Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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CHICAGO HA UNUSl Network of Freight Tunnels Serve Loop?Freight, Coal, Etc Deliv ered and Ashes Removed by Electric Devices, Chicago, Dec. 16.Forty feet un derground Chicago has one of the most unique subway systems in the world. Devoted entirely to the haul ing of freight, it keeps the congested loop district comparatively free of heavy traffic vehicles. Officials of the tunnel company estimate more than 6,000 trucks would have to pass through loop streets daily to duplicate the work done by the subway. ?w nrancp Over 62 miles 01 nauun fc?_0. .track, 132 electric locomotives and 3,000 freight cars hauled 600,000 tons of merchandise and 230,000 tons of coal last year. Scores of downtown office build ings and stores receive their freight direct, from the railroad depots via the subway. Their coal comes by the same route, and at night the ashes are hauled away through the underground tunnels, to be dumped on the lf?ke front, where acres of land are reclaimed yearly. The ground on which the great new Field Museum, at the south end of Grant Park, is built, was a few years ago a part of the lake. The tunnel com pany filled it in with ashes. Another unusual service is the re moval of dirt from building excava tions. A shaft is sunk from the build ing^site to the tunnel level under the o+i-oot Workmen with wheel bar rows dump the dirt down the shaft, where it falls into cars of a waiting train, to be hauled to the lake front disposal station. For handling merchandise, coal and ashes, electric elevators lift the sub way cars from the tunnel level to stores and office buildings, where they are emptied and refined, and then lowered again to the tracks be- J low. i The subway tracks underlay every I street in the loop district, covering a j district 22 blocks long, and 9 blocks ' wide, and in addition the network of J tunnels extended north under the riv- i *yv +v,0 warolioiisp and railroad dis CI IV W1IV .? v* V... v. trict along North Water street, and |1 west of the south branch of the river j for six blocks through the railroad! and factory district of* the near west J side. Four main receiving stations out-J side of the loop gather incoming mer- j chandise for delivery to downtown buildings, and distribute outgoing packages for truck hauls to other parts of the city. Every railroad station but one has connections, and freight and express billed from one station to another is transferred by the subway. In addi-i tion every station but one has con-! nections for sending mail to the post-1 office. Special trains of steel mail i cars carry the sacks through the tun nel. The freight cars used are four feet | wide and twelve feet long, while the track has a two foot guage. The mer chandise cars have a capacity of six tons ash and dirt cars hold three and one-half cubic yards; and the coal cars have a capacity of four tons. Approximately 2,000 shippers use the subway system. The entire operation is electrical. A train dispatcher and telephones control the movement of the trains. At every outlet to a downtown build inor an pmolovee is stationed to op- j erate the lifting elevators, receive and dispatch cars, and act as agent for the company. The company em ploys more than 600 men. One of the advantages of the tun nel, particularly in the transportation of refrigerated and other perishable porducts is said to be the even tem perature, which remains constant at 55 degrees the year around. Venti lating apparatus keeps a constant flow of fresh air circulating through the system, while 72 electric pumps re ove what water seeps in. Elaborate precautions have been taken to prevent flooding of the tun nel when fires break out in one of the connecting buildings. Water tight doors shut off the elevator shafts so that the tons of water which fire men pour onto a fire cannot reach the main system. Farmers of certain sections of Io wa will burn corn instead of coal tkis winter, a ton of corn having a smaller value than a ton of coal. S VERY JAL SUBWAY i NEW BUYING MOVEMENT IS PREDICTED FOR NEW YEAR Business Experts Believe Business Will Pick Up January 1 and Normal Times Will Follow Business should be picking up a bout the first of January, according to the federal reserve board. By that date says the board, the smash ing of war-time prices will be com pleted sufficiently to usher in nor mal times. The latest business forecast by the United States Chamber of Com merce says that merchandise stocks by January 1 will be smaller than for years, making a new buying movement probable. , Other guesses for a revival of business range as far ahead of April. In the steel industry, long considered the barometer of gener al business conditions, a new buying movement is expected to start ei ther in February or March. In the building trades a buyer's market prevails. But where inquiries are for deliveries after March, the sell ers are not anxious to quote prices indicating that they look for big buying by that time. What'? Really Wrong The present business slump is not basically serious. Business is bad because the cost of living is being smashed. Everybody wanted that. Temporarily, it is a bitter medicine. Inflation is being squeezed from prices. .When the downward move ment is completed and buyers are sure that -bottom has been reached things will go ahead. No danger ?e tV>q cituntinn is well in UL paiuti xuv ? hand. Meats at Pre-War Prices Armour & Co., announce that wholesale pieces of fresh meat cuts both beef and pork, are now below the prices of April 1, 1^17, and in some instances below 1914 prices. Growers of livestock and feed stuffs shoulder the loss. Other Price Crashes Cuban raw sugar appears in New York offered at less than four cents a pound. No buyers. Silver hes fallen to a new low ?J n.niinJ Rfl nontc Q Tl OlITlCe. JL CtUI U| aiuunu ww The highest price was ' $1.37 an ounce, reached January 12, last. Tobacco growers are in bad shape Raw tobacco in Kentucky is bring ing almost two-thirds less than a year ago. American farmers have lost at least $6,000,000,000,000 in three months by the slump in prices of farm products and livestock. This is the estimate of Thomas, J. Wilson, president of the Instittue of Ameri can Meat Packers. RailroadsJ Plan Big Buying The steel trade expects 1921 to break all records in production of steel rails. The roads hope to ar range the necessary financing early in the year. There is now a surplus of freight cars, President Gray of the Union Pacific predicts a record traffic movement in the West the last eight months of 1921. Foreign Trade Changes Bix exports are turning their eyes away* from Europe. Many think the big foreign trade oppor tunities of the next few years will be in the Orient, principally in China. Europe is now underbidding Am ericans in Argentina, especially in steel products. Germany has re-ap peared strongly in the steel export rnorVof r.Vii-nn lanrls raTCO of steel plants in Seattle at leas than the American price. Said vo have no broad significance. Coal Prices Down Soft coal has dropped an average of $6 a ton in the big mining dis tricts east of the Mississippi. This applies to prices charged by the mines. Consumers should benefit 1 -1 1J ? soen. i^neaper cuai ?nuuiu stimulate manufacturing, tl reduces costs. French buyers have cancelled more than $100,000,000 worth of contracts for American coal. Con tracts made a year ago for export were $40 a ton. The open market has dropped to $14. Textiles Hit Hard Hit New England textile mills are running 30 to 60 per cent capacity Manufacturers expect heavy buying to start by spring. Some manufac turers hint they will sell direct to BUSINESS SLUMP DRAWING TO CLOSE There is a more confident, or at least a more hopeful, feeling in most trade circles than there was a few weeks ago, says the Philadelphia Rec ord in its weekly review of business conditions. The writer continues: In dustrial leaders who assembled in Washington for the second reunion of the war industries board were al most a unit in the opinion that the business slump is drawing to a close, and that a great revival of business j will mark 1921. But the course of business has i.ot | changed perceptibly yet, what hos! occurred is the belief that the de-1 cline has nearly reached bottom. But j all the movements of the iast few months are still apparent. Factories close or reduce their working time, i Wage declines occur. In the New England textile trade the employers are contemplating a wage cut of 22 % per cent. Christmas shopping has done something to relieve the condi tion of retail trade, but it is per ceptibly less than the usual holiday shopping. People are not so flush as they were a year ago, when they were spending money freely for the most expensive articles. A good many people are out of employment. The rest began economizing, and are still practicing thrift. Prices still tend downward. Dun's Review reports for the thirty-first1 consecutive week of declining prices J 73 declines and 17 advances. Iron ; and steel prices are lower. A little j recovery in dry goods has spent it-} self, and prices tend back to the i . i ? mu. L!J. , lower ievei. ine muc maiAct it-, ports no business of moment. There is a little more encouragement in leather because shoe shops that have been closed have resumed. The sen timent has improved in shoes, but actual business has not changed much. Bank clearings last week were con siderably lower than the preceding week, of last year, and clearings for November are 8.5 per cent, less than last year, but as the decline outside of New York is only i.z per cent, n is evident that the greater part of the decline has occurred in New York, where it is presumably due mainly to decreased Stock Exchange opera tions. On nearly all items the prices of the independent steel producers are down to those of the Steel Corpora tion. Production of pig in Novem ber was more than 10 per cent, less than in October. Thirty-three fur naces were blown out in November. Buying of pig iron is confined to small lots taken by consumers whose habits is to buy from hand to mouth. A New York selling agent for Vir ginia furnaces offered No. 2 foun dry at $41 base, but lost the busi ness to a setter who quoted $39. Birmingham reports a dearth of new business, except in nails and some other w.re products. New business in Youngstown ;s very light, though though small amounts of sheets, bars triplate and strip steel. rae being placed. Plate buying is especially weak. Sheet makers who dp not make their own bars are waiting for a lower price for bars than $47. There are large inqu.ries from the oil fields for pipe. Cutting of steel prices in New York has failed to revive business. Cotton speculation has been on a moderate scale, but for a timp at higher prices. On Saturday the cot ton market in New York was with out much interest, but a decline of 20 points or more was followed by a x u: recovery 01 must ox wi?, rmai u?uo showed small losses for the day. The New York wool market is marking time. In Boston more wool is being sold, but at loss in price. Sales of print cloth in Fall River amounted to about 15,000 pieces. In the New York dry goods market the move ment toward better conditions and higher prices in cotton goods suffered a check. Few buyers have shown any interest in gray goods, anl job bers have been buying little and talking about lower prices. Some prices went off a little. There has been a little buying of ginghams, consumers. A Brooklyn firm throws its factoy open to the public and offers $1,000,000 worth of rain coats at wholesale prices. Dr. S. W. McClure, representing the National Wool Growers' Asso ciation, tells the Senate that 95 per cent of this year's wool clipped in the United States is unsold. Also that 996,000,000 pounds of wool are stored in American warehouses a two years' supply. RECOMMEND LENIENCY FOR THE GERMANS HunJred Billion Mar'.i in Gold in the Amount Delegates think Germany Should Pay?Is Below Suip Fixed by Versailles Treaty. Brussels, Dec. 23.?Payment by Germany of 100,000,000,000 marks in gold remains the basis upon which experts and delegates to the second financial conference in session here, are working. This amount, although far below what was authorized by the treaty of Versailles is consider ed by them collectible only on condi tion that Germany is helped along the lines suggested by the German delegates. Allied experts, in secret individual reports, the substance of which has come to light, recognizing Germany's real necessities and delegates gener ally are impressed by arguments that Germany is an insolvent creditor who must be maintained as a grow ing concern. The extent to which strict fulfillment of the Versailles treaty may be waived, however, de pends upon the allied governments, before which recommendations have been made by the various delegations. Virtually none of the delegates be lieve the treaty can be executed lit erally and allied experts agree witn the Germans that reparations must be paid chiefly in kind. Some cash, however, wil be demanded after a year or two, if not immediately. Will Take Recess Today's meeting was really in pre paration for the recess which will be taken until January 10. Allied dele gates planned to meet apart this af ternoon for the purpose of exchang ing views and reaching a common ac cord which will be reflected in re ports to their governments. German delegates are still work ing on the list of questions submit ted by the allies, which covers a wide range. It is inferred from some of the questions that the allied experts believe indirect taxation in Germany is not high enough, the Germans be .ng asked whether their taxes on al cohol, beer, tobacco and sugar are as high as those on the same products ii rrance and Great Britain. Other questions concern the German finan cial poLcy relative to taxation of wealthy citizens and possible tax in . .3cs within a year or two. The German representatives have jcen asked to estimate the amount of German wealth at present in neutral countries, and to state how Germany plans to compensate her citizens for party sequestrated and liquidated aoroad. It is suggested that German flnanels, etc. at prices about one tnird of former values. Business in woolen goods is extremely slow, espe cialiy in men's wear. The only deal .ngs worth mentioning have been in worsted dress goods. Wheat advanced early in the week, reaching a level of 28 to 30 cents above the recent low. Under the in fluence of urgent export buying and heavy covering by the shorts wheat n Chicago on Saturday closed 1 to 4 1-2 cents higher. Corn declined in Chicago late in the week. Wholesale prices of fresh-cut meats closed the week at prices that prevailed before the war. By a Cons wealth a I: present in neutral coun tries, and to state how Germany plans to compensate her citizens for property sequestrated and liquida j ted abroad. It is suggested that German wealth in neutral countries has been accumulated by the practices of Ger man firms shipping goods at cost or an actual loss to associates in neu tral countries. In considering depre ciated exchange, allied experts have asked the Germans if they do not profit from the low value of the mark to the extent that their labor is not paid propprtionately to the compen sation of labor in countries where ex change values are higher. May Keep Shipping. Delegates have been pledged to se-j crecy, but there is a general impres-| sion they will recommend that their governments permit Germany to keep some of the 350,0(10 tons of auipjJiug OIIC woo \sjl ueic ci wv ouiiva der under the Versailles treaty. The United States is still regarded as the only banker who can furnish Ger many with the necessary credit. Ger mans desire that property owned by their nationals be returned to its owners. Some of the allies, how ever, are in favor of having it used as a basis of credit, although the amount of Gel'many property in Am erica would probably be insufficient to meet the needs of Germany at the present time. The American dollar is mentioned frequently as a desirable standard in expressing reparation figures. It is impossible for Germany to export gold marks, and the dollar is consid ered the most stable unit at present. British shipping and liquidation exports arrived here last night for final conferences with the Germans before today's adjournment. Be A.Pa Wed The Mary beautiful C silver. The of reversed simplicity a the endurin A ;tant Study o Always with an e] The Planters Bank well organized and can be depended U| the accuracy and pi ly running machine New accounts are c Planter "The Frier ABBEVI The Home of Over 1' FURMAN ARRANGES 1921 SCHEDULE Greenville, Dec. 16.?Ftirman University today announced its j football schedule for next season as follows: September 23?Erskine; October 1?Newberry; Otober 8?Universi ty of Georgia; October 15?Georgia Tech; October 22?Clemson; Octo ber 29?tentative; November 5? Citadel; November 12?South Caro lina University; November 19? W off ord; Thanksgiving Day? Davidson. Furman's only game away from Greenville wil be with Georgia Tech in Atlanta. For the open date, Fur man is negotiating with the Uni versity of Tennessee and University of North Carolina. William L. Laval again will coach the team next year, and Harrell "Speedy" Speer of Winston Salem, N. C., will be physical director. H. C. L. ALSO HITS INAUGURATION COST 1 Washintgon, Dec. 16.?The cost of inaugurating a President has in creased from 50 to 100 percent, it was estimated today at the first ses sion of the joint congressional com mittee in charge of the inaugura tion of President-elect Harding. Construction of the usual mammoth reviewing stand on the capital plaza and engraving of official invitations was authorized by the committee, headed by Seator Knox, Republican, (Penna) and Representative Can non, Republican, Illinois. lief was expressed here today that when the conference assembles next month it will be well on the way to ward a settlement of the reparations I question. 1 I ittern for the Iding Chest land is an exceptionally olonia.1 design in Sterling flowing outline, made up 1 curves, is admirable for nd grace. Maryland has g beauty which makes it ce for the large service. WITS SYW^yP f Details? to improvement has built a service so systematized that It )on to function with recision of a smooth inuilA/i I Ul Uiai IJ lllf i?vua s Bank idly Bank" LLE, S. C. OOO Bank Accounts.