Evening star., 1927-03-30
MEN AND MONEY
By NJ. 5. Rukeyser'
(Copyright. 1897,

TO BUY good securities as 1t useu ~ VIC
to acquire wildcat offerings, progress
sive companies have broken tne
| monopoly which the get-rick-du
swindlers used to have, according TO
Arthur Page, new vice president OF
the American Telephone and Teie-
graph Co.
In the last five years the American
Telephone and Telegraph Co. mas
| added more investors to its stockhold-
ers' list than any other corporation In
| the world. The successful campaign
| In making new capitalists has oeen
| managed by David f. Houston, for-
mer Secretary of the Treasury. who
| is president of the Bell Telephone Sc
!, curities Co. and vice president OF the
American Telephone and Telegraph
| Co, which now has more than 400.0O0
| shareholders. w. S. Clifford, the pres
| ident, has also been an enthusiastic
exponent of the new theory of popu-
| lar financing and George F. Baker,
veteran financier, who is one of the
| largest holders of American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Co. stock, has
been a booster for the new-fangled
| financing, in which the employees OF
| the telephone companies were turned
| into security statesmen.
Incidentally, there are signs or
growing investment interests in electric
| light and power stocks, which were
the early leaders in the 1924-1927 bull
cycle at the stock exchanges. The
| utility stocks were the first to attain
| new high peaks, and about year ago
| began to react from the tremendous
advances which had been made in the
previous three years.
Turn to Utilities.
Those who believe that industrial
corporations have already reached q
summit of earnings are beginning 10
consider switches to other types OF
securities. In the latter half of 1926
and the first two months OF tis year
there We're Wholesale transferenceS of
semi-speculative capital from certain
types of Industrial shares to railroad
| issues. Some observers believe that
now that railroads have risen sharply
| those who are taking profits in ex-
plotted issues will turn to the better
| public utility issues.
Irrespective of the speculative out
look, the electric light and power in
dustry, growing at the rate of Is per
cent a year. enjoys an increasingly
strong position. The companies are
free of competition and are permitted
| to charge rates which assure them a
fair return. Striking economies in the
technique of transmitting power
through larger and more efficient
units, and spectacular savings in fuel
consumption contribute to the rising
prosperity of the we'll managed COM
panieS.
1 discussed the situation with a
leading dealer in utility securities,
and he showed q preference for Sc
curities of companies outside the
largest cities-a novel viewpoint.
Companies in large cities, he said, are
in general more critically regulated,
are subject to the hazards and costs
of making peace with political ma
chimes, and are put to increased ex-
penses such as laying underground
cables instead of using the cheaper
overhead wires which are permissible
in smaller comm unities. His prefer
ence was for stocks of well conducted
holding companies with properties in
smaller cities.
Well Managed Properties.
On the other hand, properties in
larger cities, like the Brooklyn Edison
Co. and the Detroit Edison Co., are
we'll managed. and have shown earn
ings which give their securities gen.
uine investment merit, although they
may not give the speculative play of
other types of securities
The alert business man takes ad-
vantage of passing fads and fancies.
The Better Business Bureau of ST.
Louis has used the current passion
for asking and answering questions
on miscellaneous topics to focus at
tention on the problem of honest ad-
yertising and merchandising. The bu-
reau ran in local newspapers a list of
seven pertinent questions: The ironic
questions follow:
If an advertiser offers you a piano
at $295 and agrees to give you a floor
lamp, so rolls of music, a piano scarf,
and a bench, absolutely free, Is he a
philanthropist or is the offer only
bait" to entice you into the store.
where clever sales tactics will result
in selling high-priced instrument?
Ii you are asked to pay for a box
OF unordered ties or handkerchiefs on
the plea of a blind man, and that
blind man Is reported to be the owner
on an expensive car and making up
ward of 81 900 a month as his share
for the use of his name by promoters,
who needs the charity most-you or
the blind man?
If six different stores on the same
day advertise 1.-The greatest values of
the year." which one, If any, do you
believe?
Buying Lifetime Clothes.
If a store advertises, "Unheard of
values for our customers in a lifetime
opportunity to secure high-grade
clothing" would you buy enough
clothes to last your natural life for
fear such chance would not come
again?
II a February clearance sale be-
gins on January "a, is it sign of an
early Spring or hard Fall?
k;111
| cost you, when you are obliged to
purchase another article to secure the
free" one?
| II one radio dealer offered at a low
price 1.-The finest radio money can
| buy" and another dealer merely Of
fered another set, without boosting it
| as the finest, for much higher price,
| which one would sell more radios to
| people who wanted real, high-class
| sets?
| One Of the largest brokerage houses
In the unlisted field does a national
business from Philadelphia. In order
to keep in touch with the New York
| market 1t has two trunk lines run
ming into New York. where 1t has two
| local telephone numbers. Accordingly,
| its patrons in New York regularly
talk to its traders without knowing
they are making long distance call.
Closer by Wire Service.
Recently, friend of the house, who
| had been somewhat apathetic toward
| constitutional law, strayed from his
| home in Westchester County. without
| a hat. Half an hour later, his wife
called up the brokerage firm at their
New York number, and asked If her
| husband had arrived yet. The quick
oct fima In which he could hava roado