THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3518, 16 August 1921, Page 52

THE SKETCHER.

OARNEGiE AS A F 1 N AKUI EJ? = By Fit.vxeis Biidi in the World’s Work. . Andrew Carnegie, in his autobiography, discloses tile tact that tie had many Business dealings with tne financial powers of Ids day, particularly tie se in London. He sold several issues of bonds to Junius S. Morgan, head of J. IS. .Morgan and Company, and had a most peculiar experience with tile Barings. His first adventure into the field of international finance was with an issue of tour million fit. Louis Bridge Company bonds, upon which he secured an option when lie took the contract to build the bridge. These he sold to Mr Morgan in London, and the offering of the bonds was a great success. Then followed some American railroad bond issues on which Carnegie either had options or acted as agent- between the companies and the bankers. He made good profits on most of these transactions. One day Mr Carnegie offered Baring Brothers an issue of five million first mortgage 6 per cent, bonds of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, guaranteed by the Pennsylvania. “Before I had left their banking house,” he records, “I had closed an agreement by which they were to bring out this loan. ". . . The papers were ordered to be drawn up, but as 1 was leaving, Mr Russell Sturgis said they had just heard that Mr Baring himself was coining up to town in the morning. I hey had arranged to bold a ‘court,’ and as it would be fitting to lay the transaction before him as a matter of courtesy they would postpone the signing of the papers until the morrow. If I would call at two o’clock the transaction would be closed. ‘-.Sever shall I forget the oppressed feeling,’’ Mr Carnegie continues, “which overcame mo as I stepped out and proceeded to the telegraph office to wire President Thompson (of Pennsylvania). Something told me that I ought not to do so. I would wait till to-morrow when 1 had the contract in my pocket. 1 walked from the banking house to the Langham Hotel—four long miles. When I reached there 1 found a messenger waiting breathless to hand me a sealed note from the Barings. Bismarck had locked up a hundred millions in Magdeburg. The financial world was panic-stricken, and the Barings begged to say that under the circumstances they could not propose to Mr Baring to go on with the matter.” Carnegie, called this one of the greatest of the hit-s and misses of his financial life. He was meek enough, he says to be quite resigned, and merely congratulated himself that he had not telegraphed Mr Thompson. Subsequently he sold the bonds to J. S. Morgan and Company at a lower price. When Mr Carnegie established his office in New York in 1867 the first view he met of financial operations there was of the speculative kind. He had lived long enough in Pittsburg to acquire the manufacturing, as distinguished from the speculative, spirit. In his autobiography he wrote : “1 was surprised to find how very different was the state of affairs in New York. There were few even of the business men who had not their ventures in Wall Street to a greater or less extent. I was besieged with inquiries from all quarters in regard to tlie various railway enterprises witli which I was connected. Offers were made to me by persons who were willing to furnish capital for investment and allow me to manage it—the supposition being that from the inside view which I was enabled to obtain I could invest for them successfully. Invitations were extended to me to join parties who intended quietly to buy up the control of certain properties. In fact, the whole speculative field was laid out before me in its most seductive guise.” All of these offers Mr Carnegie declined. He never bought or sold a share of stock speculatively in his life. He made and adhered to the rule never to purchase what ho did not pay for, and never to sell wlmt he did not own. In those early days he had several interests that wore taken over in the course of business which included some stocks that were quoted on the New York Stock Exchange. “T found,” he testifies , “that when I opened my paper I was tempted to look first at the quotations of the stock market. As I had determined to sell all mv interests in every outside concern and concentrate my attention mioii out- manufacturing concerns in Pittsburg. T further resolved not even to own any stock that was bought and sold upon any stock exchange. ‘‘Sucli a course,” he says, “should commend itself to every man in the manufacturing business and to all professional men. For flic manufacturing man especial'-,- the rule would seem all-important. His mind mir-t be kept calm and free if he is to deckle wisely the problems which are C'-.ntinnallv coming before him. Nothing tells in the long run tike good judgment, and no sound judgment can remain with tlie man whose mind is disturbed hv tlie mercurial changes of the Stock Exchange. Tic cannot jud'-e of relative values or get. the true perspective of things. The molehill seems to him a mountain and t’ne mountain a molehill, and he jumps at conclusion's which he should arrive at bv reason. TTis mind is upon the stock quotations, and not, upon t.hp points that require calm thought. Speculation is a parasite feeding upon values, creating none.” Carnegie’s adoption of the policy of putt' jf all hi- eggs in one basket, and his advice to those having capita! to invest is summed up in his autobiography as follows : “'Business was promising and all the surplus earnings I was making in other field.; were required to .expand the iron business. I had become interested, with

| iny friends of the Pennsylvania Railroad ; I Company, i:i building some railways in j j the Western States, but gradually with- I ! drew troni all such eiiterpri. es and made j : up my mind to go entirely contrary to the ' , adage not to put all one’s eggs in one \ j basket. 1 determine 1 that the proper i i policy was ‘to put all good eggs in one | basket and then watch that basket.’ “I believe tlie true road to pre-eminent i success in any line is to make your e!t j master in that line. I have no faith in j the policy of scattering one's resources, : and in mv experience T have rarely, if ever met a man who achieved pre-eminence in money-making- certainly never one in manufacturing—who was interested io many concerns. Tlie men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it. It is surprising how few men appreciate the enormous dividends derivable from investment in their own business. 1 here is scarcely a manufacturer in the world who has not in his works some machinery that should be j thrown out and replaced by improved apphunees; or who docs not for the want of j | additional machinery or new methods lose I | more than sufficient to pay the largest j dividend obtainable by investment beyond I His own domain. And yet most business • uien whom I have known invest in bank j shares and in far-away enterprises, while j the true gold mine lies right in their own I factories. j *T Have tried always to hold fast to tliis important fact. It- has been with me a cardinal doctrine that I could manage m .v own capital better than any other person, and much Better than any board of directors. I he losses men encounter during a business life which seriously embarrass them are rarely in their own business, but in enterprises of which the investor is not master. My advice to voting men would be not only to concentrate' their whole time and attention on the one busi- t ness in life in which they engage, but to | put every dollar of their capital into it. If j there be any business that will not beatextension, the true policy is to invest the surplus in first-class securities which will yield a moderate, but certain, revenue if some other growing business cannot be found.” TREE SUGAR, A remarkable botanical discovery lias recently been made which may have the effect of augmenting considerably our sugar supply. It has long been known that sugar could be obtained from the maple tree, but it has now been found that practically ail shrubs contain a percentage of sweet sap which can be concentrated. With comparatively few exceptions, it would not pav to work the process; the exceptions, however, seem so rich in sugar sap as to promise to rival the best West Indian cane. It- appears that certain kinds of firtrees which grow in abundance in so many parts of the Empire contain a hitherto rare trisaccharide in greater quantities than do some of the low-grade canes. This trisaccharide was formerly obtained from Persia and Turkestan, and was for generations one of the sources from which Asiatic countries obtained sugar. The Douglas fir, which grows in such quantities in British Columbia, yields a sap which contains an appreciablepercentage of trisaccharide, and as soon as this source is worked on a commercial scale some thousands of tons of pure sugar should be forthcoming. As a moderate estimate over 100.000 tons of tree-sugar per annum should ultimately be obtainable in Canada alone. In a sense the discovery is not new, as native tribes in all parts of the world have had some knowledge of tree-sugar. In British Columbia the sap of the fir-tree has been collected and boiled down for generations by Indian tribes, who gained their knowledge by noting the avidity with which bears tore down and devoured the branches. In spite of this, the sugar-bearing properties of this particular tree were not generally known to white men until a few months ago. when they were discovered bv Professor ; John Davidson, botanist in charge at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. A curious point in connection with this particular tree is that tlie richness of the sap is such that wherever it exudes, from any cause, it crystallises, and flakes of pure sugar, from a quarter of an inch | to two inches in width, and weighing | from a fraction of an ounce to a quarter I of a pound or more, form amongst the | needles. These flakes arc white in colour, and are of such purity that they can be used for domestic purposes without further refining. The opinion of Professor Davidson is that this natural sugar is superior, as regards sweetness, to that which has passed through a refining process. It has been found that practically all the trees in the drv belt are sugar-pro-ducers, the most prolific being tho-e on the northern and eastern slopes, whilst a very scanty yield was obtainable from the trees in heavily forested areas. This has been exnlained by pointing out that in the favourable regions there was a better air circulation, whilst the trees received more sunlight and the ground was warmer. Trees exposed to a good supply of sunlight gather in their leaves carlwrhvdratos. Ordinarily these are taken into ‘lie plant at night to supply tissue and storage colls. It is stated, however, that in the dry belt an abnormal amount of carbohydrates accumulated on the firs. At the same time tlie soil, warmed by the sun. increased the root activity so much in this region, where the nights are hot. dry. and short, that the roots worked on into the night absorbing moisture. As a result of the increased root activity the root pressure was immensely increased. This and the cessation of transpiration caused the leaves to become gorged with water. This water presently was forced to exude out of the leaf tips into the hot, dry night, and rapidly evaporated. The water was heavily charged with sugar from the leaf cells.

; v,lnch remained clinging when the water j evaporated. | 1: is apparent that, whilst at first the | free sugar could be collected and marketed, no dependence could be plated I on cither the quality or the quantity of ! a crop depending upon such fortuitous i 'Jii uin.-JaiK-e; for its formation. It has j 'ecu pointed out that in the hot season I I T e occurrence of a few dull days enables ! tne trees to use much of the excess sugar, j or More it as March to serve as a food re <orvc. i he cooling of the air also affects activity of the sugar-forming colls in the leaves, and the roots absorb less moisture as the ground cools. Thus the Indians accept the sugar yield as s.ometning ,o be fully taken advantage of in tlie good years, but as something to which they cannot look forward with any degree of assurance, though they do get a good deni on the average. ?or commercial working it would, of touise, be necessary to tan the trees and oeM with lire sap. instead of depending non natural exudation, and it will be j inteveding to learn the results of the experiments in this direction which will, no doubt, be made immediately. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE JURY. bill K. MARSHALL IT ALL’S STORIES. That famous advocate at the criminal Bar, Sir Edward Marshall-Hall, K.C., has contributed a remarkable article to the Strand Magazine on “The Psychology of the Jury.” ■‘Juries,” he says, “are very human, and they are apt to take notice of many things which do not always attract much attention.” He goes on to tell some amus--1 ing stories of some cases in which ho I was concerned. lie appeared for the i plaintiff in a breach of promise case, and everybody, including his opponent, thought that, there should be a verdict for the plaintiff. The judge’s umming up also left no loophole for ativ other verdict, but, to everybody’s astonishment, the jury came back with a verdict for the defendant. Says Sir Edward : Some weeks after this I happened to be playing guif not far from London, and, going into the club house, where I was a guest, to lunch, I noticed three or four men sitting at a table whose faces were familiar to me. As I passed I heard my name mentioned, and, turning round, 1 at once recognised one of the party as a juryman in the case I have referred to. My curiosity being aroused, I stopped for a moment and asked how they found the verdict that they did. He laughed, and gave this most amusing explanation : “Well,” said he, “the judge who tried tlie case had a reputation for forming strong views which were not always upheld bv the Court of Appeal, and so, when the jury retired to the jury room to consider their verdict, one of them at once said, ‘Well, it is quite evident which way the judge is. Now, we all know that it is six to four that the judge is wrong; why go against the odds? Let's find for the defendant.” And they did. Sir Edward tells a story about another jury : In the very early days of my career at the Bar I was engaged as junior in the defence of a woman charged for murder of a new-born child. The real question to be decided by the jury was a medical one as to the cause of death, and on this tome very strong evidence was given by a well-known surgeon who was a witness for the Treasury. If his evidence was accepted a hostile verdict of the jury was almost inevitable, in spite of the very strongest sympathy which existed for the unfortunate woman. The case was tried before one of the most humane judges who ever adorned the English Bench, and the humanity of his summing up had a great deal, no doubt, to do with the verdict of acquittal which niy leader, by his brilliant speech, so triumphantly secured. I happened to know the foreman of the jury well, and, his professional vocation being that of an undertaker, I did not think he was likelv to be moved by sentiment, so I asked him one day soon after the trial how he got over the evidence of tlie medical man I referred to. “Oh !” said he, “that was tlie man who read the Sporting Times in court whilst, the case was going on, and 1 would not believe a man on his oath who would read a paper like that.” Sir Edward doubts if tlie public know how important it is sometimes that witnesses should “dress the part." He once insisted that a witness should leave his jewellery behind before he went into the witness box. for he felt that its display “created a presumption in favour of disbelief.”