The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-11-04
BRUSHED
WITH VANDERBILT
Remarkable Scene at Annual
Meeting Of Illinois Central
Stockholders.
FISH GAVE Them LUNCH
Distinguished President of tho Railroad
Invited Them to Be His Guests
and They Accepted at His
Expense.

Chicago Tribune: Had you been on
the top floor of the Illinois Central sta
ton at Twelfth street last week
you might have thought you were wit
Messing Il conference between the lord
high peace commissioners of Great
Britain and the Boer farmers of the
Transvaal, instead OF the annual stock
holders meeting Of the railroad conn-
pany.
For more than one-half Of the Ini-
nois Central stock is held by farmers
and small corporations of the state
through which Its lines run, and this
element always makes it a point to
street fellers" are doing with their
property. This year they approved
the lease Of MINOR roads made recent
~ by the directors, n reelected 10
me board Charles A. Peabody. Joh c.
yelling and William Morton GrinnelI
Vanderbilt With the Farmers.
To the right of President %stuyvesant
Fish. who occupied the chair. sat the
little knot of trim, we'll dressed New
4orkers who represented the British"
part of the gathering. The most not
able f1gure was young Cornelius VAN
derbilt, with a closely clipped Vandyke
beard and a sunburned face. other
eastern directors present were Charles
M. Beach Of Hartford, Conn, John
w. Auchincloss, Major w. Morton
Grinnell, Walter Luttgen and C. A.
Peabody.
Around the nillionaires sat ranks Of
s%unbrowned farmers from Illinois and
Iowa, with an occasional wife, daugh-
ter or sweetheart. Seven-year-old
Gladys Lane OF Mounds, Ill, munched
sugared popcorn and wiped her sticky
fingers on the back of Mr.. Vanderbilt's
chair. The girl, who expects to acquire
three new shares of stock" this year,
opened the meeting by exclaiming when
two whtte-haired sisters from Watseka
entered:
20. mamma. they've canned without a
chaperon!"
The small -shareowners betrayed only
mild curiosity regarding their wealth.
Ter partners. The road sends each Of
them a pass to the annual meeting and
they lok upon the whole procedure with
the blase but earnest air of men of af-
fairs going through a familiar business
operation. A Clinton stockholder told
Mr.. Vanderbilt that he looked as fresh
as a 2-year-old," and a Grundy county
banker congratulated President Fish on
the way Charley Deneen's tour
through the state was handled.
Although the down staters'' present
represented only 1915 shares of stock.
while President Fish, Director Beach
and j. g. Harahan held proxies for the
other 659. ITS shares. every member Of
the minority put his hand to his ear md
made as CONSCIENTIOUS efforts to hear
the documents droned forth by Score
tary Hackstaff as II the fate of the
entire corporation depended upon his
vote.
Small Stockholders Are Many.
This meeting is by no means a SEN
timental affair" commented Director
Grinnel, although it has it's value
from that standpoint. 1t is held as
required by law. The Illinois Central
has q larger percentage of small stock
owners than any other American rail-
road, 4 they have as good a right to
have a share in its control as any big
holder"
President Fish issued a statement
showing that for the first time in ten
years a decrease had to be recorded in
the number Of shares held in the Unit
ed States. This amounts to 3,119
shares. leaving in this country 77.6 per
cent. of the e56.400 shares. A majority
of the entire capital-498, 961 shares
is owned by persons. firms and corpo-
rations each holding less thar 500
shares. Eighteen per cent. of the stock
is held In lots OF less than a hundred
shares, by 1906 different persons.
Al the close of the meeting. at which
only routine business was done, Mr..
Fish invited the stockholders to lunch
share owners came after making eau
uous inquiries as to who would paw
for It," Mr.. Vanderbilt n the other
directors left later for ST. Louis. 10
visit the exposition. They then will
make the annual trip Of inspection over
the road, ending at New Orleans.