The Washington times., 1922-09-09
FINANCE
AND
RUsiNEss. M
Now Investigating Conditions
the West.
~ B. O. FORBES.


Daniel Meyer, who from humble be-
ginnings had succeeded in pecom-
ing an important and very wealthy
financier, was walking along the
street alone one evening at time
when hold.ups were quite frequent.
An ugly.looking fellow stopped Dam
lei and asked him, What time is
it?"
Instead Of stopping to take out
his watch, the suspicious old bank
er replied, "It's time to run!"
With that he was off down the
street, lickety-split. ..--. ...
Henry Ford's announcement that
he means to shut all his plants next
Saturday has caused something like
CONSERVATION. Ford gives as his
reason the scarcity of coal. A good
many people, however. express the
opinion that the decision to shut
down has been influenced by falling
off In orders. The reasoning Is that
Ford could not possibly go on maj
ing 1000 to 5000 cars every day
during the winter months ana thet
he is glad to find a plausible excuse
for ceasing for a time TO pie UP
cars.
Ford is the theme OF many a dis
cussion throughout the West. He
has lots of ardent admirers-also,
of course, not q few critics. Some
| of his rooters, who were accustomed
to banking on anything Henry said,
received a shock when he declared
recently that the labor unions took
orders, secretly, from Wall street
and did whatever the Wall street
schemers told them to do. This has
proved too much for even the most
enthusiastic Ford fan to swallow
Some of the newspapers in the
West have made quite a noise over
! a Wall street publications. estimate
that the income of Henry Ford and
his wife and son will this year reach
SIS 900 900. Wall street is accus-
! toned to playing with big figures,
but the originator Of this globular
| total must have been feeling partic-
ularly bullish.
incidentally, one hears the most
amazing stories of alleged Ford
plans for branching out and invad-
ing new fields with colossal ven
lures. One which sounds a little
| more plausible than most OF the
others is that he is negotiating Tor
the wills-SH Claire Company so as
to give him a medium-priced car TO
supplement his low-priced Ford and
his high-priced Lincoln car-and.
not less important, to give him
again the services of G. Harold
| Wills, who was Ford's original
partner and for many years the
chief designer of the Ford car.
One sometimes wonders II Henry
Ford ever read or heard the German
4 fFa a
Heaven"
l. I hear that there may be some.
thing of a financial. not to say
social, sensation at the impending
annual meeting Of q well-known San
Francisco banking institution whose
head, member OF 'an extremely
prominent California family. will, II
is rumored, be asked to retire.
It is common to refer to world.
beaters in any line Of effort as
STARS" But Herbert Hoover Is the
only living human being to have a
| planet named after him. A famous
Austrian astronomer, who discov-
cred a new planet Of magnitude. has
named II "Hooveria," and, accord
ing to the cables, Austria's Aca-
| demic Senate has unanimously en-
dorsed this name.
One is tempted to remark that
Hoover is certainly flying high.
I haven't met one railway execu,
/ tive who hasn't claimed that his
road had anywhere from go to bet.
ter than so per cent Of its normal
force of shopmen. But on one train
I was seventeen hours late and was
compelled one night to ride through
a hot stretch of country without
electric fans and without lights.
The West is much puzzled over
William G.. McAdoo. His reason for
taking up his abode In California
has never been quite understood by
Westerners. Until recently his
means of support hadn't been very
visible. He was supposed to be
drawing fancy sums from the
movies, presumably for legal serv'
ices. Now, however, he has landed
big client, the Bank Of Italy
which is dotting California with
branches. e..
Those who claim to know Nc.
Adoo's mind declare that his whole
i
as a pikestaff; that he figured upon
being able to make a lot Of money
quickly as a lawyer in California
and that he also figured that four
years residence in the Far West
would give him q double chance OF
landing the Democratic nomination
In 1924. 80
This weeks published statements
by one Of McAdoo's henchmen thai
the former railroad overload is an
avowed candidate for the Democratic
nomination has been read with In
terest.
McAdoo is at least hustler. An
illuminating sidelight on his make
up was given by a man Of important
affairs who early went to Washing
ton to undertake war duties. mo
member of the Cabinet or anybody
else in authority here in Washington
will accept the responsibility of, Civ,
ing a decision on anything-none ex
eept McAdoo, and he will give you u
decision right off the reel, whether
he knows anything about the matter
or not" j..
Business, taking It all in all, Is on
the mend even though there has