ECONOMIC WORTH OF WAR ORDERS
A banker pointed out recently that too much stress might be laid on the fact that the extra business being done by arms and ammunition making concerns is of a temporary sort. The profits entailed, he said, would not prove to be simply an unexpected inflow of cash to be distributed to stockholders and considered merely as a gift of fortune. The extraordinary earnings would be used in part to strengthen the position of many companies for the future, funded debts in the way of long term issues as well as temporary loans would be liquidated and working capital sufficient for increased manufacturing needs would be laid aside. Knowledge of this far-reaching value of war orders, the banker thought, was receiving more consideration from thoughtful investors than the desire for big extra dividends.
New York Times.
PAUPERISM DECREASING
Pauperism is decreasing in the United States, according to the latest statement issued by the U. S. Census Bureau. “The ratio of almshouse paupers has steadily declined at every census since 1880,” declares the bureau’s last bulletin. In detail, the bureau reports that one third of the paupers in the almshouses in 1910 were under fifty-five years of age and one third over seventy years of age; the males outnumbered the females two to one, and there was a preponderance of persons of foreign birth.
The important fact brought out, however, is that the almshouse population is not only actually decreasing but is also steadily assuming a more shifting character, which means that the poor-houses are becoming merely a temporary shelter instead of a permanent home for the unfortunates who are compelled to take advantage of their hospitality.
THE TENANT FARMER
The Socialists are working overtime in an effort to frighten the people with their tales about the tenant farmer. They point out that the tenant farmers have increased much faster than homeowning farmers, there being about 8 per cent. of the latter as against about 16 per cent. of the former. Recently the United States government made an investigation into the condition of the tenant farmer in the three states of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa and from this we find that the average size of farms managed by tenants for the three states is 172 acres; that the average income of each farm is $1,732, and the average expense $740, leaving for the average tenant farmer an income of $992 a year.
Mother: “Willie, I’m shocked at you. Do you know what becomes of little boys who use bad words when they play baseball?”