Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-03-19
THE B. I 0. SITUATION.
IcoNTINUED FROM FIRST Pace

IS subsidiary or holding company OF
the railway corporation. In ether
words there are circumstances in this
case which would at least suggest the
possibility OF some millions Of dollars
worth OF property purchases having
been made with the natural. to-suppose
customary commissions by tho real
estate firms already referred TO. which
seems 10 be controlled or affiliated
with the Union Crust and Storage
Company which in turn may Ice IN
some remote way associated with the
Interests which own the Baltimore &
Chic railroad and majority of the
stock in the Washington Branch
There may turn ont 10 be nothing in
this at all, but 10 Judge by some of
the transactions which have heen ac-
cantuated bv this investigation, tins
. lead which can certainly result
ia no harm. il followed up. The right
hand OF the b x O has not been paw
ing Washington Branch money IN
commissions over "a its left, but it can
do no harm to make that point Ger
tain. The Is. & o dCesn't own any
coal lands in West Virginia either-it
only owns control of mpany which
does own such property.
There is another sIeculiar situation
around Florida avenue. The Wash.
inRtOn Branch owns "A coal yard south
Of Florida avenue Its tracks really
run right by that yard Apparently
as planned, its tracks. when the termi
nal is entirely completed, will end
Snort off on the north side of Florida
avenue, from which p1in' - IFS own
coal yard it Will be compelled 60 pay
the Washington Terminal Company
leut for the Washington Terminal S
tracks, which the Washington Terminal
Company kindly purchased or succeed.
Ell IN having given Ito it, from or by
the Washington Branch. This is how
the matter looks from Annapolis, al
though upon investigation it may de-
velop nothing. This may Eall be per
fectiy legitimate n the great game of
high finance, in which the State of
Mary land is yet stupidity dense, ana
its Washington Eranch no less. On
the other hand il may te the dead
fingers on the hand of what may turn
out to be, after little digging. the
whole murdered thing, too hastily
buried in an all too shallow grave.
There are several other indications,
scattered here and there, such as the
method in which the Pennsylvania
railroad succeeded in making the Bal.
timore q Ohio railroad and the Wash.
ington Branch perfectly willing, so
much so in fact that both lent assist
ance in sho tening the Pennsylvania
entrance into Washington. so as to
save twelve minutes on the Baltimore
Washington run, and so placing the
Pennsylvania on a time.footiDg with
the Baltimore e. Ohio Such as the
peculiar arrangement which the Wash
inRton Terminal Company apparently
will have with the Baltimore q Ohio
whereby it will charge ON the Wash.
ington Brauch's thirty miles of earn
ing capacity rental equivalent to
fifty miles for granting use of termi.
nal. the same holding good in Balti.
mora, but these things seem enough
to warrant the drawing of a conclu-
sion.
Apparently the Pennsylvania rail
road owners of the Baltimore e Ohio
realized that a serious obstacle ia the
way of going in for the kind of ter
minal they planned was the peculiar
situation of the Washington Branch.
1t must have looked to them as if the
Washington Branch could not pay its
proportion of the expense to come; it
must have been equally evident that
until the States interest was bought
it they could not bond this portion Of
the road. 1t is beginning to be Tea-
Sonably clear that it never entered the
gentlemen's heads TO go cut into the
open and make an effort to purchase
at fair price this property which is
so immensely valuable 70 them. IL is
the business of the committee to find
out if they haven't literally taken
hn GlyoV a
OF the neck and thrown it out of
Washington. 1t is the committee's
business to discover il this was not
done for the purpose OF depreciating
the stock as far as such a course was
possible. 1t is the committees bust
ness to make certain if this was not
for the parpose of buying it in. as
they have bought in small blocks at an
absurdedly inadequate price, and
lastly before there is any talk of sell.
ing, and after all possible crooked
sights have been brought to light.
there should be a shrewd estimate of
what this stock is worth to the b. &
o. or to its masters; what would be
fair compensation to the State for all
that has been withheld from it. The
corporations in question have not
dealt in any such generous manner
with the State, the representatives
OF the State have not the right to be
philantrophioal with the corporations.
Since the inquiry began Mr.. Hugh
Bond has been in constant attendance,
aud a ramon has gotten into circula.
tion of his willingness to testify, but
he has not teen called. Many people
who have seen the vice. president of
the b. & o, and the man who knows
more Of this corporations true in
wRrdness than all other officials com
bined, always evening after evening
there. have wondered why he is.
evening after evening, permitted TO
return TO Baltimore without having
been given an opportunity to testify
1t Is suggested that the reason for
this may be that armed to the very
finger tiDs with every detail of the
roads affairs, knowing its full policy
and all that the road wants to conceal,
and endowed with a shIewdness, a
mind, the equal if not the better of
any on the committee or among the
consulting counsel. Mr. Hugh Bond
may be too skillful and too clever for
his questioners Perhaps his Ques-
tioners have some such idea in mind.
Perhaps they intend consulting togeth-
er aud going over together all tint
they have learned and all that has
been brought ont. either BY accident
or by plan, to arm themselves with
meas ure of facts and surmises, formid-
able enough. not working under the