The Washington times., 1922-10-14
FINANCE,
AND
RUsiNHEsS'
" .. o FoRsKa. !

! ends up his funny strip with the
/. commentary, But Il doesn't mean
anything" These stock dividends
and the splitting Of big shares into
I, little shares don't mean very much
to the stockholders. For ex.
ample. just what does this ,appar.
entity gorgeous largesse by the
Rockefeller company fnean7
2 The stockholders simply get five
pieces Of paper instead Of one
piece Of paper, but the five pieces
do not increase their share Of the
company's assets one iota., Nor
are the shareholders to receive one
cent more in total dividends per
snnum. They have been getting
q dividend of IS on each share.
Now they are to get q dividend of
81 on each of the five shares they
receive In exchange. In other. words.
instead OF getting q IS bill they
viii now get five single dollars.
| The excitement over stock divi.
dends and the splitting up of
shares Is usually worked up by
spectators.
! I've noticed quite often that the
splitting up of shares by the In
siders of q company has been fol.
owed by a drop in quotations, sus'
gesting that this ruse has been re-
sorted to when insiders became
anxious to unload on the public.
| 1t is we'll to remember that II
q company has 100000 shares OF
800 par value the total worth OF
the company's shares IL not in
creased q dollar by splitting the
shares into $40 pieces and issuing
1000. 900 of them. .
Please understand, however, that
I'm not limiting for one moment that
| the Standard Oil of New Jersey IN
siders have been prompted by any
such motive. The truth II that in
vestors who have backed the Rookie
| Teller Standard Oil companies. have
| Jared better than the investors In
any other group of enterprises in
America. I noticed a headline in yes
terday's newspapers saying: "Stan-
dard Oil Of New Jersey Advance
Adds $4,000. 900 to J. d. Jr.s For
tune" J.,
| This reminds me Of a remark once
made to me. with a merry twinkle,
! by old John D.: You have never
iheard anyone who has done business
with Us complain Of not being paid
promptly. have your" - 49,.
Both Rockefeaisr ana his companies
have been good payers In more sense
than one.
mo man II worth 100000 =
year." you sometimes hear q nom
| successful fellow remark.
Isn't this notion all wrong?
Who will claim that what Henry
Ford has done has not been worth
to the wprld a great deal more than
500, 900 d year7 Does any sane man
alleee that Ford has not made his
millions honorably. and that, II any.
one is. he is entitled to be q multi
millionaire?
But 1t wasn't Ford who prompted
this paragraph. 1t is Andrew w.
Mellon, the present head of our
Treasury Department at Washing
Mr.. MELONS, handling of the ma.
tion's colossal financial problems has
been worth to you and. me and the
other taxpayers of America many
times 500 900 a year. Had there
been q less skillful and experienced
man at the, financial helm. we would
have encountered several financial
squalls before now. The operations
of the Treasury would have periudi.
cally thrown the, money market into
convulsions.
But Andy Mellon has handled the
whole difficult business without caus-
ing even q ripple on the surface of
the money market. And se may
safely assume that he will exercise
equal genius in handling the other
billions of refunding still to be ac-
complished.
have never met Mellon in my
life, 80 that I'm not biased. But
when O great, busy business man
volunteers to devote his time and
talents wholly to the public service,
and performs services Of absolutely
| incalculable value. shouldn't we at
least let him know that we deeply
appreciate what he is doing for usY
Gratitude to whom: gratitude Is
due.
Add ono more multi.miilionaire to
| the nations list of generous givers-
James b. Duke, the tobacco king.
Dukes outburst Of generosity has
rather astonished those who know
him. once spent q whole fore
noon with Mr.. Duke, and when Il
realized early In the proceedings
that I had forgotten to put any
cigars in my pocket. said to my.
self, "I should worry. The tobacco
king will treat me to something
that would make my 10-cent smokes
look. like rank grass" Well, sir.
Mr:-Duke pulled out of his pocket a
handful of 10-cent Orlandos. selected
one for himself, pushed the/ rest
back into his pocket, lit up and
started smoking like q furnace. I
was taken aback.
But I said to myself. He will
finish this cigar In quick order at
the rate he In going. and when he
pulls out his supply again he viii
be sure to think of offering me one" /"
should say that he smoked three
or four Of his 10-centers In course
of the forenoon, but all I got was
an occasional rwhiff of the smoke
enough to make me want \ cigar
still more. .-.t.. .,s..
That was years ago. Believe rne,
wouldn't be backward today at
| asking for a smoke under any such
circumstances as have described.
find that I get on best with cap.
tains OF industry and fellows OF that
class by treating them exactly as !
x>yf,,Id treat auyOne else &ilV y.