The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-07
THE PEOPLE OWN THEM.
The Millions who Are Directly In
terested in American Railways.

The Millions Who Are Directly In.
terested in American Railways.
Railway World.
I'm one way or another the people of the
United States own the railways of the
United States, and something like 1000, 900
persons. through wages. interest and divi-
dends, divide two-thirds of their gross earn
ings of 81, 726. $50, 267 Q9O1-02) among them,
and sthe other third goes for fuel, taxes,
supplies and equipment" This statement
Slason Thompson, head of one of the bu-
reaus of the General Managers Associa-
ton, with headquarters in Chicago, was led
to make as a result of replies to the ques-
ton, Are there a million owners of railway
securities in the United States?" received
from thirty-nine of the leading railway
companies of the country. These roads
represent 107, $40 miles out Of the 2O2, All of
single track mileage in the United States.
They gave the total number of stockholders
on their books as 191, 3SI.
This is pretty nearly equal to two stock
holders of every mile of railway says Mr..
Thompson. The ratio on the Illinois Gen.
trail, as given by Stuyvesant Fish, is a little
over two to one. On some of the railroads
the ratio rises to three to one, and in two
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 to one as the
ratio, Appropriated in the total, would give
10000 stockholders in round numbers for
the 10000 miles OF railway in the United
States as owning 5000. 20l, 295 of capital
stock, as reported Jun 30. 1902. Assuming
that the Sc, 109, 9S1 500 funded debt is as wide
ly distributed among bondholders, the rail-
way ownership would appear to be held in
something like 100000 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 represented in railway ownership.
The figures given are for registered stock.
and. as the controller of one of the largest
systems wrote. 1T is very probable that the
number of actual stockholders is twice as
great as the number of registered stock
holders Then there is the holding of rail-
way 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 Illinois
Central Railroad, at the recent annual
meeting of that company. presented statis-
tics showing that one year ago the COM
pany had a total of 7.12S stockholders. and
among them were $3.50 persons who owned
less than 100 shares each, and who. COM
bined, owned SIS, 152,0O of a total capital
stock issue amounting to 1885, 400. During
the year the total number of stockholders
increased to S.647. out of whom 6.72S owned
collectively SIS, 9+7, COO. This shows that the
increase of 1,5l9 in the total number of
stockholders came mainly from the small
investor.
! 1t is a matter of considerable Importance
that the people residing along the lines of
large railway systems are becoming more
and more financially interested in these
companies. as evidenced by the fact that
2.21S of the Illinois Central stockholders re-
side i'm the twelve States in which the COM
pany has lines and 1,S2i are residents of the
State OF Illinois, the home of the company.