davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Situation CHANGED

The war changed this situation pri-
marily by leading Americans to sell
abroad, during the war period, goods
to a value of $1s,00O,O 900, 900 in excess
of their foreign purchases during the
same time. This was made possible
by unprecedented credit operatlons4o 4on
both public and private account.
Williams points out that. the export
figures of 1920 are probably two hun
dred millions too large, owing to the
abrupt drop of values during that year,
which led to the actual sale of some
goods at prices below those stated in
the manifests. On the other hand,
Thomas ~ Lamont calls attention to
the fact that during the period of
our participation in the war our gov
ernment exported great quantities Of
goods not only for it's own use, but
also for sale to it's allies. These gov
ernment exports are unrecorded 1t
is to be observed, however, that the
Treasury on November Is, 1921, neld
obligations of foreign governments re-
ceived from the departments of War
and the Navy, representing sales of
surplus war materials, of an aggregate
value of 1914, 4,673,710.21, thus covering
the item mentioned by Mr.. Lamont.
This sum is not included in the fig
ures of exports given above or in those
of financing to be given below. Leav-
ing all corrections aside, our excess
exports, taking both mechandise and
metals into account, amounted to some
what more than $4,000, 100000 during
the war period.
Turning to invisible items, the ac-
count for interest and services during
the same period, contrary to the pop
ular idea, ran heavily against us,
though not at the pre-war rate.
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
appeal TO Pride

With all the acknowledged inherent
faults of the saw gin and its attach
merts and the lack Of incentive to the
glnner 10 keep his machinery in con-
dltlon and run II at a speed TO do COM
mercially perfect work, the Department
OF Agriculture IS appealing 20 the civic
pride Of the community in an endcsvor
to gain a general adherence to this
end-the growers in any district would
find it to their financial profit to in
sist as community on the public gin
which serves them being put in proper
shape at the beginning OF the season
and kept in that condition until the
last bale is ginned. To illustrate this
statement | may relate that there came
to my notice in the years when cotton
was selling well under 10 cents a
county In Mississippi where cotton
above the average length of staple was
grown. The principal cotton buyer in
the county town insisted that a "gin
tinker" of his own selection 90 over
every ginnery at the beginning of each
season TO put the machinery in proper
order. The same tinker paid periodic
visits of inspection during the season.
Mark the result. when, as I have said
cotton was below 10 cents, the CROP of
that county brought price one cent
pound above that paid for the cotton
grown and ginned in the adjacent coun-
ties. And this difference in price held
season after season.
lhere have been improvements mt
forward which for one reason or a.
other have made little or no hesdwav.
remember one in which smooth
needles replaced the rough steel saw
teeth. One such equipment was IN
stalled In South Carlnia some ware
ago, when the Lancashire Private Cot
ton commission was on its second visit
TO the cotton belt during the picking
season. 1t was alongside and worked
Win gin OF the standard saw type.
was present when the cotton from the
same seed wagon was run through hath
types of gin simultaneously ana tha
members of the commission--who wsra
an practical cotton spinners. accus-
TONED to buying cotton for its real
spinning value week after week The
year round-without exception and
sime after time at once selected shc
needle ginned as tho best.
mere is another gin now being de-
Veioped which meets the essential Of
rapid production without injury TO the
npes' thfs, 1t Is asserted, will give a
Productlon several times greater than
ene saw Sin ana at the same time pre-
! serve the fiber in its full length fhus
giving staple fully one-sixteenth Of
a. an lheh longer than is obtainable from
tne saw gin. Experiments made at one
W ol 'ne textile colleges are said to show
the further advtange of preserving the
strength of the cotton TO such an ev.
tent that yarn spun from the sfbsr thua
glnned was Z per cent stronger shnn
yarn spun from similar cotton elnnsd
on on the ordinary saw type machine
Ihese tests also showed THAI in the
cieaning process in the spin Sins ynl,s
,he loss from waste was SIS pes ca.
ginned. s@"
There can be no doubt but that ~ Il.
,"entive ingenuity viii one day either
invent the saw gin out CT sxistence',
or so modify the harbarous contrlvance
60 20 maze IL z machine worthy Of shis
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Investors Save Millions
By Blue Sky Protection
Georgia Commissioner Shows Some of
Benefits Derived From Safeguard
ing Small Security Buyers
From Stock Promoters
BY Thomas B. Conner

Administrative Officer, Georgia Securities Commission
DLUE sky legislation America barely years old
III cannot be said have passed the vet
ha has once enacted law regulating the
repeated 1T without putting effective place
on to be strongly the popular support
@ generally speaking, the administration these
ence only Of the public in the having
dhe business interests affected No argument this
d be adduced to show the value
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

EuroDean internal bonds and cur
rMnCy bought ......,........,t4.. l15
Total. IS. .0s6
Even upon conservative estimate,
we thus come within less than three
quarters of billion of covering the
2ntire balance to be accounted for.
Adding in the above item of $175,000,-
600 FOR the currency purchases, the
total unfunded balance at the end of
1920 is still below $850,000,000. These
figures are hard to reconcile with the
Federal Reserve Boards revised esti-
mate of $2,203 100000 as the net un-
funded credit balance of the United
States on January /, 1921; much less
can they be reconciled with the higher
estimates of other observers.
Waving the question of the exact
amount of this balance, however, it is
plain that we began the year 1921 in
new trade and investment position.
For immediate purposes, however, the
new position differs less than is COM
monty supposed from the old one, and
dogmatic predictions of an early eX&
cess of imports should be received
with caution. In the first place, no
one actually knows just how much or
how little the European = vernment
obligations held by the e easury are
worth. According to the annual re-
port of the Secretary of the Treasury
for 1921, on November Is last they
amounted to $11,272 100000, a sum
which covered cash advances, obliga-
tions received on account of sale of
surplus war materials and relief
operations, and unpaid accrued inter
est 60 the latest date. The interest
on this great sum. at 41a per cent
would come to half billion dollars
year. But the refunding commits
sion has been given full power to ex-
tend the time of payment of both prin-
cipal and interest; and even assum-
ing the ability of our debtors to pay
Can ability at present non-existent, ex-
cept in the case of Great Brittany no
one has yet succeeded in figuring in
what form we are to take payment
without further upsetting our already
Continued on page ten)
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

Two states in which the fees agpre-
gate more than $4,000 are omitted
from the above list, the figures not
being. available. They are Ohio and
Louisiana. AS the figure for Califor-
MIA, however, includes the entire in
come of the bureau of corporations
and not more than one-half Of these
fees come from the licensing Of securi-
under &6nn 0n0 -,
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Better Cotton Ginning
Means Much to Trade
Loss From Wasteful Method Runs Into
Huge Figures, but improvements Are
Constantly Being Made That
WiII Help Materially
By William Whittaru

ToTWITHSTANDTNG the the late Edward Atkinson tina
eminent New Engad economist and practical
that "the ought invented Of existence had
been for that invention Of Eli Whitney all the available labor the
American Belt fiber from it's seed
fast enough keep with the expanding cotton spinning industry
under the factory which being about the time the
made available the American cotton planter.
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Serious Obstacle

Aside from and in addition to the
impairment of the fiber by the gin, this
altogether mischievous contrivance in
jures the cotton growing industry in
another way, and one which is a seri-
Gus obstacle in the path of the efforts
Of the more progressive producers to
improve the quality of their cotton.
The most serious cause of deteriora-
ton in the uniformity and high qual-
ity of superior varieties of cotton is
the general custom of growing num-
ber of different varieties in the same
locality and ginning the crops at CEN
trally located public gins.
From the nature of the gin maehin-
cry, when different varieties are ginned
on the same gin the mixing Of seed
stocks must occur. And seed convey
ers are generally so constructed that
their cleaning is practically impossi.
BILE. The foregoing are the conclusions
of experts of the Department of Agri-
, culture and may be taken as further
indictment of an all-ronnd discredited
system under which it is practically
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

migrants to friends and relatives
abroad.
Paish calculated chat in a year of
depression the obligation of the United
States to other countries for interest,
tourist expenditures, remittances to
friends, freight, etc.,. is about $780,
100000 and that in years of normal
trade activity it is about $500, 1000, ,00O."
If in any year, then, the export excess
did not reach these figures the account
was balanced by further borrowing
According to Paish's calculations, while
we paid off a certain amount of our
foreign debt during 1S98-1901, the nor
NAL course Of events was for capital to
flow into the United States, and for re-
payments TO be made but seldom
While other studies have tended to
modify Paish's figures in detail they
have confirmed their substantial &C
curacy. In particular, the careful in
vestigations of the Harvard Committee
of Economic Research indicate that our
net Import of capital during the pre-
war period probably averaged about
$50,000,000 year.
u. S. Holdings abroad
While the net flow of capital was
inward up to the very eve of the war,
American investors had large and
growing holdings abroad, chiefly in
Canada and Mexico. Paish put our
foreign investments in 1909 at aS1,-
500,000,000, and Charles F. Speare in
the same year estimated them at some
thing between a $l,750,0O0, 900 and ST.
00,0O0,000, of which he credited a
third to Mexico and a quarter to Can
ada. American capital, he declared,
had been flowing into Mexico during
the preceding ten years at the rate of
from $50,000,000 5000 to $4,000 600, 900
year. The revolutionary disturb
ances for a time checked this flow of
money southwark, but our investment
in Canadian lands, forests, mines and
industrial enterprises rose rapidly dur
Our Middle Western farmers alone,
emigrating to the prairie provinces,
took with them large sums for land
purchase, while American capitalists
invested heavily in farm mand timtcr
lands, and American factories open.<
Canadian branches. At the outbreall
of the war American investments in
Canada were placed at $600,000,000 or
more.
These capital exports helped other
countries to buy goods from US on
credit, and thus swelled the favorable
trade balance of the years preceding
the war; yet we were not, during this
time, actually passing from a debtor
TO a creditor position. Despite our
enormous wealth, our highly developed
industry and our growing financial
strength, we were still a financially
young country at the outbreak of the
war. Investment opportunities here,
by comparison with those in other
countries, were still so attractive that
! the net flow of capital was inward
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Economy Sought

There is another aspect of the situa-
ton which tends to compel the ginner
to economy in every direction, even
at the expense of injury to the ma
terial. This is the pitifully small aver
age income of the gins. Take 1920, the
last year for. which figures are avail
able There were 21,S76 ginneries IN
the United States; 18,440 of these were
active and 1886 were idle. The average
number of running bales gnned per
active establishment was 720. from
which the owner would get Z gross in
come of $4,000. Out of this total all
expenses have to be paid, including the
purchase of the bagging and ties to
cover the bales, so that when other
expenses, such as labor, power, insur-
ance, depreciation and interest on the
investment are deducted there is
precious little to spend for plant i'm
provement.
In this connection it is to be borne
in mind that in 1920 the crop was well
over 100000 bales, so that in the
years since then, with crops far
smaller, the ginner's plight was much
worse than appears in 1920.
On the other hand, his situation
seems to be improving, seeing that
since 1917, at least, there has been a
gradual decrease in the number of
ginneries and an increase in the num-
Der of bales ginned per establishment.
In the season 1917 there were 24,272
ginneries in the country, of which
20,351 were active, while the average
number of bales handled per establish
ment was only $50. Then, too, the in
dustry as a whole must carry the
handicap of the idle plants.
Under conditions as they prevail in
the South there is an ever present
temptation for the ginner to speed up
his saws and brushes SO as to get as
large an output in as short a time as
possible. The farmer is there with
his wagon load of seed cotton and per-
haps many others waiting in line, as
is more than probable in the case of a
seasonable crop like cotton where all
are compelled to pick simultaneously.
as the weather and the state of the
crop dictate. The government is
pleading with gin owners to turn out
the highest grade of work possible to
equip themselves with the most i'm
proved types of feeding and cleaning
apparatus, and to prevent the ginning
of wet cotton or of alternate ginning
of high and low grades because the
first produces cut fiber and neps, while
the latter is responsible for mixed
pack or plated bales, to the great dam
age Of the grower who has carefully
picked good, clean cotton.
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

Even by sending out goods and specie
to an excess of half a billion yearly,
we did not succeed in meeting the an
nual charge against US on other than
merchandise account.
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

law and, after 1916. declined to accent
any more statements from these com
panies. That he was right in his iudg-
ment was proved by the fact that with
one exception all of the companies
licensed by him under the 1904 law
have gone out of existence. The
Georgia Securities Commission did not
encounter any of them until the new
organizations from Texas came knock
ing at the door.
Every blue sky administrator has
brought to his attention almost daily
individual cases of investors saved
from loss by the action of his depart
menr. In Nebraska it is asserted that
$1o,ooo,oo0 has been recovered through
the agency of the blue sky department
A case in Georgia that might be
cited was that of an automobile manu-.
featuring enterprise which had beer
licensed to sell stock under the first
Georgia blue sky law of 1918. This
license was renewed under the 1926
act, the commissioners haying no dis.
cretion except to renew it without q
showing of positive fraud.
Some time after that the commits
sion, acting on rumors of eNtravagant
management, sent representative to
| Texas to make an investigation. AS a
result of this investigation the license
of the company was suspended indefi-
| Georgia. The company did not insist
on its right to a hearing, it being
understood that no publicity would be
given by the commissioners to their
action. For a full year after this the
company continued in operation and
disseminated literature through out the
, Southern states to show that it would
soon be on paying basis. Within the
last month, however, commercial
agency reports have reached US indi-
eating the insolvency of the company
and the winding up of it's business. Ii
is probable that Georgia investors were
saved a million dollars by the action
of the commission in this case alone
as the company sold not far from $1O,-
100000 of its stock, most of it in the
South, before it went to the wall.
Opposition Weak
While the benefits of blue sky legis-
lation may be conclusvely shown both
by the states never going back to a
system of non-regulation after q blue
sky law has once been adopted, and by
specific instances such as those cited
above, opponents of such legislation
urge that the evils resulting therefrom
IN restricting enterprise and imposing
burdens on legitimate business out
weigh the good achieved. 1t would be
difficult to find any one in the blue
sky states, even dealers in securities
themselves, who take this view, how
ever.
AS to the burden imposed by fees
levied, the writer can speak with au-
thority, he having recently secured
data from nearly all of the states hav-
ing blue sky laws showing the gross
receipts in fees during the year 1921,
The total amount Of fees paid to blue
sky departments in all the states was
not in excess of $500000. The fol-
lowing is list of the states, with the
amounts collected, where the fees have
| hnora Ihn,
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

Bringing together these items of
public and private financing and esti-
mating all-uncertain amounts .conserva-
lively, we reach the following result
Gn millions of dollars(:
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Government Financing

Of this amount, government fnanc-
ing took are of nearly eleven billions.
Cash advances to the Allies under the
ten -billion-dollar credits of 1917 and
1918 totaled $9,494, ,519 900. In addition,
beginning with January /, 1918, the
money needed by the United States
for war expenditures in Great Britain,
France and Italy was provided by the
governments of those. countries under
an arrangement whereby the equiva-
lent in dollars was made available to
them to meet their was expenditures
here, thus vitraully increasing their
credits by that amount. We exported
the consumers and the goods, and paid
the blsl into the bargain. The sum
thus advanced was $1,490, ,557, Ill, which
brings the total Of government credit
available for export financing to an
amount just under eleven billions.
In the field of private financing the
operations chiey important were the
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
States Upheld

As there was no other source of
money TO be loaned than the funds
e0nuieuted by the subscribers them
serves, after the profits of the operat-
.ns company had been deducted, and.
81 81 hese profits were usually in excess
.ae or per cent interest charged
w t1e loan, the securities commits sion 9
W me various Southern states were
sHs,aihous " !, in holding such contracts
y Oe fraudulent on the ground that
, ,.s financing was unsound. An an
pssl was taken to the courts in Arkan-
So ,.snna ana Georgia and the action of the
Ssss SsssaflNes departments sustained IN
E,.. MI. cases. Judge George Bell, of the
is.tOn !, .It county Superior Court, acting
,..n.e rne ueorgla case, declared that the
sia'ies sOnia commission had saved the
ype OF Georgia millions of dollars
I PAIRING such enterprises.
,,,nn ,aeSe pretentious home building
~. pS' although they have had a recent
W.. e expansion in Texas and other
fs@;s, fs;,s, are really a recrudescence of
Sn.s schemes which flourished in the
lSs lSH1sst G about twenty years ago. In
H.. georgia passed an act putting
si ~ companies under the supervision
rsor;s ts Stste Comptroller General and
squired him to license them As he
/ snsnnios nos satisfied with their method Of
lslhg and had no alternative but to
esnlt rIe Ihem when the law had been
hpneo hss with, he held the act to have
- repealed by the Georgia blue skv
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24

Kansas IN ieBlsIatlon INTENDED to pro-
.eet investors.
Whfle these laws have been defec-
tive ard some of them difficult to ad-
minister without serious inconvenience
aud even occasional injustice, there
can be no doubt that great progress
rs been made and that the people
sre being saved hundreds of millions
cf dollars annually by the elimination
d thousands of wildcat promotions
md gold brick schemes. A national
srganization of the various state de-
Rrtments has been perfected. Infor-
sad progress is being made toward
.aformity of administration and
anpler requirements for qualifying
sew issues of securities. The latest
rove is to organize states of the same
ssction in groups, such groups having
similar problems to solve. Group or
nn5ation was resolved upon at the
isst annual meeting of the national
ssociation held in Salt Lake City.
Hany Frauds Baked
While every state official can cite
Instances in which money has been
s9ed to investors by barring dishonest
jurisdiction, it is impossible to esti-
ssaemes which are prevented, even
frsm being born, by the mere fact that
regulatory laws and administrative of
ieers stand in their way. Fully 95
psr cent Of the new enterprises with
out known financial backing, which
would otherwise come into Georgia
al cf of4 -
qualify when they learn the require
ments Of the Georgia law.
During the year before the present
act of 1920 went into effect one single
Texas oil promotion scheme robbed the
Other similar enterprises added sew
Turing the year 1921, following the
Texas oil companies were authorized
stO sell stock in Georgia. This year
none has been authorized and very few
applications have been filed. There
have been no complaints from investors
sho have lost by putting their money
lto crooked oil promotions; nor has
there been any intimation of regret
nom those who have not been able
70 put their savings into these specu-
lstions.
A notable instance of the almost
!imultaneous action by a number of
soathern states to prevent wholesale
iiaud is furnished by the case of the
h-ealled per cent loan companies,
most of which concerns operated under
Texas statute. These companies sold
tohtracts promising loans to pros
Ective home builders at a price be-
low the legal and current interest rate,
nnely at 3 per cent and later q per
cent The literature used was seduc-
tlyey worded to attract persons Of
moderate means who were ambitious
of owning homes.
New-York tribune., 1922-09-24
Total Financing

tastic amounts.
Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-04-18
STATE HOUSE
Next meeting Of unei Thursday April 90 10 A. M

others. Mary G. Barton of Windsor
and Is others, NJ. L. Delano of Vas
salboro and 16 others, Clarence j.
Cole of Readfield and IS others, H. S.
Bent of Monmouth and 40 others,
Carroll W. Robinson of Clinton and
% others, H. l.. Fuller of China and
20 others, c. Z. Tillson Of Belgrade
and Is others. A. NJ. Stratton of AL
bion and II others, Irving r. Staples
OF Waterville and % others, Omer
Patnaude of Augusta and 90 others
and George E, Macomber Of Augusta
and &c others.
Fred E. Young Of Fayette, Repub-
lican candidate for the House of Rep
resentatives from the class district
comprised of the towns Of Readfield,
Mount Vernon, Rome. v ayne, Fayette
and Vienna; petition Of ]. B. Berry
of Wayne and % others.
William L. Gordon Of Readfeld,
Republican candidate for register of
deeds for Kennebec county; petitions
of Harriet n. Weston of Winthrop
and 80 others, Sherman Weber of
Vienna and "a others. Lolita T. COL
lens of Readfield and So others, John
Pinkham of Monmouth and seven
others, F. ]. Brown Of Readfleld and
% others. w. W. Morgan Of Readfield