The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-12-14
OWNED BY THE PEOPLE.
American Railways Divide Two
Thirds of Earnings with Peo-
pie Directly Interested.

In one way and another the people OF
the United States own the railways Of
the United States. and something like
1000 persons, through wages, interest
and dividends, divide two-thirds of their
gross earnings of 81, ,726, 1880. .267 (190l-O2)
among them, and the other third goes
for fuel. taxes. supplies and equipment"
THIS statement. says the Railway World,
Slason Thompson. head Of one Of the bu-
reaus Of the General Managers associa-
ton, with headquarters in Chicago. was
led to make as result Of replies to the
question: Are there 100000 owners
OF railway sscurities in the United
States?" received from 80 of the leading
railway companies of the country.
These roads represent 107. $40 miles out
Of the 202.47l of single-track mileage in
ghe United States. ThexA gave the total
number Of stockholders on their books
as 1878
This is pretty nearly equal TO two
stockholders Of every mile Of railway"
says Mr. Thompson. THE ratio on the
Illinois Central. as given by Stuyvesant
Fish, is a little over two to one On
some Of the railroads the ratio rises to
three 10 one. and in fwo cases as high as
eight TO one, while in one case the ratio
swung as far as one to six the other way.
Applying two 10 one as the ratio, approx
mated in the total would give 100000
stockholders ia round numbers for the
100000 miles Of railway in the United
States as owning $6.024.201 295 of cap
itaI stock. as reported June 30. 1902
Assuming that the s6.I09 .9S1 $50 funded
debt is as widely distributed among
bondholders. the railway ownership
would appear to be held in something
like 500 900 hands. But large as these
figures are, and approaching the total of
railway employees q .1S9.315). as they do.
they by no means represent the total of
those interested in railway ownership.
The figures given are for registered
stock. and. as TIE controller of one OF
the largest systems wrote: Tt is very
probable that the number of actual
stockholders is twice as great as the
number of registered stockholders
Then there is the holding Of railway
stock by insurance companies savings
banks and trust companies. extending
their ownership among thousands. And
what is true Of these institutions as to
stocks, is also true as to railway bonds
only more So"
President Stuyvesant Fish. Of the Illi-
nois Central railroad. at the recent an
nual meeting of that company. presented
showing that one year ago the |
company had a total of 7.l2S stockhold-
ers and among them were 1899 persons
who Cwned less than 100 shares each. |
and VINO. combined. owned 81. .152. 600 Of !
a Total capital stock issued amounting to /
S95,03S, 400. During the year the total
number of stockholders increased to |
S.647, out Of whom 6.72S owned collec- |
vely sl5.9i7eed This shows that the
ncrease Of 1879 in the total number Of
came mainly from the
small investor
II is matter of considerable fmpor- |
ance that the people residing along the
lines OF great railway systems are be-
'omsng more and more financially in
crested in these companies. as evil
fenced by the fact that 2.21s of the Ili-
nois Central stockholders reside in the
2 states in which the company has lines
and 1924 are residents of the state Of
Illinois. the home of the company.