The evening times., 1898-09-20
RECEIVER C0VHN TALKS
He Discusses the Baltimore
and Ohio Deal.
PLAN OF REORGANIZATION
The Purchase of the Stock. MIR. Cow
en- Says, Does Not Mean Any Com
The Foreclosure Proceedings.
Progress Under the Receivers.

Baltimore. Sept. 2O.-Receiver John X
Cowen arrived in Baltimore from Chica-
go yesterday. In reply TO questions Mr..
Cowen said:
1T is true that large interest, a very
large interest. in the Baltimore and Ohio,
has been purchased by Messrs. Field,
Hill, Ream and Armour, as well as other
influential interests. AS to those concern
ed and the amount of their purchase the
reorganization managers can only an
swer.
1T is difficult 10 define a control. The
class of men who have become interested
in the property is OF a character that
would exercise dominating influence.
With them the stock of the Baltimore
and Ohio is in stronger hands than ever
before in its history TheY are strong
factors in the business world and their
interest in the road VIII be a decided ad-
vantage 10 the property.
Anything that will improve the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad will by the very
nature of the case benefit Baltimore, as
this city is its chief terminus. The talk
OF moving the general offices and Mt.
Clare shops from Baltimore is all moon
shine.
The progress of the reorganization of
the property will not be affected in the
slightest Foreclosure proceedings ana
the legal formalities will be pushed, and
as soon as these are settled the OrganiZa-
tion of the new company Will be complet-
ed. The new interests went into the prop
erty on the basis of the plan of reorgani-
zation. They looked carefully over the
field and, believing the interest in the
road to be a first-class investment. pur-
chased it. The question as TO the person
mel OF the new directory will be settled
hereafter. and the new interests Will be
largely represented.
Their purchase Of the stock does not
mean any railroad combination. Ii does
not mean a trans-continental system in
connection with the Great Northern.
What il does mean is the fullest develop
ment of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road. The road will not be tied to any
road in the Northwest, but will continue
to deal with all roads and take business
wherever il is found The policy Of bet
terments will be carried out and the
maximum traffic aimed after by provid-
ing the best facilities for handling the
business"
Receiver Murray and General Manager
Greene, who were in Chicago with Mr..
CoWen. are still In the West AS soon as
the reorganization of the Baltimore and
Ohio Is completed, the work of reorgan-.
izng the Baltimore and Ohio Southwest
eTn VIII be undertaken. This road is an
important factor in the Baltimore and
Ohio system. and IL is understood that its
president, Mr. E. r. Bacon, was an ac-
tive figure in the negotiations which
brought into the Baltimore and Ohio the
influential Western interests.
Ii is also understood that the purchase
OF stock in the Baltimore and Ohio made
10y the Northwestern capitalists, who
have been named, and others OF equal
Importance, whose names have not been
mentioned, was largely from the reor
ganization managers, and Of itself does
not represent the actual control of the
property. The reorganization managers
including such big banking concerns as
Speyer & Co. and Kuhn, Loeb & ca, of
New York, and Speyer Bros. Co, of
London, with the strong financial inter-
ests they represent. will. il is learned,
continue as important factors in the COM
pany, and the practical effect of the deal
brings into cooperation with them the
additional important influences in the IL
nancial and business world represented
by the Chicago and Northwestern capi-
ralists.
Whatever may be the outcome as re-
CARDS the relations of the railways CON
stituting the mutually OF interests, said
Major j. @. Pangborn, former assistant
general passenger agent of the b. & o.,
last evening. during a discussion upon the
feature of the latest Baltimore and Ohio
deal, certain il is that there now comes
into the company a type Of men wholly
different from any known in its history,
extending back as ii does for three-fourths
of a century and marked by many event
ful epochs.
With all due respect TO the family pre-
ponderance so long characterizing the con-
troll, there was ever an absence of men Of
affairs in the actual direction and GER
tain provinciality in the conduct of the
system, financial as well as executive.
scarcely in thorough keeping with the
progress Of the times What was termed
conservatism was in reality a lack of COM
prehension, and system extending from
the Great Lakes and rivers of the West,
traVersing a dozen States and immedi-
ately tributary to as many more on its
way to the sea, was inspired in its man.
agement far more by the merely local than
the broadly cosmopolitan conception OF
the possibilities. As a result the physical
condition OF the lines as a whole was year
after year permitted to remain greatly in
ferior TO that of competitors, neither
track, motive power or rolling stock ade-
quate, and this inability 10 meet the COM
mon demands Of business, coupled with
tion OF situation, could not have eventu-
ated contrary than il did.
Progress Under the Receivers.
Not until the company passed into the
hands Of receivers did the system really
begin TO demonstrate its actual value,
and only then after being modernized-
that is to say, put in condition and sup
Piled with the requisites to secure busi-
ness, and handle IL after securing il.
The inside features of the contest for
the possession of the property will i'm
time be disclosed, and the realization OF
how nearly the system came 10 becoming
a part and parcel Of the Southern. and
thus personal as well as other ambition
gratified. will prove an interesting con-
temptation.
THE present president of the Southern
has never forgotten the incidents char
acterizng the single year he filled the
presidency OF the Baltimore and Ohio
and there has since probably been nc