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INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



land at a fictitious value, and in this way promoters derive their 

 profits. This plan is followed by many small companies, as well 

 as by larger ones. How much "water" is in this way introduced 

 into the stock of some of the companies cannot, of course, be 

 definitely ascertained, but it is comparatively small as compared 

 with large corporations in other lines of industry. For an ex- 

 ample, there may be cited the case of a company whose land, 

 probably worth thirty thousand dollars at a good price for un- 

 developed stone land, was purchased from the promoter at 

 seventy-five thousand dollars in stock. It is to be remembered, 

 however, that the value of the property is greatly increased by 

 development; and in many cases an initial over-capitalization 

 has been wiped out by a real increase of the value of the prop- 

 erty. There are, on the other hand, a few cases in which the 

 actual amount of money invested has been increased without a 

 corresponding increase in capitalization. 



The methods of business management vary widely, yet a cer- 

 tain rough correspondence to the size of the organization can in 

 most cases be traced. The largest companies have their general 

 offices in some large city, usually Chicago, and the local super- 

 intendent supervises in the main only the more mechanical part 

 of the business. He is a salaried man, an experienced quarry- 

 man, but rarely a stockholder in the concern that employs him. 

 Superintendents of the small quarries are also usually hired 

 servants, and may have charge of the office work as well as of 

 the mechanical work of the quarry. The office work may, how- 

 ever, be done by a member of the company — ^the president or 

 secretary usually — while the superintendent combines the func- 

 tions of superintendent and foreman in himself. On the other 

 hand, the superintendent of the middle-sized plant, which may be 

 called the "large concern" as distinguished both from the largest 

 and the small ones, is much more likely to be a member of the 

 corporation, or even its moving spirit. He attends to the office 

 work and has foremen to carry out his orders in the quarry. 

 There is likely to be also a mill superintendent under him, if a 

 mill is operated. It is generally the small quarries organized 

 on this plan, it may be remarked, which have been successful 

 and have frequently entered the list of the middle-sized or large 

 quarries. 



Sales of stone are, for the most part, accomplished through 

 stone brokers, only one or two companies in the district main- 

 taining traveling salesmen. These brokers are found in the large 



