The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-13
SEABOARD
 AND FRISCO Two Roads Re h Under
 staneE g. NEWS NOT 9 UNEXPECTED
 T- Actual Pu slase and Sale Not itemplated. An Amalgamation of Business In- terests Requiring No Issue of Bonds or the Expenoi-
 ture of Money.

 Line had passed, at least practically, into new hands. was made today by Laden berg, Thalman & Company, who issued statement showing that interests rep resenting the Rock Island and St. Louis and San Francisco had secured repre- sentation in the Seaboard directorate, and board of voting trustees. The official statement was as follows:
 'Ladenberg, Thalman & Company an- nounce tht they have completed negotia- tions whereby new and important inter- ests have become identified with the Sea- board Air Line Railroad Company. B. F. Yoakum and H. Clay Pierce and B. F. Guiness, of Ladenberg, Thalman & Com pany. and Okleigh Thorne. President of the North American Trust Company. have been elected voting trustees of the Sea- board.
 President John skelton Williams also announces that B. F. Yoakum, H. Clay Pierce, Okleigh Thorne and s. B. Van Worst have been elected directors of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.
 Is Not Purchase.
 ''The change of personnel of voting trustees of the stock of the seaboard Air Line Company does not mean the pur- chase of the company by Rock Island or Frisco interests, although the Frisco lines extend into Birmingham and are . part of their Southern system. It does, how ever, emphasize the fact that all the great railway systems are carrying out the policy of more closely cementing their railway transportation interests of the country, which will greatly retard, and 1t Is hoped, entirely prevent demoralixa- ton of the whole situation or the unnec- essary construction and duplication of property.
 Attention is called to the fact that with the discontinuance of any further construction by the Seaboard Air Line the value of the properties are greatly enhanced. And another gratifying fact at this time, and which Is further evi- dence of the future disposition of the railways of the United States is that this deal does not call for any financing or any supplying of new money"
 One of the voting trustees. when asked to state the real significance of the deal, said that 1t meant better understand ing among interests that have at various times conf1icted."
 Policy of seaboard.
 The policy of the Seaboard Air Line for a long time was one of absolute inde- pendence, so much so as to make 1t at times inimical to the interests of oppos- ing roads traversing adjacent territory. Today's developments, it is thought, will do away with such trouble in the future.
 The new directors take the places of F. R. Pemberton of this city, R. c. Da- vidson, Baltimore; E. B. Addison, Rich mond, and W. W. Mackall. Savannah.
 B. F. Yoakum. one of the new direc- tors, is President of the St. Louis and San Francisco Road. for which Morgan & Company are fiscal agents.
 The difference between the so-called Morgan interests represented by the Southern Railroad and the Seaboard Air Line people during the last few years has been a sharp one. The effort of Thomas F. Ryan and his associates, to get a foothold in the Seaboard, or as some sug- gested, control of that company, was ac- companied by rumors at the time that he was acting in the interest of the South ern, but this was denied. The laws of some Southern States expressly preclude one company from controlling compet- ing road. This rendered 1t impossible for MT. Morgan to turn the Louisville and Nashville Road over to the Southern. In- stead of that it went to the Atlantic Coast Line.
 Has Maintained Rates.
 The Seaboard made a strong bid for the Louisville road and when 1t was refused even a part ownership in it, 1t was inti- mated that other alliances would be made perhaps with the Gould people. In con- trast with the old-time rate cutting which the Seaboard indulged in, 1t has been significant that in recent years 1t had a sort of silent understanding to maintain rates. so that all of the rail- roads in Southern territory would be able to get as much profit out of their traffic as possible.
 The Seaboard Air Line Railway Com pany. operating 2,611 miles of road, was formed under the laws of Virginia in 1900 to succeed the old Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad. The system now extends from Richmond. Va. to Tampa, Fla. with connections extending west to Montgomery and to Birmingham. by way of Atlanta, and east to Charleston, Wil- mington and Norfolk. Under a trafIfc agreement with the Pennsylvania Rail- road, through passenger and freight service is maintained between Washing ton and New York.
 The Seaboard Air Line also owns the Bay Line Steamship Company, operating from Baltimore to Norfolk.