CALIFORNIA. SECURITIESTHE LIBRARY OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
GIFTCOMPLIMENTS OF
E'H'ROLLINS & SONS
CALIFORNIA BANK BUILDING
LOS ANGELES
COPYRIGHT E.H. ROLLINS & SONS 1923CALIFORNIA
SECURITIES
PUBLISHED BY
E-H-ROLLINS & SONS
FOUNDED 1876
BOSTON • NEW YORK* CHICAGO DENVER- LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCOFEATHER
RIVER
CANYON
One of the
Gateways to
California
Water Rights, Great Western Power Company Main Line Western Pacific RailroadWhere Security Is Stronger
There was a time when the Californian spoke of his State as the land with the biggest trees, the highest mountain and the lowest valley in the United States. More recently the claim of the Golden State to superiority has been more aptly
phrased as—“California where life is better.”
In the thirty years in which E. H. Rollins & Sons has been established on the Pacific Coast, a similar change has come about in regard to California investments. Instead of the lure of chance—the possibility of “striking it rich”—the appeal of California to the investor today is the call of a land where securities are based on values that have been proved to be sound.
When the San Francisco office of E. H. Rollins & Sons was established in i 894 California securities were little known among the investors in other states, and the Californians with funds to invest in those days were apt to scorn the income yield that goes with the security of a good investment bond. Hydro-electric development was in its infancy and few believed that power produced in the Sierras could be brought over long distance transmission lines to San Francisco and Los Angeles. This bond house was the first to finance the long distance transmission of hydro-electric power, taking an active interest in the original development of both the Great Western Power Company and the pioneer undertakings that afterward became part of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company System.
COT he Pioneer Bond House As the pioneer national bond house in California, E. H. Rollins & Sons now takes this means of calling to the attention of investors the proven soundness of California securities, and the advantage of dealing with a bond house that, in the last thirty years, has purchased alone or with associates over 300 issues of California securities amounting to more than $550,000,000.
The old assertion that Mount Whitney is the highest mountain and the Imperial Valley, below sea level, is the lowest valley in the United States is true, but not particularly important. It is more important that the average individual wealth in California is greater than in any other state in the Union, and that, while the average farm in the United States produces $2,300 worth of crops every year, the average farm in California produces a $5,000 crop, more than twice as great as the annual average for the United States.
The fact that the average individual wealth in San Francisco is $3,371 and in Los Angeles $2,974 as compared with $ 1,775 in New York and $ 1,204 in Chicago also has a definite significance for the investor purchasing California securities. It means that every third California farmer has a telephone and every fourth California farmer has either gas or electricity in his home. It means that there are 99 automobiles for every hundred farms in California. It means that public utilities and other industries in California have a more prosperous field for the distribution of their product.
Recent reports show that California, with only 3.2
[2]on the Pacific Coast
per cent of the population of the United States, produces
5.4	per cent of the farm products of the country; pays
5.5	per cent of the income tax; and owns 8.9 per cent of the homes wired for electricity.
Another interesting indication of the value of the products of the land in California is found in the fact that the per ton value of the commerce carried on the Sacramento River exceeds the per ton value of the commerce of the Hudson River; while the per ton value of the commerce of the San Joaquin River exceeds the per ton value of the commerce of the Mississippi River.
These two California rivers, rising in the mountains and flowing through the great interior valley to the Bay of San Francisco, also produce hydro-electric power, and irrigate fertile farms in the great central valley.
Another evidence of the extent of California progress is found in the fact that this State contains the third and fourth largest light and power utilities in the country— the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the Southern California Edison Company. These two great corporations have combined capitalizations of over $350,000,-000, and annual gross earning of $56,000,000, while their consumers total 835,000 and their stockholders total 78,000.
All these facts indicate a greater purchasing power and a more prosperous condition of life in California— a prosperity that may be shared by investors in other states who place their funds in carefully chosen California bonds, for where life is better security is stronger.
[3]
SAN
FRANCISCO
HARBOR
San Francisco Harbor Development Has Been Financed by California State Bonds
California Municipal Bonds
Education and transportation, and the facilities that give these two elements to civilization, must be present in any prosperous and permanent community, no matter how great its natural resources. In California E. H. Rollins & Sons has served the people by participating in the original purchase of 238 municipal bond issues, totalling $215,000,000, devoted to schools, highways, and harbor works, as well as to water supply systems and other improvements of public necessity.
A considerable portion of this vast sum has been used to build the schools where the boys and girls of city and country may receive the education upon which is based the stability of our civilization. E. H. Rollins & Sons has never hesitated to buy the school bond of a California community whose economic situation seemed to promise permanence and stability.
[4]Three Thousand Miles of Highways Built with the Proceeds of California State Bonds
CALIFORNIA
STATE
HIGHWAY
Harbor and Highway Bonds From Oregon to Mexico there has been constructed in California a network of automobile highways, of which 2,400 miles have been paved with concrete and another 1,000 miles have been graded and surfaced with gravel preparatory to concrete paving.
The construction of these highways has been financed by the sale of State bonds and E. H. Rollins & Sons has participated in the original purchase of $38,000,000 of these issues as well as in the purchase of millions of dollars of the highway bonds of individual counties.
The development of the harbor of San Francisco has done much to make it one of the leading seaports of the world. This development has been conducted by the California State Government, $9,000,000 of whose bonds issued for this purpose were underwritten by E. H. Rollins & Sons and associates.
[5]OWENS
RIVER
AQUEDUCT
$23,000,000 Los Angeles Aqueduct Bonds Brought a City Water Supply from the Sierra
Water Supply of the Cities
San Francisco and Los Angeles, the two most important Pacific Coast cities, are situated many miles from the Sierra-Nevada mountains, whence an adequate water supply must necessarily be brought. The Owens River aqueduct of the city of Los Angeles brings water over 250 miles from the mountains and serves 750,000 people, and develops approximately 100,000 h.p. of hydroelectric power. The Hetch Hetchy development of San Francisco will bring water for about 125 miles from a point close to the Yosemite Valley. This system, now under construction, will supply sufficient water for the growing needs of the northern California metropolis and vicinity, and will shortly produce 80,000 hydroelectric h. p. E. H. Rollins & Sons has taken part in the original underwriting of over $63,000,000 of bonds to construct the water systems of these two great cities.
[6]400 Million Gallons Daily Water Supply from the Sierras to San Francisco
HETCH
HETCHY
DAM
Hydro-Electric Development Because California enjoys an abundant rain and snow fall in its high mountains relatively close to its agricultural and industrial districts, this State presents a remarkable field for hydro-electric development. At the present time California has a hydro-electric generating capacity of 1,300,000 h. p., which is 1 3 per cent of the total for the United States, whereas its potential development amounts to 15 per cent of that for the entire country. Between 1910 and 1920 the installed hydroelectric generating power in California more than doubled, and it is predicted from present needs that in 1930 it will be over 3,000,000 h. p.
E. H. Rollins & Sons has played a leading part in this development, having participated in the original purchase of over forty issues of California light and power public utility bonds totalling $215,000,000.
[7]MAP OF
CALIFORNIA
Showing Location of Hydro-Electric and Water Supply Mountain Development
Light and Power Companies
The Southern California Edison Company ranks high among the world’s largest producers and distributors of electricity. It serves 312 Southern California cities and towns in a territory having an area of over 55,000 square miles and a population of 1,500,000. Its consumers number 185,000 and its annual gross earnings are $17,000,000. It has 51,000 stockholders— more than any other electric utility in the country. It pays dividends on $55,000,000 of capital stock. Its ultimate capacity is over 1,500,000 h. p. For over twenty years E. H. Rollins & Sons has been engaged in financing this great utility and has participated in the original purchase of more than $102,000,000 of the bonds of this Company and its subsidiaries.
Thirty-nine million dollars of annual gross earnings, 650,000 consumers, 590,000 h.p. installed electric generating capacity, 73,000,000 cubic feet daily capacity of gas—these figures, better than any words, describe the great size of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which is the third largest public utility of its type in the United States and which serves a population of over 1,850,000 in central and northern California. E. H. Rollins & Sons made possible the construction of the first long distance power transmission line in 1898 by underwriting $2,250,000 bonds of the Bay Counties Power Company that afterwards became part of the Pacific Gas and Electric system, and has been an original underwriter of $46,000,000 of the bonds of this great public utility.
[9]PIT RIVER POWER HOUSE
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Financed by the Sale of First and Refunding Mortgage BondsPart of the Security of Southern California Edison Bond Issues
BIG
CREEK.
PLANT
Southern
California
EdisonLAKE ALMANOR
Great
Western Power
Company
One of the Largest Artificial Lakes in the United States Impounding 300,01
IN the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, is one of the most efficient hydro-electric power developments in the United States. It is the system of the Great Western Power Com-PANYof California which develops 15 1,000 hydro-electric h. p. at two great generating plants on the Feather River. The water used in the operation of these plants comes from Lake Almanor which is owned by the Company and is one of the largest artificial lakes in America. It is situated at an elevation of 4,45 5 feet, has a watershed of about 500 square miles and impounds 300,000 acre feet of water. The Company’s ownership of this lake and of several Feather River power sites in addition to those already developed permits ultimate development of approximately 800,000 hydro-electric h. p.
[12]Acre Feet at an Elevation of 4,455 Feet. Ultimate Capacity 1,250,000 Acre Feet
The Great Western Power’s properties also include two transmission lines from the Feather River to the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, and twenty-eight other northern California communities where it owns distributing systems. As auxiliaries to its hydro-electric plants, which produce over 98 per cent of its annual output, it owns two modern steam generating plants in San Francisco and Oakland having an aggregate capacity of approximately 50,000 h. p. Annual gross earnings now total over $7,300,000.
E. H. Rollins & Sons has been intimately connected with the bond financing of this Company for fifteen years and in that period has participated in the original underwriting of over $45,000,000 bonds secured by this system.
[13]CALIFORNIA
ALFALFA
FIELD
Irrigated Lands Yield Big Crops in California
Irrigation and Reclamation Although there are twenty-four other states in the Union that have a greater number of farms than California, this State stands among the first four in the annual value of its agricultural products. California produces 35 per cent of all the fruit grown in the United States and markets more different kinds of crops than any other state in the Union. The present annual value of California’s farm products is approximately $400,-000,000. It is interesting to note in this connection that, although California is known as the “Golden State” and its earlier fame was attained by its gold production, yet the annual products of California agriculture are now considerably more than ten times the greatest amount of gold ever taken from California mines in their most productive year.
Naturally this great agricultural development has [14]Artichokes for the United States Growing on California Coast Lands
ARTICHOKES ON COAST LANDS
Financed by D istrict Bonds necessitated the expenditure of vast sums of money in increasing the productivity of the land by irrigation and reclamation. In many places throughout the State the farmers have united to form reclamation or irrigation districts, have issued bonds to provide the funds necessary for construction work, and have taxed themselves to pay the interest and serial redemption charges of these issues. Where the soil has been fertile, when the irrigation or reclamation works have been adequate and well constructed, when the land has been in the hands of good owners, and where the legal status of the bonds has been satisfactory, E. H. Rollins & Sons has purchased and recommended these issues where it has felt that they were well secured, and has been an original underwriter for California Irrigation and Reclamation District bonds totaling over $9,000,000.
[15]SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY
FIG
ORCHARD
California Fig Orchards Supply a Large Portion of the National Demand
Farm Land Mortgage Bonds
Of course, the vast majority of farms in California are in the hands of individual owners, but there are certain properties which are so large that their operation can best be carried on by corporations and in a considerable number of cases these corporations have borrowed, through the sale of first mortgage bonds, the funds which they have needed for their development. Possessing such an intimate knowledge of the great resources of California, E. H. Rollins & Sons has participated frequently in the original underwriting of corporation bonds secured by first mortgages on agricultural lands in this State and in all has handled seven of these issues totalling $8,000,000. California’s orchard acreage is increasing and there is a tendency to operation of larger units both in orchard fruits and other farm products requiring financing on a broader scale.
[16]These River Cargoes Mean High Purchasing Power for the California Farmer
Where Rivers Never Freeze
SACRAMENTO
RIVER
BOATS
Probably the best known of these California agricultural corporations whose securities have been handled by E. H. Rollins & Sons is the California Delta Farms, Inc., which owned about 40,000 acres of highly fertile land in the delta of the San Joaquin River. The nature of its soil is such that it is particularly adapted to the growing of vegetables such as beans, onions, potatoes, corn, and asparagus, and the properties are most favorably located on rail and water transportation lines within sixty miles of the large city populations centering about San Francisco Bay. The high security of these particular bonds and of others of similar nature is indicated by the fact that the mortgage bonded debt per acre amounted to only $71 whereas thousands of acres in this property have sold in recent years at prices ranging from $275 to $300 per acre.
[■7]SAN FRANCISCO
The City and Harbor
San Francisco and the cities on the east shore of San
Francisco Bay have a population of approximately one million people. Construction shown in this photograph which is security for bond issues underwritten by [18]Photograph from Californians^Inc.
E. H. Rollins & Sons includes the Balfour Building, the Santa Marina Building, the Claus Spreckels Building, the Ferry Building and harbor piers, as well as municipal improvements on both sides of the Bay.
[■9]LOS ANGELES
Broadway at Seventh
Ios Angeles is the industrial and commercial center
.J of Southern California where living conditions attract increasing numbers of home makers. Typical of the bond issues underwritten by E. H. Rollins & Sons and secured by property in this part of California is the Los Angeles Union Terminal First Mortgage 6s, [20]SKYLINE
Union Terminal
Market
$2,199,000, secured by 19 acres of city land and concrete market and warehouse buildings valued at over $7,500,000. This bond house has also taken part in the original underwriting of $34,680,000 Los Angeles municipal bonds, and many issues of school bonds in the surrounding prosperous territory in Southern California.
[21]UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
BUILDINGS
One Group of Buildings in One of the Largest Universities in the World
California Securities
From i 894 to March, 1923, E. H. Rollins & Sons has purchased alone or with associates original issues of California securities aggregating more than $550,000,000, as follows:
238 issues Municipal Bonds	$215,045,000
41 issues Light and Power Bonds	224,620,000
15 issues Electric Traction Bonds	41,101,000
5	issues Railroad Bonds	27,115,000
8 issues City Real Estate Bonds	13,100,000
20 issues Irrigation & Reclamation Dis-
trict Bonds	9,083,000
7 issues Agricultural Land Bonds	7,950,000
6	issues of other bonds	25,125,000
340 issues aggregating	$563,139,000
The Pacific Coast business of E. H. Rollins & Sons is not confined to California securities for this firm has participated in the original purchase of many millions of [22]CALIFORNIA STATE BUILDING IN
SAN FRANCISCO
$1,000,000 California State Bonds Built This Unit in the San Francisco Civic Center
Selected by Experts dollars of bonds issued by Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Tacoma, Washington; Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah; Phoenix, Arizona, and other cities, as well as by counties and school districts, situated in these Pacific Coast states. It has also played an important part in public utility and industrial financing, having been among the original underwriters of such issues as—The Amalgamated Sugar Company (Utah) First Mortgage 7% bonds, Northwestern Electric Company (Oregon) First Mortgage 6% bonds, Central Arizona Light & Power Company (Phoenix) First and Refunding 6% bonds, Utah Construction Company First Mortgage 7%% bonds, and H. F. Dangberg Land & Live Stock Company (Nevada) First Mortgage 8% bonds.
Frequently bond issues of properties situated in the less thoroughly developed portions of the United States
[23]LONG BEACH
AUXILIARY
STEAM PLANT
73,000 h. p. is the Installed Capacity of This Southern California Edison Plant
Other Pacific Coast Business
offer a very high degree of safety, but, due to the fact that they are not particularly well known, they sell at relatively low prices and, therefore, offer exceptional opportunities to the discriminating investor. To clients who wish to make investments of this type E. H. Rollins & Sons can always submit conservative and well considered recommendations.
E. H. Rollins & Sons has a membership in the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange. This Exchange was organized in i 8 8 2 and for its last fiscal year reported transactions of $67,012,000 of bonds alone. In recent years the bond business of this Exchange has been greater than that of any other Exchange in the United States, except the New York Stock Exchange, and its annual bond transactions have totaled more than the aggregate of Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis. Its
[24]300,000 People Live in This City on the East Shore of San Francisco Bay
OAKLAND
California’i Third City
A Permanent Organization membership in this organization permits E. H. Rollins & Sons to offer exceptionally good facilities to those of its clients who wish to purchase or sell California securities in the open market.
The permanence of this bond house in California is also indicated by the experience and character of the men at the head of the organization and their associates.
On the pages following is a list of E. H. Rollins & Sons’ seven major offices and the twenty-eight principal branch offices of the firm. There is always a cordial welcome in each of these offices for the investor seeking advice concerning sound securities and particularly California Securities.
['25]E. H. ROLLINS
4 SONS
SAN FRANCISCO
OFFICE
This Corner Is Owned by E. H. Rollins 4 Sons in the Heart of the San Francisco Financial District
E. H. Rollins Sons’ Offices
Boston • 200 Devonshire Street
New York • 43 Exchange Place Chicago • 111 West Jackson Street
Philadelphia • 1421 Chestnut Street San Francisco • Montgomery at Pine Street Los Angeles • California Bank Building
Denver • International Trust Building
[26]E. H. Rollins Sons’ Offices
Albany • 90 State Street
Baltimore • 803 Maryland Trust Building Buffalo • 404 Marine Trust Building
Cleveland • 615 National City Building
Detroit • 15 34 Dime Bank Building
Harrisburg, Pa. • 302 Franklin Building Hartford, Conn. • 36 Pearl Street Lewiston, Maine • 46 Lisbon Street
Louisville, Ky.
912 Lincoln Bank Building Manchester, N. H.
705 Amoskeag Bank Building Milwaukee
727 First Wisconsin National Bank Building Minneapolis • 738 McKnight Building New Bedford, Mass. • 7 Zeitz Building Oakland, Calif. • 810 Syndicate Building
E. H. ROLLINS tsf SONS
LOS ANGELES
OFFICE
California
Bank Building
Pasadena, Calif. ■ 300 Citizens Savings Bank Building
Portland, Maine • 206 Masonic Temple
Portland, Oregon • 411 Lewis Building
Providence, R. I. • 306 Turks Head Building
St. Louis • 408 Olive Street
St. Paul • 319 Pioneer Building
Salt Lake City • 422 Felt Building
San Diego • 571 Spreckels Building
Scranton, Pa. • 406 Scranton Real Estate Building
Springfield, Mass. • 387 Main Street Syracuse, N. Y. • 403 Keith Theatre Building Washington, D. C. • 416 Woodward Building
Wilkes Barre, Pa. • 800 Second National Bank Building
Wilmington, Del. • 4032 du Pont Building
[27]