Evening star., 1924-11-07
LOCAL WAR ON BAD
SECURITIES PUSHED
Business Bureau Seeks to
Cut Down Losses-HoW
"Dixie" Originated.
BY CHAS. r. SHAEFFER.


While the incoming mails continue
to be flooded with fraudulent .secur-
ity offerings, local aggressive oper-
allons OF questionable financial char
acter are practically nil, speaking on
broad scale. according to Howard
N Cool, director of the Better Busi-
| ness Bureau of Washington.
The bureau, by an extensive edu-
catlonal campaign, is now attempting
| 10 minimize losses through the mail
order style OF fraud, with more than
passing success. The main obstacle IN
combating extortions of this charac-
ter, however, lies in the fact that
| many unthinki4g investors" loso
| plenty of money before the scheme
| Is called to the attention OF the local
| vigilants.
The mail-order fraud operates with
| the aid of Sucker lists" garnered eithe-
from the record of stockholders of some
defunct corporation or purchased from
upster bureaus. The tipster creates
the list by the simple process of a small
advertisement, advantageously placed,
winch offers to the public investment
Information. ANY one answering this
advertisement automatically tells the
advertiser that he is interested in specu-
lating in uncertain stocks, which a.
once places value on the name.
The broker then begins his sales cam
paign. He controls the entire hotation
ana creates a fictitious market Invea-
| tors, buying through him, absorb his
| own holdings, after which the peg is r.
leased from the fictitious market ar5
the bottom drops out of the whole
scheme.
Mr.. Cool reports that most question
ah!e fotations are now mainly Of mi.
ing and moving picture stocks.
Trading on Local Exchange.
Preferred stock of the Washington
Railway and Electric Co. was rela-
lively active in today's market, 81
shares changing hands at 1914, an
unchanged level The common was
inactive, although So was bid, with
/ Sc asked
Metropolitan Railroad Sc, which are
soon due for redemption, sold at par
and an eighth, and Railway refund
ing IS brough: 9s&s. Gas 5s sold 2 :
971@ and f-actionally higher, with
Gas es reaching 1oz.
Mergenthaler was slightly up, =
1861 4, With American Security ard
trust Co. changing hands at sol =.
Ten shares of Norfolk and Washin--
/ ton Stea mboat brought 21s.
Odd Origin of Word .Dixic."
In the latest edition of the Saw
ings Journal, the official organ of tfs
monetary origin OF the word Dixie
is set forth.
Some authorities have attributed
the name to one Mr.. Dixie, a large
tandholder and kind hearted slave
owner. who resided on Manhattan Is
land during the, latter part of the
eighteenth century. But in New Or
leans they have usually claimed the
name tradition OF the Lower MissiS-
sippi Valley, growing out of a pecu-
liar form of bank note issued prio-
to the Civil War.
During the years 1S5o-1Si0, the al
ticle relates, America was Hooded
with wildcat" money, and counter-
feIting was so common that suspicion
tell upon practically all paper MONEY.
through 1t all, however the bank
notes of the Citizens Bank are said
to have commanded respect. not onl;-
IN the Mississippi Valley, hut
throughout the remainder OF the
In those days the Citizens notes
We're printed in French as well as in
English. The most familiar denomi-
nation was the $40 note. It bore not
only the Roman numeraI 'X" and the
Arabic numeral TO-" but also IN the
center OF the back it displayed the
French word Dix" meaning ten.
The Mississippi River was then the
great natural highway of traffic be-
| tween New Orleans and the North.
! According to the jargon of the river,
| when a man headed southwark into
| LOUISIANA on trading expedition
| he usually uttered the optfmist;.
| boast that he was going to come
| back with a pocket full of Dixes'."
From "Dixes' to Dixie" was a natp-
! raj and easy step. and gradually th,.
south particularly Louisiana) be-
| came known as Dixie Land.
1t was then that Dan Emmett. the
black-faced minstrel, wrote himself
into the gallery of immortals win
| his jlngling song, Away Down Soutl,
/ in Dixie" Incidentally, the song wa
| first brought out by a New Orleans
music publishing house, which is stiii
in business on Canal street, in ths,
| city.
Southern Reports Earnings,
October earnings of the Soutber,
Hallway system are officially estfna+-
| ed at s15,606,275, a decrease of ss6s
999 under October last year, and for
the 10 months s154,5s1Ss1. a dron ~
s1o 100000 below the corresponding nc
| riod of 1925.