Index

Cigarets. The census bureau last week announced 98 billion cigarets consumed in the U. S. last year, more than two a day for every man, woman and child in the country.

St. Paul. Some of the bond and stock holders of the old Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway do not yet know that their railroad failed more than three years ago and last year was sold to creditors at auction. The reorganized road is called the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific. Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and the National City Co. are its bankers. They have been trading new bonds and stocks for old. But owners of $4,000,000 old bonds, 6,000 old preferred shares, and 15,000 old common shares have made no sign of trading.

Bank. The Commercial National Bank & Trust Co. began organization work in Manhattan with $14,000,000 capital & surplus, greatest initial resources of any bank (see p. 38).

Harriman-Soviet. There were days when it seemed that William Averell Harriman and his associates must lose their $3,450,000 put into a Soviet concession to export Manganese ore from the Chiatouri district of Russia. The Soviets had formed a state Manganese trust. But last week they announced an agreement to retain the Harriman money, to pay the Harriman an income guaranteed by 7% bonds.

Chevrolet last week turned out its one millionth car of this year.

Circulating Money. The U. S. Treasury last week reported that on July 31, $8,142,000,000 of currency was in circulation, about half a billion less than at the first of the year.

Profit & Loss. Public Accountants Ernst & Ernst compiled the profits & losses of their customers for the first half of this year. For 380 representative corporations in 22 lines of business, business in the aggregate was 7.92% better than the first six months of 1927.

Mergers. Memorable was the formation of the Continental Illinois Bank & Trust Co. in Chicago by the Continental National Bank & Trust Co. and the Illinois Merchants Trust Co. (see p. 38); the Commercial Investment Trust Corps' purchase of Peierls, Buhler & Co. (see p. 43), and the consolidation of two rough rolled glass makers--Highland Glass Co. at Washington, Pa., and the Western Glass Co. at Streator, Ill., Shirley, Ind., and Fullerton, Calif.--as the Highland-Western Glass Co., with $5,000,000 capital. The men who control both the United Light and Power Co. and the American Light and Traction Co., were indifferent as to which company would buy technical control of the other and create a half billion dollar utility merger. Chiefly because of a complicated financial set up United Light and Power, last week, became the buyer. The Koppers (Mellon Associates) and Cyrus Stephen Eaton of Cleveland pushed the deal.