davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1919-11-19
CHAPTER III.

Andrea swallowed lump In her
throat. ~ WON'T will not cry" she
said aloud. II shall never cry again.
I'm really having g-good time. I've
always been bored and I'm certainly
not bored now, and only q fool would
cry over that" She settled down to
her breakfast in earnest; forgot that
she detested eggs fried, ate every scrap
OF the toast, most Of the marmalnde,
and drank three cups Of tea. Then
she sat back and let her eyes amuse
her.
The kraal's, activity had centered
about the newest and smartcst Of the
huts. Around it many men were work.
ing, some digging trenches others cut
ting an extra door in, It's side. Pres
emily still others began to arrive In a
seemingly endless procession, bearing
posts, stripped Of their bark and cut
to uniform length. and great bundles
of withcs and thntch grass.
She watched them work with Won
der Mt what they were doing that
grew vngucr and vaGucr until she
drowSed and finally dropped sound
asleep in her chair. She awoke two
hours later to find the white man
standing before her, clean Shnyen,
clear eyed, smelling Of soap and look
ing almost dappcr in khaki helmet,
shirt. brccchcs and puttccs.
"Wcll, Mr.. White Man?" said An
drca.
He smiled slow smile Of relief as
though he had been drcadlng her first
words. "Will you come now?" he
asked.
She arose, started to follow him and
stopped with gasp. "Why!" she ex'
claimed, her eyes fastened on the hut
that had been the scene OF labor. II
was transformed. Before 1t now
stood vcrnnda with Il matched roof
Inclosing the veranda, the hut and &
tiny garden at It's back was n mighty
Stockadc, each post OF which wa:
Sharpencd to q needle point. From
the extra door ran covered way a:
strongly built as the stockadc nnt
which connected the hut with 1T
nGighbor-thnt into which the white
man had disappeared.
"Will you Gomez" repeated the mar
Andrea followed him, only to StoI
again when She reached the vcranda
It was carpctcd with n long gras
mat OF vivid cOlOrs and on the ma
stood chairs and q table. On In
table was q hand sewing machine an
from cOrncr-tO.cOrncr post swung
hammock. She had to StoOp very lON
to enter the hut itself. and once With
had to wait Il long time for her SUI
filled eyes to accuStOm themselves
the kindly gloom. The man grew In
patient and struck n match. BY ii
light Andrea saw q vision Of cOmfor
The room was circular and mceilc'
so that one could look up and up int
the very depths Of It's tapering peal
From that height dnngled q wire an
on It's end hung lantern. The ma
lit 1t and showed her how 1t could /
carried to any desired point on til
circumference Of the room and hooke
there.
On one side stood cot alreaC
made up; beside 1t q small camp chat
On the other side was long hammOC
chair, and close to 1t stood carve
tabouret piled high with books. Ov'
small table hung foolish lit
mirror. The walls were wainscott
with woven mat Of golden reed
The place smeiled clean. was clean.
The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1919-11-19

Continued on last page, this section
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
u hat Bethlehem
Did During the Wa

According to its own estimates
the Bethlehem Steel Corporation
produced during the period of the
war 60 per cent of the finished guns
made in this country, 65 per cent of
the gun forgings, and 40 per cent OF
the complete ammunition.
By the close of 1918 the ship
building plants delivered an aggre-
gate of 625, 900 deadweight tons to
the Emergency Fleet Corporation,
which represented % per cent of the
output of the country during the pc
rlod the United States was bellip-
erent. Moreover, the corporation
last year delivered to the navy. be
sides sixteen submarines, twenty-six
torpedo boat destroyers, or more
than one-half the deliveries of the
shipbuilding plants in the country
according to the company figures.
and planned to deliver early this
year thirty-siX additional destroyers.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Japans S American Trade
Outgrows Knick kerbockers
Npponc Banker
ce IN heIaing Passing of Foreign Trade
te"r stage-iand of Rising on Domestic Comm

bought about $150,000,000 worth
Of bonds of various types, all issued
IN the United States. In addition to
that, private corporations and in
dividuals Of our country put in
about 100000 also in bonds is
sued in the United States
While the Japanese merchants
have been pushing themselves ahead
in the field of Americana apanese
trade, how about the American
frms?' | asked. Have they held
their own against the Japanese
competition?
well, yes, they have-to a GER
tain extent, that is to say. The
American houses engaged in the
importing and exporting business
between here and the Orient have
been making progress right along.
But not quite as rapidly and extern
slvely as the Japanese. The reasons
for this are Slmple.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
By Adachi kinnosukc

E EAPAN'S American trade is get
d ting out Of its knickerbockers
rather rapidly. At any rate
K. lchinomiya, resident manager of
the Yokohama Specie Bank told me
so yesterday, as we sat in one cor
ner Of few acres Of marble and
mahogany in the Equitable Build
ing, which houses its New York
branch. And the one poetic and
profitable thing to do with knicker-
oockers, he added, is to outgrow
them. That, at least, is the idea of
Japanese business interests here.
Before the war, in 1914, there
were some thirty leading japanese
firms located here engaged in Amer
ican-Japanese trade of various
types Mr.. Ichinomiya said TO
day we have thirty more houses
than we had then. Before the war
the aggregate capital of the Jap
anese companies of this type was
about S5O,O00,000 gold. To-day the
sum stands at about $1SO,OO0,OOO.
In other words, while their number
increased about 100 per cent, their
increased 26O per
cent
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13

rates according to this principle Of
the additional costs imposed by each
particular ltcr OF class Of traffic
spells inevitable insolvency. Herein
lies, IN truth, not merely the justi-
icatlon, but the necessity for the
Varous devices for limiting cornpe-
ttlon in rates between roads. Rates
tAat will pay when considered
separately bring receivershps when
applied generally. A boarding house
tccper, for example, must fail in
business if she charged all of her
ooarders the rate at which she could
afford to take on one extra boarder.
Her choice is between secret rates
and no cutting at all. And at the
best there IS danger that her neigh
Dor Will be experimenting with this
secret cutting.
1t IS, therefore. bad business to
attempt to conform rates to specific
costs, or to make all lines of traffic
contribute equally to the general
costs
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13

Service relieved the situation by
finding Jobs for 5000 who had been
laid off. Virtually all of that group
were sent to jobs outside of the
Bethlehem district. The railroads
and shipyards We're large employers
of these men. At. present it is es-
tlmated that 5000 men are unem-
ployed in the city of Bethlehem and
5000 in the Bethlehem district.
A local banker, who is in touch
with the foreign element, estimates
that as many as $500 laborers want
to return to Europe, and are anxious
that the bars on emigration be lift
ed. An impelling motive that moves
these men, the banker said, was curl
oslty to find out what had happened
to the Old country during the war
and what had become of their rela-
tives and friends.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Passenger Traffic
Must Make Good

Nor would it be obviously wise,
even were it actually possible, to de-
termine the relative charges or bur
dens Of passenger and freight rates
through any separate ALLEGATION of
special or general costs. The most
that can be said - and this not
securely - is that the passenger
traffic must make good whatever ex-
ira costs it imposes. The holdings
of the courts are especially regret
table here
The better view goes, indeed, still
further. The cost principle requires
that the traffic Of utility company
shall be remunerative as an aggre-
gate, but not as Of necessity; that
no part of it be neutral with respect
to gain, or that no part of it impose
loss. 1t is essential to recall that
private companies are merely pri-
vate mandatories Of public SER
vice. Whatever policy, then, the pub
lie should rightly follow under pub
he ownership, that policy the public,
in its supervisory function, should
impose on the private owners. The
norms are not those of competitive
production or of relative costs, but
Of collective activity to the ends of
public welfare. 1t is not even essen
tlal that the enterprise pay as an
aggregate, if only it be expcdient to
supplement its revenues from other
public resources. AS the schools or
the postal service may wisely i'm
pose a deficit, so conceivably might
the railroads or the water service
or the tram companies
1t may likewise be as much of
mistake TO allow the carload shipper
less than the 100-pound rate as it
would he to fix the trainload rate
lower than the carload. Where the
trend Of business is overstrong
toward the elimination Of weak or
small petitors--th difficulties of
getting a start or Of growing already
nearly prohibitive - public policy
may well oppose the tendency rather
than accelerate it, Probably wisely,
as a question Of business policy. and
certainly wisely as a question Of
public serviceablity, the life insur-
ancc companies make as low 4 rate
for the small as for the large policy
holders. The larger costs attending
longer distances receive no express
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13

war, only between $4,000 and
$4,000 worked in the yards of the
units now constituting the Bethle-
hem Shipbuilding Corporation.
The steel plants are much further
away from war basis. At the peak
of activity, which was attained last
July, $4,000 workers were engaged
in the steel and ordnance plants of
the company, including those ac-
qulred and constructed since the
war began. In 1914 the average
number employed was $4,000. At
present not more than $4,000 are at
work in the steel plants. At Bethle
hem the number has been cut from
$4,000 to 10000, and reductions are
still being made. At Steelton the
forces have been curtailed from
5000 to approximately $500, and
the changes in the other plants have
been analogous.
In laying off labor, which the can
cellations of government war orders
necessltated, the corporation, its Of
flcers say, tried to alleviate hardship
as much as possible. In order to
spread the work, overtime was elimi-
mated to large extent by the re-
ductlon of twelve-hour shifts to ten
and eight hours and ten-hour shifts
to eight. The workers who had been
employed last were the first to 20.
as the corporation desired to retain
its old employees. Women workers
were engaged chiefly in the making
of munitions, and therefore they
were among the first dismissed
Every attempt was made, it is said.
to hold men with dependents as long
as possible.
The United States Employment
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Endless Shifting
OF Machinery

In swinging over to peace work
the Bethlehem corporation, in com
mon with other employers, is con-
fronted with the wage question. 1t
is the view of those connected with
the corporation that the normal
steel business will not permit the
payment of such high wages as were
used during the war to attract worx-
ers from many sources, and that, on
the other hand, it would not be fair
to reduce wages unless the cost of
living falls. 1t is felt that the gov
ernment should use every effort to
bring down the cost of the necessi-
ties of life, and to see that the cost
of transportation, which is such an
important factor in the keeping up
Of prices, is reduced.
The transition to peace, more
over, requires seemingly endless
shifting of machinery The war
plants were built to produce war
material. The emergency was too
great, the corporation officers felt,
to do anything but construct well
engineered plants to turn out guns.
The question of ultimate use of the
new plants after the war had to be
subordlnated. The result is that,
although the building, the power
facilities and other service units are
adaptable to peace needs, the i'm
mediate tool equipment may not suit
under strictly competitive condi-
tlons. The supreme problem that is
now being tackled is the finding of
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13

products that can be economically
produced in the new units.
1t is difficult to estimate the ex-
tent to which the productive capac-
ity of the Bethlehem Steel Corpora
ton was increased as result of th,
war. Acquisition OF new plants and
the increasing of the number and
lengths of shifts were important
factors. The ordnance departments
were greatly expanded
The equipment of the shipyards
was not increased more than 35 per
cent above pre-war capacity. as it
was largely the increasing man
power that made it possible to get
out the augmented ship tonnage.
Except by acquisition and the
building of the Sparrow's Point
plant, the steel plants did not grow
tremendously Structural mills and
merchant mills were added at Beth
lehem and additions were made at
other plants.
In 1914 the entire corporation as
now constituted. employed $4,000
men, and at the peak of activity in
1918, 5000. Although the pres
ent number is not much in excess Of
100000, 1t is much larger than the
prp-war Sto ~ Jo-J
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Social Side OF
Utility COrp0ratiOns

1t IS, however, no part Of the
present purpose to pass upon these
problems Of detail within the gen
eral principle Of charge, but only to
make clear the nature of the gen
eral principle. All competitive tests
of rates by appeals to specific costs
or to relative costs are of dubious
worth or entirely out of place in
collective enterprises - even were
these specific or relative costs sus-
ceptible of determination. The
forms Of charge for public services
are sociological rather than eco
nomic, collective rather than compet-
ltlve, questions Of general welfare
rather than of private justice They
are problems in the vague realm of
social eXpediency rather than of the
more or less specific and definite
categories of cost of production,
market prices and competitive busi-
ness policy.
That the rules and policies of
ordinary private business must be
inappropriate to public utility en-
terprises ought to be clear from this
one fact alone-that these enter
prises are not competitive enter
prlses, are not essentially private
enterprises at all. They are under
takings that are public in their ma
ture but that are-for very practi-
cal reasons Of the public welfare
intrusted to private investment and
private administration. In it only,
therefore, in the aspect of private
investment and of. the treatment to
be allowed to it in order to have it,
that questions of private interest
of private rights, of competitive JUS
tice and of adequate return get any
place in the discussion.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Utility Omncrs
as Trustees

But suppose that the rights of wav
or the terminals, or other items Of
equipment or plant have become
more valuable -- could now find
market purchasers at an advance
above the original cost, or could be
replaced only on terms Of increased
cost. No new investors rights at
tach. All risks Of loss being ST tho
public charge, all speculative gains
or investors incrcments are like
wise eliminated The private owners
are guaranteed and regulated inycx-
tors---esscntialiy creditors, preferred
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
By II. !. Davenport
Professor Of Economics at Cornell.


University
4 S WAGES and prices have
~ been rising, the operating
expenses of the public utility
companies have moved more and
more closely up to the total receipts
from operation. Little or nothing
now remains over for return on in
yestment.
Ihe earlier rates are obviously
now too low. Only, what would be
high enough? The objective is to
induce private investors to under
take what is essentially a public
Junction, this being regarded as the
eSpedlent substitute for direct pub
Ac investment. These investors
must, therefore, be assured of fair
returns - and this all the more
clearly that they are not to be
allowed more than these fair re-
surhs' These guaranteed rates Of
in'erest-that are both maximum
and minimum rates-need not be
LOO 100 high, since they are certain.
Win freedom from risks there need
20 no chance Of any exceptional
gains Public utilities should be-
come the most conservative of in
'es'ments, the returns certain and
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Postponing 4ctirify
Until Public Is Ready

But precisely what, after all, does
the principle imply in the exclu-
slvely forwardlooking application
Of it? 1t implies, first, the post
poned supply of every sort of pub
lie service till such time as the
public, recognizing the need, is ready
to authorize provision for it and is
willing, in terms of adequate rates
OF service, to promise indemnity for
1t. To this limit does its responsi-
blllty extend; by this limit is its re-
sponsibility bounded. The further
danger that, under no possible rates,
could the venture be made to paw
the investors must themselves as
sumo. The principle implies mo-
nopoly and regulated charges. But it
involves also the negation of all
franchise values-the limitation of
rates to the charge implicit in fair
returns to investors, the terms at
-'4e va VIC pIbllC acceptance OF
all attendant risks.
Almost inevitably the early rates
VIII be losing rates for period, else
during the time Of development and
Of limited traffic the rates must be
so high as to prohibit the desirable
extension of the traffic under falling
unit costs Of service. These operat-
ing deficits must be regarded as in
cluded in that permanent invest
ment on which later earnings are
to be permitted. All reasonable or
ganlzation costs are within the same
class, together with all risks OF
onsoiescencc, or all accruals of obso-
lesccnce, and all costs Of replace
ment and Of extension. The rates
must IN the long run be paving
rates, sufficient 20 cover whatever
new level Of costs may have to be
met.
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
fubHc Interest
demands Fair Rates

faiF rates present themselves.
'Aeleiore, not merely as rates ethi-
'@'iy good, but at the same time as
,ses tnat are essential in the pub
nc interest. That the public shall
pay 1or what it gets is the sole con-
rl'lon on which it can hope to get.
mus the risks must be with it, else
'As low rates cannot be. The pri-
'a'e enterprise comes to stand az
4'efe agent or trustee in the carry
''s oIt Of delegated public func-
ion.
Inc fundamental principle is.
''en' one Of adequate returns to the
inyestor.
S'thsr more or less than this is
D'ander or injustice, or both. Essen
'@'iy tne same would be the ulti-
,-@N meaning and working of pub
- ownership. Therefore, precisely
~.s should be also the essential
p''Fy N this Intermediate and com
r.p'nise plan between public and
Nsate enterprise, in which the
pseess'ty Of q monopoly is recoy-
s'Osn' On this original basis there
s'''d obviously have been no pur-
ss s.se n franchise huntings, no pro-
= s"N'''e fortunes in franchise values,
motive for hurry into premature
: s7..@''ationh, no speculative bearing
Ia. '"'s'fnediate losses in prospect Of
a.. 49, ovsreharge. High gains in
e' ~ Of the high risks assumed
.ss 80" nave had no place or plea. A
ana conservative investment in
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Japan Racing .4icay
From, Former Isolation

"The growth is pleasing. For the
brass band emphasis of this little
parade of figures is on the inter
national expansion of Japan's busi-
ness and financial activities. 1t
tells the story of Japan's racing
away from the provincial isolation
of the orphan island of the Pacific
at pretty lively pace. Just take
look about this Office We en-
ploy about seventy people Fifty of
the number, as you see, are Ameri-
cans. Only twenty are Japanese.
Yet we are Japanese corporation.
'As for our customers, they are
even more emphatically cosmopoli-
tan in that they represent almost all
the leading countries of the two
Americas, Europe and the Far East
- Chinese, East Indians, South
Americans, Canadians, British, Jap
anese and the rest. The fact is. and
it is very trite one, that banking
success nowadays depends al
together on the ability of a bank to
furnish the best facilities for the
lines the customers are interested
in. Not all the Japanese firms use
our bank-by no means And, as
have just limited, we have Oh our
books number of American firms.
"There is no feudalism in modern
finance; clannishness passed with
the Middle Ages with the Japanese
as with other peoples. Finance is
a world citizen; there is no question
of race discrimination with it. Our
people have invested goodly
amount in other countries securi-
ties. The Japanese government
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
steel fans Now ON Commercial Orers Are Working Up to
for>e FER Cent of Capacity but Experts Experiment.
ing ON new industrial Products and Trade Scouts Abroad
oeekns to Stimulate Foreign Commerce Shpvards Start
Curtailment at Milvear

plants, they will be made on COM
mercial basis for outside factories
and plants.
Engineers and chemists in the de-
velopment department are striving
to work out additional new prod
ucts, and the sales and executive
forces are studying the marketable
lty and comparative costs Of the pro
posed innovations.
The corporation is developing
plans actively for export trade and
has experts abroad studying the
worlds shipbuilding requirements
with a view to enlarging it's shin
building programme to utilize it's
full capacity. To develop export
business for its commercial steel and
iron products, it has joined the Con-
solidated Steel Corporation which
was recently organized under the
Webb Act for the purpose of de-
veloplng foreign markets.
Meantime, the commercial steel
plants are turning out their first
large peace orders. Production dur
ing the war was limited only by hui
man and mechanical capacity, but
now, OF course, it follows demand.
Not more than as per cent Of the
capacity Of the commercial steel
plants of the corporation now is be-
ing employed. This state of activity
runs close to the performances Of
steel mills generally to-day.
There virtually Is no buying Of
steel and steel products by any Of
the government bureaus to-day. The
placing Of orders for rails and rail
road supplies, locomotives, construc-
ton material, bridgework, ard in,-
plements needed in road work, it is
New-York tribune., 1919-04-13

stockholders or agents or trustees in
a public enterprise.
The current application Of this
fundamental principle to questions
Of railroad rates or to charges for
municipal services of various sorts
is clear, to the extent, at least. that
the problem is uncomplicated bv
mistaken policies in the past-errors
of premature instalment, of bad
management, of losses by under
charge or gains by overcharge. Pub
nc utility companies must, in anv
case, be permitted rates of return
that cover the current costs of pro-
vldlng service and that permit,
Justify and induce the desirable ex-
tensions of service. In the long run
the public interest, equally with the
investors interest, is conditioned on
a policy Of remunerative rates. Ser
vice for the public cannot go along
Win insolvency for the investor.
So much as this is, then, obvious:
That rates must cover costs, as the
sole basis on which services can be
supplied, holds in essentials both
for public and for private owner
ship and in substantially the same
sense. And rightly, always, costs
must include interest charges. But
there still remain certain difficult
problems in fixing the interest
charges properly to be recognized as
costs for those private companies
whose present status is complicated
by an unregulated or i'll regulated
past.