Notes

Colgate-Pompeian. Bayard Colgate, director of Colgate & Co. (soaps, perfumes, toilet articles), went to Cleveland last week to talk with President Otto F. Leopold of Pompeian Manufacturing Co. (cosmetics). Result: Colgate & Co. acquired control of the Pompeian concern.

Victor. During 1925, Victor Talking Machine lost $4,187,879 by scrapping its old type machines and remodeling its factories at Camden, N. J., to make Radiolas (combined talking machines and radio receiving sets) and Orthophonics (talking machines controlled by vacuum tubes). This was to offset competition of radio receiving set manufacturers (TIME, Dec. 20). The rewards of the changes came last year. Profits were $7,983,094, the largest for the company since 1916, wrote President Edward E. Shumaker to stockholders last week (see p. 19).

Iron & Steel. Writer John W. Hill in last week's Iron Trade Review summarized 1926 iron and steel business. Twenty-six companies earned $265,138,052 on capitalization of $3,954,170,893--6.7%. In 1925 the percentage of earnings to capital was 5.61. U. S. Steel's rate was 6.65%, that of Bethlehem Steel . 5.54%. Such returns on investments are far less than prevail in other industries, Writer Hill declared, pointing to General Motors whose earnings last year were 30%--$186,000,000 on $634,000,000 capital.

Western Union's net income last year was $15,205,049, no notable increase above the $15,186,259 of 1925. Yet the gross operating revenues were $134,464,886, the greatest in the concern's history, considerably more than the $127,078,023 of the previous year. In report to stockholders last week, President Newcomb Carlton said that 64,000 miles of copper wire were strung during 1926.

Sleep. Railroads, notably the Pennsylvania and B. & O, offered last week new-type pullman coaches. Each car contained 14 private rooms, communicating if desired. Each room had a full length bed, folding table and chair, full toilet facilities with hot and cold running water, electric fans, shaded lights, and full length mirror. For travel in these new cars railroads that had them charged 1 1/4 fare for transportation plus the price of two lower berths for the use of the rooms.

Foreign Financing. At Rome Dictator Mussolini watched the sale in Manhattan last week of $30,000,000 City of Rome bonds. He wants the money to accomplish his housing schemes and to finance some public utilities. (The U. S. has loaned somewhat more than a billion dollars during each of the past four years to foreign governments, municipalities, industries. Last week the cities of Milan, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade were preparing specifications for U. S. loans.)

An Iceman. Twenty-one years ago one Samuel Rubel, immigrant from Riga (Latvia), peddled ice in Brooklyn. Now he is president of Rubel Coal & Ice Co. and worth $25,000,000. But withal he is not a nice man, declared sundry petty ice peddlers, when Mr. Rubel tried to freeze them out of business the past year by giving free ice to their customers. For that, the Kings County grand jury last week indicted him, and 28 people sued him for damages.