Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-23
Washington Ticker
Nv the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Steady Stock Exchange price ad-
vanceS have marked the recent history
of standard railroad stocks, but nave
not vet gone far enough to dampen the
enthusiasm about their future. which
has been entertained by some observers:
DR.. David M. Friday, a practlcai
! economist with investment trust al
filiation. is one of those who venture
prediction that this class of securities,
Federal Reserve Board or no, Federal
Reserve Board, will show higher SELL
ing prices for some time to come.
mo impartial student of the railroad
situation can escape that conclusion
DR.. Friday declared in illustrating some
of the factors which have SNAPPED ms
! opinion Last year railroads paid IN
dividends something over $500. 100000
out of 00.0O0,O00 earnings. The total
4 earnings will run higher this year, and
what is more important from a STOCK
holders viewpoint. the percentage OF
| earnings paid out as dividends can be
! expected to increase. If it is antlcl-
pated that the total OF earnings SO paid
out as dividends will increase by per
cent each year for the next few years
and that anticipation is entirely iustl-
fied-it will be easily seen that standard
i rails will be showing return to mold
ers that will justify considerably higher
prices than those now prevailing
Total railroad earnings are on the
! increase, because the growth IN frelgnt
traffic is dependable. and further be-
cause the rail carriers have now taken
/ the full impact of bus and truck COM
! petition. They are likely to have even
| better passenger earnings. Also. the
necessary assumed or real, for retailing
so large portion of their earnings for
retnvestment in plant is passing. and
more of the actual earnings can and
will be devoted to dividends"
Safety life at sea, it is called to mind
BY the return to Washington of DECKER
son N. Hoover, inspector general Of the
United States Steamboat Inspection
Service. is only attained by learning OF
tragic lessons. The last big sea dis
aster was provided by the sinking of
the liner Vestris far off the Virginia
Capcs last Fall with a heavy death
list. and certain conditions as to load
ing inspection and the like which
suggested that the fatality might have
been averted.
+ Mr.. Hoover has since been exploring
in Europe the possibility Of applying
terribly expensive Vestris instance to
{ the improvement of international
steamboat inspection.
Demand for small bills, now common
over the Continent, is still disturbing
seriously the paper money issue OF the
! Nation. To July 18, the Federal Reserve
Board figures indicate that $346, 667 900
of new money has been issued, and but
! S142.852.0 900 of old bills retired from
circulation. If this rate Is maintained,
against the $685. 100000 of Federal
/ Reserve currency outstanding, 1t Will
take about six more months before the
old-sized currency is all replaced.
But aside from tn Federal Reserve
currency, there is also the national
bank note issue of around 100000, 900,
! which has been scarcely touched, and
the $500, 100000 of greenbacks, United
States notes. The components Of the
currency seem to be a little slower in
getting into the new dress than the
reserve currency.
For a good many years wiseacres
i have been saying that the next great
source of world petroleum would be
somewhere in Java. The idea hasn't
been getting so much attention OF late,
! in view of the literally tremendous
advances In production attained In the
] emerging into the field of fact In
notable style.
The last recorded month of customs
service statistics shows that the country
providing the second largest total OF
petroleum brought into the United
States was the Netherlands West Indies
The import for the month amounted
to 1,778.317 barrels; Venezuela was the
source Of 3.422,171 barrels, exceeding
the West Indies total, but the Colombia
supply was in third place under the
Pacific total, and amounted to $780,
600 barrels.
None Of these petroleum imports bulk
very seriously in comparison with the
total domestic production OF nearly
100000 barrels a month, but the
increasing Javanese intrusion is prob
ably worthy Of watch. Biologists have
recounted in past years the evidences
in favor of the proving there of an
immense oil pool and the statistics now
current make it look as though the
stories had all been soundly based.
The real rubberneck has been dis
covered In Europe In q man named Nil