The times., 1899-05-28
THE sYNDICATE's PLAN.
Proposed Consolidation of The Sew
eral Street Railroads.

eral Street Railroads.
The holding company" which will own
the securities OF the various railroads and
other companies of the Crosby
Iieb syndicate and manage their affairs,
will be incorporated this week probably on
Tuesday or Wednesday, in the State OF
West Virginia. The general plan for the
holding company has been formed, but it is
not yet decided how large its bond issue
and capital stock will be. MIR. Stevens and
his syndicate partners are now considering
this question.
The scheme of the holding company to
take charge OF the affairs of number OF
corporations that are brought under one
ownership has been tried in various in
stances in the past few years with success
1t serves all the purposes of consolida-
tion in fact without technically reorganiz-
ing the old companies into one. In the iu-
ture an actual consolidation of the roads
will take place. The Great Falls Electric
Railroad has the provision in its charter
that it may purchase any other street rail-
road in the District. This road was pur-
chased by the syndicate partially because
of this provision of the charter, which il
intended to utilize in combining all its
other roads into one system. 1t is known
that a prominent railroad attorney exam
ined into this clause of the Great Falls
charter and pronounced il solid and suf-
ficient for the purposes OF consolidation
Business men are interested in the forth
coming securities of the holding COM
pany'' as an investment possibility. There
| has been much careful estimating on the
probable earnings of the various companies
under the new conditions, and the an
st ha mt n shnn1 Ind
stock issues is awaited with interest.
The recent purchase by the syndicate OF
the controlling interest of the City and
Suburban road has attracted much atten-
tion. The control of this road, as is known
was owned by interests identified with the
syndicate, but not OF it. Mr.. Crosby was
president of the road as a salaried officer
simply, and not as an employe OF the syn
dicate Within a few days the syndicate
purchased this controlling interest. Many
| surmises are made as TO the significance
| of this deal, but nothing is positively
| known.
prominent business man said yesterday
| in commenting ON it: Il understand that
| the people who purchased the City and
| Suburban believed at first that they were
| TO be in the syndicate. II developed later
| however that the syndicate capitalists con-
/ tinued to buy other roads, but dld MOI
| take the City and Suburban people in
These capitalists were therefore left witt
a railroad on their hands, and without {
power station or any direct financial con
nection with the other part OF the system
They became dissatisfied and intimate'
they had not been treated fairly, and th'
syndicate then bought them out absolutely
paying them par for their holdings. Mr.
Crosby will continue TO he the Presiden
of the City and Suburban Road
This explanation of the purchase i'm
plies that the syndicate paid cash for tn
control of the road. There has been som
discussion as TO this question, and it ha
been believed by some that the holders O
stock were TO be paid in securities of tn
holding company, and not in cash. Ii wll
be seen that If the facts were known a
to this 1t might have some influence o
the market value of the minority stock c
the road, which is largely held in thi
city The officers of the syndicate deciin
TO state what the terms of the contraC
WERE simply affirming that they were en-
tirely satisfactory to both parties con
cerned. which of course. does not in ~
least indicate if they would be satisfactoF
also TO the minority stockholders. II
not understood, however. that the synd
cate will make any offer to the minorii
stockholders for their stock at present.