The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-23
RAILROAD NEWS.
Official Dissolution of Nor thern
Securities Is Announced.
Capital Stock to Be Reduced
SO Per Cent.
RETURN THE SHARES.
Railroad Securities Go Back to
Private Owners.
Exchange of Directors Said to
RETURN THE SHARES.
Exchange of Directors Said to
Be Agreed Upon.

Following the announcement, as made
In Tuesdays State Journal that % per
cent. of the stock held by the Northern
Securities company is to be returned.
the following circular letter to North
ern Securities stockholders has been
given out:
The stock of the Northern Securi-
ties company was issued solely for the
Ehares of the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern and other properties
purchased by it. The comDany'S ac-
QUESTION of Northern Pacific and
Great Northern shares was made in the
full belief that such purchases were
in nowise obnoxious to any law of the
United States. an opinion which has
received the approval of four justices
OF the supreme court of the United
States, namely, Mr.. Chief Justice Fuller
and Associate Justices Edward White,
Rufus W. Peckham and Oliver Wendell
Holmes, in the suit brought by the
United States against the right of the
company to hold and vote shares. How
ever, the majority of the court, dis
regarding as irrelevant any beneficial
increase of commerce, was of the opin-
ion that as matter of law your COM
pany's holding stocks Of the two rail-
ways In itself constituted a restraint
of interstate commerce prohibited by
the so-called Sherman act of 1890. Ac-
cOrdtngly, the railway companies have
been forbidden to permit your company
to vote or to collect dividends on the
shares held by it.
Therefore your directors, at a meet
ing held this day have, under the adj
vice of counsel, decided that in order
to fully and promptly comply with the
decree in this suit it is necessary to
reduce the capital stock of the COM
pany and to distribute to it's share
holders the shares of stock of said
railway company now held by it.
ITO this end they have adopted reso-
lutions recommending to the stock
hOlders:
- 'First-That the capital stock of
this company be reduced from 1851. 600
shares, now outstanding, to 39,540, be-
ing a reduction of SO per cent.
'Second-That said SO per cent of
the present outstanding shares be call
ed in for surrender and cancellation.
" 'Third-That against each share of
the stock of this company SO to be
surrendered, there will be delivered
Railway company; $30.15 stock of the
Great Northern road, and proportion
ate amount thereof for each fraction
of a share Of stock
AS required by the laws of the state
of New Jersey, under which the com
pany was created. a speciaf meeting of
the shareholders has been called for
April q, 1904, at IL o'clock a. m. at the
office of the company in Hoboken. For
the purpose of this meeting the stock
transfer books will be closed April H.
THE assets of the company remaining
in its treasury after the foregoing dis
tribution is made will consist of stocks
and other property in no way involved
in the suit, producing an income con-
servatively valued at an amount in ex-
cess of SO, 954. 900, to which it is pro-
posed to reduce to stock Of the COM
pany."
The new plan was formally adopted at
a meeting of the directors, which began
in the morning and lasted until well
into the afternoon. There were present
Mr. Hill, 6. F. Baker, W. P. Clugh,
Edward H. Hartman, D. Willis James,
Daniel S. Lamont, John S. Kennedy,
George w. Perkins, N. Terhune and one
or more other directors
Throughout the dag when no North
ern Securities shares were booming on
the curb and its affiliated stocks and
the PacificS chiefly Union Pacific, were
advancing by leaps and bounds on the
stock exchange the air was full of ru-
mors some of them of an alarming
character Dealings in Union Pacific
common aggregated over forty per cent
OF the total outstanding issue. 1t was
declared that the Hill-MOrgan combine
had for some reason deemed it neces-
sary to buy heavily into this stock.
Inc belief in this rumor was height
ened by the fact that brokers who Of
ten represent Morgan in this exchange
were heavy buyers of Union Pacific all
the way up. Large amounts of South
ern Pacific shares also changed hands
ana sales of Great Northern preferred
xor the floating supply is very small.
amounting to 100000 shares. In the
bond division, Oregon Short Line, Tn
lon Pacific convertible tours and Bur-
lngton fours were in demand at sub
stantial advances.
After the close of the market a long
conference was held at the Office of ].
p Morgan. Those who attended in
Guided Mr.. Morgan, Mr.. Hartman, Mr..
Hill, Mr.. Lamont, Mr. Perkins, J. P.
Morgan, Jr., Francis Linde Stetson. of
counsel to ]. P. Morgan e Co, and ex-
Judge Bum of Minnesota, Mr.. HiIs
personal legal adviser.
Mr.. Loeb and his partners had no
comment TO make but Mr. Morgan
seemed pleased with the days events
At the banking house of Kuhne.
Loeb & Co. the chief financial back
ers of the Hartman system of rail
roads, no statement of any sort was
forthcoming. 4 report that the firm
had, as the Hartman representative s
received a substantial cash bonus for
agreeing to the distribution plan could
not be verified.
The street heard that the Hill Nor