The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1871-02-11
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Mr.. Rufus Hatch has issued number ofcircu-
lars, that have been given TO the public through
the columns of the New York Independent, upon
frauds in railroad infringement. These circulars
reveal deal of the wholesale 'jobbing" and
sweepstake speculations in the manipulations
and sales of lands belonging to railroad corpo-
rations. These games that are played by these
'land sharks are called s"waterings" when
they consist of species of management by which
the managers realize large sums of money by
gambling in the stocks of these roads. But if the
game consists in enormous speculations in the
land grants of railroads after such railroads
have been surreptitiously defrauded Of these
lands, the swindle is then designated by the IL
tie of 'grab" By one of the iwaterings" pour
ed upon the managers of the Chicago and
Northwestern railroad they realized the little
sum of Sc O3O, 500. 1t was accomplished by a
consolidation of the Galena and Chicago railroad
with the Chicago and Northwestern. This was
done by "equalzing values" which gave to the
stockholders Of the latter road two shares for
one previously held and making them equal in
value to tie shares of the former, when those oil
the latter were nearly worthless.
The Chicago and Northwestern road made a
combination with the road running from the
Mississippi TO the Missouri river, a distance oil
353 miles, owned By two corporations-the Chi
cago, Iowa and Nebraska owning one link, and
the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River company
owning the other This line had a land grant
of l.422, loo acres of public land. A certain
railroad had to be built TO secure this grant
TIE shrewd managers" set themselves to
work 10 get this land in their possession without
building the road whose construction was con-
dirion upon which it was granted. They leased
this road, without the land for the Chicago and
Northwestern road, at price based upon the
earnings oil the road, that would be fair per-
centage upon nearly double the first cost of this
road. By this manipulation the managers
and 'jobbers'' realized about 50, 375. This
bid gets control of the land grants-l, 422, les
acres. Of these 10000 acres have already
been disposed of at 81 90 per acre, aggregating
So, 400, 600. This makes the entire profit of the
managers" and ',jobbers" in few years Sl7,-
,375. This piece of sharp dealing is known
in the west as the Blair and Ames ''gra6."
Another party got possession of the Winona
and ST. Peters railroad of Minnesota, built the
road, took the land-1, 40, 600 acres then turn
ed the road over, without the lands to the Chi
cago and Northwestern for S35, 900 per mile,
which was about twice its cost. This road was
not within one hundred miles of the Chicago
and Northwestern road at any given point
The value of the lands acquired by this transac-
ton is about So, 1896, 632. The profits realized
in the construction of the road were 81, 800, 900.
This puts the aggregate profits of the transaction
at 81, 285, 632 This game is known in stock cir
cles in the west as the Barney 'grab"
The Peninsular railroad of Michigan was en-
titled to land grant of SAC, $50 acres, of which
$50, $50 acres had been certified to the company
in July, 1869. This road was built and consoli.
dated with the Chicago and Northwestern
without the lands. 1t cost its projectors abOu
$50, 600 per mile. 1t was transferred at the rate
ofS4O, 900 per mile The profit of construction
was about 81, 532, l60. So the profits of th
transaction was about 2,992, 100. This hand
some realization is spoken of on change in west
ern cities as the Ogden and Tilden ''grd5'i
This is certainly the most profitable kind o
''grab' game that we have yet heard OF.