The Washington times., 1922-12-21
FINANCIAL COMMENT
(cepysight, 1898, by cosmopciltan
News .21evioe. - "a

Fs4it NOWo s0otvioo-l ~ - 'rI
NEW YORK. Dec. 2l.--Once again
the attention Of afock traders in the
Wall street district has been directed
to thes w estern. on fields, particu.
larly 40 those OF Califofnia and
Wyoruing, The compani( which
stand t6 profit the most from the
news-devAa0pments In that territory
are the Pan-American OIL Company,
the Sinclair company. California Pc
troleum, and one or more OF the
STANDARD OIL conpanies. California
Petfoleum hxsdly needs the ynarkSt
gobbled mp bv one OF the bigger COM
panies. since It 10 able to stand on it,
The Pan.American company, which
has been most active In the Mexican
territory, In gradually extending it's
operations northward, and has OBJ
tained extensive Oil rights in Cali
fornia. Speculation In this stock has
been on an exceedingly large scale,
and since the elimination Of Mexican
Petroleum has been the real leader
In the division. OF so-called inde-
pendent oil stocks.
Sinclair boz been quite success
fnl In opeafhg up the Tea Pot
Dome. o1ld has Just won q signal
victory by being the successful bid
der out Of fourteen competitors for
the purchase OF royalty oil, accru-
Ing 10 the government from the
Salt Greek field of Wyoming. Based
on the present production Of this
field the government will receive
1000 barrels of royalty oil daily,
the reclamation service Of the gov
ernment, an annual income of near
ly 81 SOC. 900. and the State Of Wyo-
ming about 81 .000, 900 per year.
The oil companies are under the
necessity Of tapping. new sources
of production in. order to. supply
the increasing demand from home
and abroad. and their resources and
facilities are rapidly expanding.
One of the big problems Of the
postwar period has been that OF
shaking off the imitation which
came a. q natural heritage OF the
world war. While good progress
has been made in some directions,
this progress IL naturally impeded
by the adoption of any new forms
of inflation. One Of the most
serious OF these 10 the stock divi.
dend" erase, which has been sweep
ing over the country. and In the
process of which, UP to the present
time, about $2.000,00 Of pfIt earn.
ines have been "capitali1Si." In,
vestors Who purchase stock. from
the investment standpoint. do, % for
one reason only; that Is, to receive
the regular dividends which are
Forthcoming ~ a result OF the op-
erations OF their companies. Un.
less stockholders are deceived and
duped, this new $4,000 ,000, 900 In
capital carries at least, an implied
obligation to pay out about $780,
100000 q year more In dividends
Figuring dividends on a per cent
basisD. This is nothing more than
imitation In. . new form. A.
The first OF the November rail.
road statements, that Of the Kan
sas City Southern, IL at hand, and
shows that months gross revenues
at about $S,100,000, an increase OF
$4,000 as compared with November
Of last year. Operating expenses
about $4,000 and net
100000. This Is fairly good show
ing. and 1t Ia hoped that the 9TH
er roads will make as good or a
better report.
The Southern Pacific's final set
tlement Of S9,250, 900 with the United
States Railroad Administration. rep
resented one Of the larrest single
settlements which have been consum-
mated In many months. This pay.
'ment III a lump sum settlement"
and cleans UP the carriers account
with the government, ms no fund
Ing OF Governmental outlays for ad-
ditions and betterments had been
necessary. ...