davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
May Close Improbable
Rand Gold Mines

Mr.. Malan, Minister of Mines, Union
Of South Africa, moved on January 10
in the Union House of the Assembly at
Cape Town for the appointment Of
select committee to report on the situs'
ton that has arisen in connection wltn
the working of some of the mines on
the Witwatersrand, owing to the in
creased costs of labor and materials
and other reasons" A cable dispatch
of January 18 from johannesburg to
THE London Financial Times" states
that "a dozen Rand mines are earning
less than 2 shillings a ton, and con-
seQuently have no prospect of paying.
dividend. 1t is expected that certain
proportion, possibly the entire group
will eventually cease milling opera
tions, with the view of conserving sup
plies for the richer and more protitapie
mines. The idea is prevalent that the
government will remit license fees. ana
that the remaining companies will form
fund for the purpose of pumping ana
generally maintaining the closed mines.
Another view is that the situation may
be met by diverting stores and lacor
from mines the ore reserves of which
are becoming exhausted. ."-En0tneer
|Gsa0 AID Mining Journal
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17

price fixation alone or non-essential
production alone that Is denuding the
farms Of labor. The armies and the
war industries were calling for men.
The luxury industries held them and
left the farms to furnish them. But
the continuance Of the luxury indus
tries is not solely due to the presence
Of imitation and the lack Of taxation.
These industries should have been
displaced as the importation Of lux
uries should have been prohibited.
Nor is the idleness Of our women due
solely to unwise war finance. The
situation is actually complex of
converging blunders.
We had to keep up our food pro-
duction, else ourselves and our allies
must suffer-perhaps lose the war.
We still have to keep it up. And this
we had to do-and still have-con-
sistently with supplying the men for
our armies, our shipyards and our
plunition factories. The only re-
source was to go without the prod
ucts that under stress we can spare
or to open up new supply Of labor.
Speaking in the large, therefore, we
had to shift the men and equipment
from the non-esential industries into
essential production or to draft in
the labor Of women. Speaking again
in the large, we have done neither,
therefore our ships are not built;
therefore we are getting our cannon
by gift Of France and England; ;
therefore we are facing the prospect
Of famine. and Herewith may lose
our war. But the non-essential in
dustries and their products and the
idle women are with us for our solace.
Instead Of employing the luxury fac
tories for other production, we leave
them to run; build new factories in
stead, and compete against them for
the scant supply of men and cars
and raw materials. ..,., CO..
Not very different, indeed, is the
prayer we pray from the traditional
formula: "God give US the luxuries
and the necessaries will take care of
themselves" But in point of, words
at least we are not quite thus piously
foolish; we do continue to provide
ourselves through our own industry
with our luxury products; romanti-
cally we retain the decorative
women; it is to prayer that we ap-
peal only to provide ourselves with
food.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Britain s Steel Industry
Expands in Large Way
Output Shows a Steady Increase
Since War Started

Great Britain has increased her out
put Of steel from total of about 7,soO,-
600 tons before the war to about IL ,O0o,.
600 tons on the present basis. The Lon.
don Iron and Coal Trades Review" in
discussing this remarkable expansion,
says:
"The work Of extending existing
plants and of putting down steel works
has proceeded very satisfactorily dur
ing 1917, Notwithstanding the obvious
difficulties occasioned by the state Of
war. Several entirely new undertak-
ings are now in active, though not yet
in the fullest. operation, and number
OF others will be ready early this year.
The output of acid and basic steel
excluding steel castings and crucible
steeD in the United Kingdom in 1914
was not more than about 100000 tons.
IN 1915, including steel castings, it had
been brought up to about 100000
tons. During the year just ended, tax
ing account of the extensions in hand,
1T has been increased to 10,500000, or
100000 tons. This is a remarkable
achievement, but when all the new
plants are completed the annual pro-
duction should not be less than about
100000 tons. Government control
during 1917 has not only been main
tanned but intensified, for practically
the whole production has been re-
quired, directly and indirectly, for
purposes of the war. Hence CONNER
cial work has been entirely neglected.
1t is matter of profound congratula-
ton that in a period of deep and wide
spread industrial unrest the good reia-
tionship between employers and en-
ployed in the steel trade has been un'
disturbed by any serious dispute"
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17

a quarter cents a pound. No allow
ance is made in these figures for the
increased incomes that the owners
need to have "on account of the
war;" for their living expenses have
increased largely and greater re-
turns are necessary.
Everything throughout the world
is higher con account of the war"
even to "gharry" distances in Singa-
pore, in the Malay Peninsula. "Be-
fore the war" the official cab dis
tance from the hotel to the French
mail steamer wharf was two miles.
1t is now three miles, as the hotel
runner insisted. I triumphantly
showed him my guide book. He
looked at it, scowled, then quickly
frightened, and said, "Ah-no good
that book, he before war-then
two miles-now three-you pay me
three, savvy" IL paid, as I did
everywhere-through the proboscis,
as some English say.
This incident has nothing to do
with "Little Wall Street." nor with
sugar in Java or Hawaii, but it
merely goes to show that "war prof
iteering" is a pleasant pastime in
out-of -the-way places Of the world,
like Singapore.
Copyright. 1918. by Tho Tribune Associaticn)
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
What 1t Costs to
Produce the Sweet

The cost Of producing sugar in
Hawaii has risen nearly SO per cent,
according to recent "inside" state
ments. Six cents pound raw
sugar is now no more profitable to
the producer, it is maintained, than
was four-cent sugar before the
war. Freight rates on bags have
gone up; packing costs more; the
70 per cent bonus paid last year
added $50 4 ton; under the new
rates announced by the Planters
Union the laborers will not get so
much next year; fertilizers have ad-
vanced; the freight rates to the
Eastern American markets, or
rather to the refneries, have been
raised to about S22 ton. All told.
the Increased cost of production of
raw sugar on Hawaii is estimated
tc be at least $40, ard perhaps $50,
a ton. equalling from two to two and
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Should Be Built
Under Federal Control

1. Our country must face the pos
sibility of war hereafter, in which
we shall need ships to keep our
foreign trade, preserve trade bal
ances and furnish transport service.
Our merchant marine should be
built under government control and
adapted to war needs in case Of need.
1t must be restored and kept at high
efficiency at any cost. Subsidies em-
ployed to do this must not be made
a means Of enriching individuals or
classes, but adapted to keep neces-
sary trade routes open at all times.
In such a case the profits Of the
carrying trade, if any, will remain in
this country.
2. To this end, either the Sherman
antitrust law should be repealed
outright-for it is vicious and mis-
taken in principle and has been abro-
gated for national reasons by our
government itself in its consolida-
tion Of the railroads-or, at any
rate, the Webb bill, which permit,
Of combinations for foreign trade,
should be passed at once, with such
amendments as shall make it really
effective.
3. The practice Of Germany for
many years past of not only permit
ting but encouraging cartels-which
are in effect pools for purchasing
raw materials to the best advantage
IN foreign markets and eliminating
costly competition among her own
merchants, and also for disposine Of
her manufactured goods and other
exports in the same way-should be
studied and adapted to the genius of
democratic organization. At pres
cnt the greater part Of Americans, in
Guiding manufacturers and exporters
themselves, do not know what a sa-
gacious and dangerous foreign trade
rival they have to contend with.
They simply know that they have
been baffled. In this connection the
recent proposals of Lord Rhondda
with respect to the adoption of some
such policy by Great Britain should
be noted, and also Japan's intelligent
imitation of Germany's methods.
That there are difficulties and dam
gers in this method should not be
overlooked. But it is certain that,
If Great Britain and Japan should
follow Germany in the creation of
cartels for the purchase of raw ma
terials and the sale of commodities.
the United States will have to shut
up shop unless she also does some
thing of the kind.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
\ Place Where Thirteen Brokers Conduct
The Machinery Of Excited Speculation,
Mainly in Sugar, and Customers
Automobiles Run Wild

sons can get up stock company.
Three-quarters of the nominal share
capital must be subscribed, and
either 10 per cent paid into the
treasury in cash, or the corporation
shall have acquired property Of value
equal to 10 per cent. Any lawyer
can tell one just how easily these
requirements may be met. There is
no provision, as there is in France
and many other countries, for either
state or independent appraisals.
Therefore, the value Of the proper
" contributed under loose corpora
tion charters quite often depends
somewhat on the imagination of the
organizers, and also to certain ex-
tent on their judgment as to the
prevailing absorptive capacity of the
public.
Under one notorious corporation
law-that of New Jersey before the
laws were changed under Mr.. Will
sons Governorship-no one could
legally question the adequacy of
the consideration after the stock
had been issued. Hawaii, a newer
field for the activities of ambitious
builders of corporations, could hard
ly be expected to evolve better
protective laws than exist in a few
remaining older jurisdictions.
In newer countries it is often
considered desirable to give every
possible encouragement to attract
capital. In Hawaii they have sue
ceeded. While the sugar stocks
might at their inception have been
"watered" literally, their recent
huge earnings have caused great
appreciation in prices, though not
necessarily to an equal extent in
values, until they stood on Decem-
Der 81 at a premium of about $2O,-
100000 over their total nominal
par.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Steps Required
To Maintain Trade

q. IN order to maintain foreign
trade there are four steps: (a) A
seeking of foreign markets, (b) the
establishment of sufficient shipping
under our own flag, (c) the insurinc
OF ships and cargoes in American
companies, which must be amplified
and furnished with more canita1
Perhaps combinations of various
forms of insurance now illegal must
be legalized. (d) The establishment
OF American banking facilities wher-
ever our traders go. AS I have
pointed out elsewhere ("Journal Of
Commerce." December 21, 1917. Mr..
Henry Evans, president of the CONT
mental Insurance Company, has nota-
oily shown this in his pamphlet on
The Vital Relation Between Bank
Ing, Shipping and Insurance"). a
combination Of these last three
factors is imperative.
8. AS the railroads are now con.
trolled by the government in such
fashion as to yield, theoretically
at least, the greatest possible service
10 'he nation, competition for busi-
ness being eliminated and rates ad-
Justed to bring about the most eco
nomical distribution possible. so
should it be after the war with both
railroads and shipping lines. Thew
should not be built or owned bv the
government, but their establish
ment and maintenance should he
controlled in the interest of an eco-
nomlc administration of the carrv-
ing trade. The greatest problem in
economics is distribution. There i,
more waste in distribution than any,
where else. 1t adds more than anv-
thing to the high cost of living. We
snail be at distinct disadvantage
with other nations unless we have
our railroads and steamships work
ing coordinately for the good of the
shlpper; and their own permanence
and freedom from bankruptcy. their
own value as investments will hest
be secured by such measures.
Germany's success in building u,
foreign trade was due almost en-.
tlrely to having had a scientific
rather than a haphazard plan fo,
pushing it. There was another ele,
nent not so admirable-the auto.
cratic control which made unified &C.
lion more easy. Moreover, her plans
were made in the interest of the ma.
Slon as conquering power, in which
certain classes were markedly ia
vored. These things do not agree
With the genius Of our own demo.
cratic country. Any plans such as
have indicated must be made mani
testify for the defence of the matio,
and also in the interest of all tn.
people. Plans which look to the in.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
America Needs Merchant Marine
To Protect Its Foreign Trade

the bearing upon national safety Of
an organization Of our trade with
other nations. Shall we continue to
let our foreign trade develop mere
ly as some one is intelligent enough
to see profit to himself in a par
ticular market, leaving him to fight
single-handed against all the OBJ
stacles presented by the buying and
selling combinations Of other ma
tions? Or, shall we look upon the
foreign field as one which shall be
made to minister to our national
wealth and safety? Let me present
the general situation in a series of
propositions:
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Reversing the
Old Order of Things

Recently the stock market has
shown a tendency to be distinctly
Nat at those times when it was not
actually weak. A few days ago a
little activity set in, and few
sugar stocks advanced point or so.
Little Wall Street was in a futter,
hoping that old times were coming
back again and would help to pay
for higher gasolene and other
necessities Of life. Almost every
broker here, as we'll as every GUS
toner of every broker, owns a good
automobile. No need here to ask
the classic Billy Travers questions,
which he asked when he was the
guest Of another broker at Newport
and had been told the names of
brokers who owned the various
yachts in the bay. He scanned the
horizon and said: "W-wrwell.
w-w-where are the c-c-customers'
yachts?" 1t is an old story, but l
am merely using it for an illustra-
tions. The customers yachts" run
wild around Honolulu streets, bump
ing each other oftener than might
be considered necessary. There are
many more automobiles in Honolulu
alone. with sixty-dve thousand peo.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
Making a
Good Showing

In years when gross receipts or
takings arc abnormal, it is often
considered in many jurisdictions to
be good practice to cut down vari-
Gus appropriations and extraordi-
nary expenses in order to make a
wonderful showing of met profits, :"
applicable to dividends. Large dis
tributions of profits can then be
legitimately made, and very
high stock prices must result if
money can readily be borrowed by
the public to finance it's purchases
in a rising stock market. During
the last two years very large divi-
dends have been paid on sugar
stocks in Hawaii.
Last spring when I was here
everything was ON the boom, and
the directors of some of the COM
panies were busily engaged in cut
ting down the par values of their
shares SO that they would not look
so high. Many companies the par
value of whose stock had been the
conventional 500 stately and
solid-soon changed their stocks
into $40 and $50 units, and greater
speculation was stimulated. Men
of limited means could now partici-
pate in the profit making. AS re-
suit of this policy of letting the
smaller man in I think it is quite
probable that the stockholders
lists contain many more names
than they did two or three
years ago. Every one is salts
fied-except, of course, the margin
holder-so long as dividends are
maintained. The average man
thinks he has an investment, and he
counts his high return as "income." !"
But dividends cannot be maintained
If the company does not earn them,
or has no adequate cash surplus
ready for emergencies. There is the
rub. Some companies have already
cut down dividends, and more cuts
are likely, l think, to follow.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17


University
Ut is said that a priest, leading
forth his spring professional for
the blessing of the crops,
stopped by one particularly unprom-
ising field to declare, "Here prayers
and entreaties will avail nothing;
this must have manure" In Protest
ant America, unfortunately, all of
our fields are Of the sort that no crop
will grow by exhortation. They need
ploughing and reaping, and cultiva-
ton between times; and not merely
laborers, but laborers at wages low
enough to correspond with the prices
that arc restricted-unless, indeed,
we may finally corsent to allow the
prices to go up with the wages.
Thus far, at any rate, our policy
continues naive beyond all other pos
slble spring devisings. We attempt
both to conserve scant present sup
ply and to encourage the next years
rloduct by holding the food prices
down while forcing general prices
up. Still persisting in our currency
inflations-with all things else rising,
wages and fertilizers and farm ma
chinery with the rest--we plan for a
big crop next year by holding crop
prices low. While the law still for
bids the prices to 60 up, exhortation
shall make the crop come up, and
further exhortation shall forbid the
consumption from coming up.
AS 1t Should
Have Been Done
There was, it is true, another posi-.
Die programme; we could have got
our revenue without imitation and
have avoided the temptation to tinker
at prices. If for every dollar more
that the government had to buy with
the civil population had had dollar
less to spend, the industries of lux
ury and waste must have languished
and their workers have been released
for the essential things either Of mill
tary or civil consumption-the goods
produced accordingly as the purchas-
ing powers were distributed with
which to buy them.
But even so, doubtless the crop
must have been short to the extent
that the farms were stripped of their
laborers to man the armies, the ship
yards and the munition plants. But
while the food was getting relatively
dear and the non-essential things
were falling off for lack of demand.
the farms might have attracted to
themselves some share of the released
labor, to make good the inroads of
the draft and of the new war prod
ucts. Our present method, however.
is to make the farm products cheap
at the same time that, by monetary
imitation, we are making all other
things dear, and are even foster
ing the production and the consump-
ton OF the non-essentials by restrict
ing the prices and the production of
the essentials.
The results have been twofold:
The farmers cannot afford to push
their production even were they able
to get the labor; and they can't get
the labor because the competing in
dustries are offering impossibly high
wages for it. Two men are leaving
the farms for city work to one that
is leaving for the army. We displace
the essentials by the non-essentials.
Then we turn to prayer.
A Complex of
Converging Blunders
And still the problem needs to be
r..
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
BY Herbert Fitch

honolulu, HdtcGll.
" HAT picture of island
wv cnchantment! Dusky Ka-
naka brokers standing un-
der the sheltering palms on the
street that the missionaries named
'Merchant," and calling bids and
offers languidly in the liquid tones
of language that has but twelve
letters. They trade in primitive
staples-taro, copra, various gaudy
fish, etc. Ever and anon all trading
stops short as some sparkling brown
acahine undulates by. She may be a
princess, who knows? Infltration
Of royal blood is not rare. Not
every Hawaiian woman looks like a
princess, however. From beyond
that clump of palms over Nuuaunu
way come music and laughter. May
hap, after the plenteous hlau, there
is now hula going on, with the
..kekc and the atkulele in accompani-
ment-althougb really the hula
ought to be an evening entertain
nent, Sought it ?"-the ma1ihini
reflects!
New-York tribune., 1918-02-17

" views as to nationalism,
however much one may
favor an organization of the world
for cooperation rather than for
competition, we must frankly face
the probability that nationalism will
persist for a long time yet. There
may be some close understanding, if
not an alliance, between ourselves
and the present Entente Allies after
this war; but it will not and can not
be even so moderate a thing as a
customs union. At most it will be
some friendly agreement so to con-
trol our trade that it will not weaken
US and our allies before our possible
enemies. And we cannot be at all
sure of even this much.
Scientific Organization
Is Essential
However strong our army and
navy may become, we shall be COM
paratively helpless in the future if
our foreign trade is not organized
upon a scientific basis with first
view to national defence. In the
past our foreign trade has arisen
almost solely through individual en-
terprise, with no thought except for
individual gain. Our merchant ma
rine, except for coastwise trade, had
almost disappeared from the seas
when the world war came upon US.
One Of the chief reasons for this
was our failure to seek markets for
manufactures outside our own ter
ritory. Another was our dependence.
upon Great Britain and other friend
ly powers to perform for us an office
which, on account of the less ex-
pense of building and management,
they could fulfil better than we.
No one had dreamed of the pos
sibility of such an upheaval of the
world as we are witnessing. And it
was plausibly argued by some that,
instead of being hindrance to us
to have Great Britain carry our
goods, it was real help. We see
now that our trade was seriously en-
barassed by Great Britain's need for
her own ships and by her insistence
,,nn,, tho oboroo+o,. o,>J Joa4:~.4:..
of cargoes-this even before we ex-
pected to be in the war at all. The
present demand for shipping en-
phasizes the fact. We are counting
confidently upon having before long
a large and competent merchant
marine. The ships we shall doubt
less get very soon; but there is no
guarantee that we shall keep them
under American registry. Who is to
own and operate them after the war?
Who is to provide the crews and Of
ficers for such ships, Americans Of
the present day being notoriously
averse to such a life? How are VIC
to meet competitive conditions un-
der the provisions of the seaman's
act and with a tonnage measure
ment practice which hampers us?
And lastly, most Importantly, where
are we to get cargoes for these ships,
seeing that other nations are also
ship building nations already es-
tablished in the carrying trade, un-
less we provide the cargoes our
selves by the export of our manu-
factures and the import of raw ma
terials?