The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-14
Talks. of Traction Com
 panies Decision.
COMPLETE VICTORY FOR CITY
Franchises Worth Many Millions
 Are Wiped Out.
Effect is seen in Drop of Prices OF the stock Exchange The Con- cerns own Intangible i.
 Properties only.

Chicago, March. 13.--Prices or the Chicago traction stocks suffered severe ly today on both the New York ana Chi- cago stock exchanges. In New xork the prices of Union Traction common stock broke almost in half, dropping from II 7-S to 75-S. The preferred stock, which closed last night at abs declined to 30. West Chicago showed decline of fifteen points, from q close of 65 last night and Norht Chicago was down a points.
 There were no sales of the stock or the Chicago City Railway Company ana the last quotation prior to the opening of the stock exchanges today was lsS 1-2. It changed owners today at ltv- On the exchange here the break In the prices of traction stocks was attriout- ed to the rush of small holders who desired to get rid of their stocks at almost any price.
 wrong interpretation placed on the first reports of the Supreme Court de- cision aroused much wrath among lo- cal brokers today. Several prominent brokerage houses were thrown com- pleteiy on the wrong tack by the first reports which declared that the decis- ion was in favor of the companies. The amount of money involved was not great, but from the flood of angry and perplexed messages which were rained on Chicago brokers today, 1t was evil dent that a great many people had been perplexed by the decision.
 It Is estimated by local financiers that the decision of the Supreme Court has wiped out franchises belonging to the Union Traction Company valued at anywhere from s60.000.00O to $ss.ee0s- 900.
 May0r Dunne Talks.
 Mayor Dunne. in discussing the de- cision of the Supreme Court, said to- day;
 "The decision is a complete victors for the city of Chicago. It means that there are no ninety-nineAyear rights ir the streets of the city; that the occu pancy of the streets on the north sid, of the city Is without any warrant whatever in law and that the right of tho companies on the south and west side to use the streets Is based upon ( provision Tn the ordinance which givet them rights to occupy for a period of twenty five years the streets they art now in and until their tangible prop erty Is purchased.
 The decision has placed the city it a position whore 1t can tender to the companies the value of their tangibls property under the terms of the ordi nance. The present companies have the right to be paid for their property and that is about all the right they do have
 
 it possible to bring about municipali. zation just as soon as the city can pro- vide the money for the purchase Of the lines."
 The mayor and his friends believe that the decision has greatly enhanced the chances of the proposition to issue script for s76.000.O00 to be used for the purchase of the lines. which is to be voted on at the election next month,
 The attorneys for the Chicago City Railway Company, which operates the lines in the south side of the city and the lawyers for the Union Traction Company, operating on the west side of the city. claim that under the pur- chase clause in the ordinances gov erning the franchise. which the su- preme court had held are alive until the property is purchased by the city, all of the tangible property of the companies must be bought in order to extinguish the life of the franchises.