The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-27

Directly and Indirectly 100000
Persons Divide the Profits Of
American Lines. 49, 7
+ w. .,;sa.. -aa..s,. ~.
Special to The Journal III ~

! Special to The Journal ft,t p
Chicago, Oct 27.-Holders of rail
| way securities in the United States
nearly equal the number of. employees.
| The people own the roads. :S'' "a = /.
This deduction WAS mad Yesterday 5t
by Slason Thompson from figures cox
question was suggested BY: the recent
statement of President Stuyvesant
Fish that the stock Of the Illinois
Central is held by SCAT stockholders,
of. whom an overwhelming + majority
own less than i 90 Shares apiece. $ d, y,
Thirty-nile Of the. principal rail-
way companies Of the country repre-
I.senting 1O7 $40. miles out, of the POP
AT Of single track mileage in the
United States: \ responded to-. Mr..
Thompson's letter of .inquiry.h These
gave the total nunlbers Of stockho lders
on their books ash1si;,3S7. This is
every mile Of railway y The ia ito on
the Illinois <Centralf as gwen by Mr.:
Fish is,a little more than 2ito- rs So"
J. Applying 2ft6 Is as feaisafi O. a pprox-
|simated.i in the t1tseFs Nh affg uFes Would
show 400, 900 stoekhhiders in round
numbers ls ~ for: thesao &anatsniaes Of railE
! way in the United State as sew11ing the
$6,o24 ,201,295 of capital y stock <re-
ported on june, IS 0 ), 1902s. Assuming
that the $6,1O9,9s1,6S9 funded debt is
as widely distributed among ,,bond-
holders,F:the railway: % ownership would
appear to be IN appEaiAs # SOC, 900
These figures, a approaching ael1i The to-
tai Of railway employees, ,1,189,3l5,~ do
not represent the total Of those Inter
ested in railway ownership. ! One off
cial wrote: 49, -. <; 49,. e. =.
These !. figures are for registered
|stock, but as many. of these are bank
iers and brokers, holding stock in. their
names for. clients, the ACTUAL number
of stockholders will be, ygreater.''''~ Z " :
The controller $of one ct the largest
TT IS. probable that TIE nu1imbeJE' OF Of
actual. stockholders is twice as. great
as the number of registered stockhold-
ers.' r: l. =
There also is the holding of rail
way stock by insurance companies,
savings banks and trust companies .ex-
tending their ownership. among thou
sands" declared Mr.. 2Th ompson. ':The
accounting official Of oneFroad stated
that 1886 per cent of it's shares were
so held. Little stock in NON dividend
paying roads is held by such institu-
lions, but more than 55 per cent of the
railway stock in the. United States Is
now dividend-paying. e.cf7:s. :. 81 -
There are numerous instances of
large ownership. in many roads in in
dividual hands and of. ownership in
several companies by the: same indi-
vidual," Mr.. Thorn pson:s continued.
THE number of these zisi.inconsidera-
BILE compared to the multitude wl1o
OWL 100 shares and ;less:in- one road.
It. practically follows the. same line
of distribution as the compensation
among railway employees. ''s-4..-. .::@,.a
In one way or another the people
Of the United States own the railways
of the United States, and something
like 100000 persons, thru wage, in
terest and dividends, divide two-thirds
Of their gross earnings Of $1,726,3SO,-
$267 (1901-1902) among them. The
other third goes for fuel, taxes, sup
plies and equipment.