium produced