Arizona republican., 1905-03-27
Confused Ideas Concerning
 Ownership
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
Have Direct Stock Investments or Personal Interest in Railroad Se- Distinction Between Con- trOI and Ownership.

Washington. D. C.. March 25-- CSpeciaD concentration of rail- road control under closely allied inan- cial interests has become confused with the concentration of actual own ership in the popular mind said H. T. NewcOmb. one of the leading mem bers of the bar of District of Columbia. "Multitudes of otherwise weIl-infOrm- ed people confuse corporations. as en- titles, with the millions of natural per sons who are the real owners Of these corporate properties.
 "I have been making a haSty and therefore rather incomplete inVestiga- tion as to the actual ownership of rail was securities. The result so far as I have carried it, has been intensely in teresting as showing the extent tS which the business life of the nation is based upon railroad values and the wide diffusion of railroad ownership. Insurance companies. so far as I have been able to secure statistics have $S45, S99,O ,O3S in railroad securities for the benefit of their policy holders savings banks in six states. New York. New Jersey, Connecticut. Massachus- etts. Maine and New Hampshire, own SAP, ,354,0S in railroad securities rep resenting part of the savings of 5,14f.- | 71S depositors, and the 14 educational ! institutions whose investments l have | been able to ascertain, own S47. .46S. .32E in railway bonds and shares. COmplete statistics would show that these three clesses of institutions alone own. at least, a billion and half of railroad
 property, as the amouts cited reach an aggregate of S1.335. .711.451
 l rraI- are discloses the beneficial ownership of about one-sixth of the entire rail road property of the country. This
 ownership is not concentrated in the hands of the wealthy. but represents the savings of farmers, artisans. mer-
 chants and the thrifty masses of our people whose incomes are moderate
 and whose savings are small As Q
 trite example the case of six com
 panies who write "industrial7 insur- ance may be taken, these at the last reports available had 1S.7S9.1S6 policy
 holders carrying insurance aggregat-
 ing $1.S94,SI1.2S7. These companies : hold among their securities to protect
 these nearly fourteen millions Of pol icy holders s5O.236,742 in steam rail road bonds, and s2.O11.295 in shares of
 railway companies besides holding
 $1,730,245 in railway stocks and bonds as collaterals for loans. That shows how closely to the people themselves is the much talked of concentration Of ownership.
 How widely scattered too is 1ndi- vidual ownership is shown in the case of the IlIinos Central railroad. which has a total of SIPS stockholders Of this number 7,174 individuals hold less
 than 100 shares each and S,SS4 indi- vidual holders of 500 shares or less
 actually own 5194 per cent of the stock, or more than a majority. The
 incomes from these small holders
 ranges from $6 to no more than $3,00O
 a year. the average income from these
 holdings being but SSS3.41.
 'The widespread interest taken in
 the question of railroad rate legislation ., under the circumstances is. therefore perfectly natural
 . CHARLES C. RANDOLPH.