Mergers

R.C.A., K-A-O and F.B.O. are merging their amusement interests.

Power. Charles Augustus Stone, head of Stone & Webster and Blodget (engineers, financiers) last week added a great block to his interstate power structure. He is chairman of the Engineers Public Service Co., a holding company for power manufacturers of the Middle West, Southwest, South and Middle Atlantic States. In the Northwest is the Puget Sound Power & Light Co., which supplies motive power to the Great Northern Railway. Last week Mr. Stone got control of Puget Sound and joined it to his Engineers Public Service Co., whose total assets thereby became $291,554,993.

Tobacco & Sodas. United Cigar Stores bought considerable stock in Bastian-Blessing Co., from whom it will buy all its soda fountain equipment needed during the next ten years. Bastian-Blessing dividends thus will be a sort of indirect, shuttle profit to United Cigars.

Cigars. David A. Schulte, now commonly considered the dominant force in United Cigar Stores and its allied businesses (including his own Schulte Retail Stores), is consolidating five cigar manufacturing companies as the Webster-Eisenlohr Co. Cigar making capacity of the merger is 700,000,000 a year. Mr. Schulte will be president, United Cigar's Vice President W. T. Posey chairman. Last week both were elected to correlative positions with the Union Tobacco Co., a tobacco manufacturing subsidiary of the United Cigar-Schulte merchandising-financial group.

Drugs. Louis K. Liggett Co., subsidiary of Drug, Inc., in Chicago this year has bought the seven drugstores of Buck & Rayner and the five of Postes Drug Co.; last week was negotiating to buy the 15 of MacLean Drug Co.

Groceries. Kroger Grocery & Baking Corp. is trying to buy at least two-thirds of the outstanding stock of the Piggly Wiggly Corp.--at $50 a share.

Food Products. Allied Packers, Inc., have tentatively agreed to sell out to Hygrade Food Products Corp. Together they do $70,000,000 meat business yearly.

Pipes. Recent elections of directors and officers have tied together, although not merged, the Universal Pipe & Radiator Co., the Pressed Steel Car Co., the Blaw-Knox Co.

Tin. The new London Malayan Tin Trust Ltd., a merger of 16 Malayan tin producing companies, became active last week by selling -L-1,249,000 of stock to the public.

Mail Order. National Bellas Hess Co., with a $40,000,000 yearly retail mail order business, has bought Charles Williams Stores, Inc., with a $17,000,000 retail mail order business. Both headquarters are in Manhattan. National Bellas Hess is successor of the National Cloak & Suit Co.

Milk. Like the Postum Co. and Kroger Grocery & Baking Corp., the Borden Co. is constantly acquiring lesser and allied firms. Borden's latest acquisitions are Thompson's Malted Milk Co., Kennedy Dairy Co. and Clover Leaf Milk Co.

Hats, Haberdashery. Dunlap & Co., famed hatters, have merged with Kaskel & Kaskel, less famed Manhattan haberdashers. Kaskel & Kaskel is the consolidation's name.

Telephones. The Inland Telephone Co. was recently organized in Delaware. Now it is consolidating 26 independent telephone systems in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Chemicals. For more than $4,000,000 the Davison Chemical Co. has bought control of phosphate and fertilizer plants at Charleston, S. C.; Cordele, Ga.; Nashville, Tenn.; New Albany, Ind.; Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta, Ga.

Wall Street expects the $50,000,000 Grasselli Chemical Co. to absorb smaller firms. First mentioned is the $7,000,000 Calco Chemical Co.

Railroads. After two years effort to overcome opposition against his merging the Kansas-City Southern and Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroads, Leonor Fresnel Loree last week formally abandoned his project. Missouri-Kansas-Texas still controls the St. Louis Southwestern, the third component of the proposed merger.

Paint. Nine paint manufacturers on the Pacific Coast have agreed to merge. They are at Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles. E. H. Rollins & Sons of San Francisco are the financiers.