Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-02


In making his financial arrangements. The
first man he called upon to discuss ways
and means was the same Mr.. Rockefeller
who had been earnestly antagonizing the
plan The Interview is thus described by q
gentleman whom Mr.. Rockefeller told of
the incident:
Mr. Mellen announced without prelimi-
naries that he wanted to borrow $l4.oo0ooo.
1 said all right, what do you want to give
for it? Mr. Mellen replied that he didn
want to give much. as the credit OF New
Haven was as solid as that OF the govern
ment Well said /, how much do you
want to give and how long do you want
the money for2 To this Mr.. Mellen said
he wanted the loan for six months and
would pay 31a per cent for the money. l
told him he could have 1t and the transac-
ton was closed without further discussion.
Supplementary to this condensed narra-
ton 1t may be said that the whole inter-
view lasted less than ten minutes, and that
by the expiration of that period Mr. Meiien
left the office with Mr.. Rockefeller cheek
for S14OOO,OoO. Mr.. Rockefeller was COM
plimented that Mr.. Mellen should have ask
ed him for the loan, and the latter old
good stroke of business In keeping the story
of the financial part of the deal strictly IN
the official family of his company. He coulo
have borrowed the money from any one OF
a dozen banking houses in Wall street pul
with rare tact and diplomacy ne elected "
go right to the man who had peen opposs-
ing his policy for the acquisition or ontario
and Western. The incident illustrated no.
only the value of an established credlt' put
also brings to light strik1ngly the ehors t.s
resources of an individual member oi ZIG
Standard Oil group.
There have been larger firm and corpora
ton checks given than that handed by MI.
Rockefeller to Mr.. Mellen. but there - no
authentic record of 4 pe.sonal check as nIsh
az s140oOOOO 1t Is believed that MI VIII
liam Rockefeller could command $loo, ooo'
600 In an hours time on his personal &C
count. So far as ppearances Went Una.
100000 check wa matter OF meres,
routine BY the way the New Haven ROAD
has appropriated $20,OO00 600 for improve
ments an amount believed to be sufhclent
to raise the service of the road to state
of highest efficiency.
To appreciate the extent of the uplift In
the general market during the last six or
seven years 1t must be remembered that
not only are prices 80 to IS per cent higher
than they were at the beginning of that
period, but also that there has been an
Increase of s2,5OO,OOO 600 in the total of
railroad bond and share capitalization. The
rise in prices is not only on the Ola, put
on the newly created capital. Take MIS-
L
tai of that corporation has been Increased
from $4,000. coo to slO0OO0,OO0 within the
last five years. When it was $50.0OO,OOO
the stock was under 80.
Now, with total of s100, 900 900 the quo
tation is around par and has been as high
as l12. At current prices an increase In
market value of 800 per cent is shown. In
this comparison no account is taken OF the
creation of a big increase in the bonded
debt of the Missouri Pacific system, prac-
tically every constituent and dependent line
In 1t having put out a mass OF new obn-
cations. There is nothing in the railroad
list which makes more remarkable show
ing than Missouri Pacific, and those who
wonder at the present lethargy of the
Gould securities may find in this an ex-
PLANTATION.
John w. Gates is said to be making de-
cided progress In his plans for unifica-
ton of important iron and steel interests.
He denies that he has any intention of
organizing a huge corporation in direct
rivalry of the steel trust, but the street
persists in believing that such is his in
tention. With the Republic Iron and Steel
as a nucleus 1t is lutte possible for Mr..
Gates and his associates to organize
merger which might be a vigorous compeu-
tor of United States Steel. In this con-
nection it is said with some show of au-
thority that negotiations are again active
ly under way for the merger of the south
ern iron, steel and coal properties some
what along the lines conceived by ]. II.
Hoadley six months ago and which were
abandoned on account of the opposition of
the Hanover Bank crowd. The revived
plans are said to be very much larger
and more comprehensive scale than origin
ally proposed.
The Russian government has turned down
Charles NJ. Schwab's ambitious proposition
to reconstruct the cars navy. Details are
lacking, but 1t Is said that the St. Peters
burg decision was due TO Mr.. Schwabs de-
termined stand in the matter of payments
If that Is the case the young iron master
is lucky. Nine out of ten contractors who
have anything to do with the Russian gov
eminent go broke unless they consent to
IuId of{io