The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-01
SOME DOMINANT MEN DOWN AND OUT Railroad and Industrial Stocks Seek Ownership STANDARD OIL SHAKEN Has Lost Control of Some of the Prin-
 oipaI Railroad Properties, Notably
 the St. PauI--Harriman Is Losing.
STANDARD OIL SHAKEN
BY w. G. NICHOLAS.

New York, November 30.-(Special.) J. Several railroads and a number of street car systems and .industrials are just at this moment out of the control of inter- ests which have long been regarded as dominant, if not in actual majority owner- ship. Gentlemen having the cash would be able at this writing to pick up a ma jority of the stock if so disposed without materially advancing it's price, Whether the old rulers will get back their proper ties or not Is an open question. Some of the very rich men identified with corpor- ation management have been cut to pieces, not 8 few seemingly beyond the power of rehabilitation.
 Among the corporations which are sup posed to have shifted control, or rather majority ownership in which is now afioat may be mentioned St Paul, Atchison, Erie, New York Central, Brooklyn Rapid Transit, Reading. and possibly Union Pa- cific. As to the status of the traction properties of the island of Manhattan and the Bronx, nobody appears to be able to speak with full knowledge of the facts. The only people who really know are the : inner members of the Thomas Fortune Ryan combination, and they are dumb as , oysters.
 The Standard oil element has been pretty well shaken out of New York Cen tral, Pennsylvania, Union Pacific, and St. Paul, especially St. Paul, over whose des- tinies they have for many years been overwhelmingly in the ascendant. They are supposed to be still in full control of Amalgamated Copper and to have taned very largely their interest in Smell ters. MT. Hartman and his associates have been obliged to heavily scale down their holdings In Union Pacific and allied corporations Their holdings are believed { to have found their way to considerable extent into the strong boxes of the J. P. Morgan party, which again includes John D. Rockefeller and his intimates. | Many well informed people really think that actual control of the Union Pacific system Is now lodged in the office of J. P. Morgan & Co. It is as certain as any thing can be in Wall street that MT. Har- riman and his personal following have lost enormously in the panic and preceding de- cline. They are still able to keep their heads up, however. but are talking small" as the saying Is. Among those who are signally silent are Kuhn-Loeb and their press agencies. This great house has been recognized for years as MT. Harriman's principal packer. It has not made peep since the tumult began. The Georgia Central, which had been gob- bled up by MT. Hartman and which was being carried on loan In the Trust Company of America has found its way back home, and Is once more securely in MT. Morgans inside pocket
 There is great deal of curiosity as to what becomes of Brooklyn Rapid Transit.
 For the moment 1t Is entirely out of the hands of the Anthony N. Brady party, and he may not again regain his control. It has been his market plaything for years-his particular cow to milk. His dairy office has been Flower x Go. One of the incidents of the week was the mer- ciIess calling of loans against Brady house, and In the shaking up big block of Brooklyn Rapid Transit Is said to have been transferred for account of a delin- quent client on a basis of 25. several points below the publicly exploited low figure on the stock exchange. The affair looked Ike q vicious attempt to cripple, but they came out of the ordeal between $4,0O0, 900 and 5000, 900 to the good, it is said.
 Another house of even larger calibre than the one referred to was also "gunned for" and Oliver Payne the multi-million- are Standard oil magnate, had to dig up between $15,000000 ana $30O0O, 900 to make good his account there and save the house from wreck.
 The Payne incident Is one of the open secrets of Wall street, and is mentioned as another instance of the unnecessary cruelty of banks and their lack of coli sideration. It is very certain that several of the largest banking institutions of New York have been behaving very badly dur ing the last fortnight, while being adver- tised as conspicuously helping to save the situation" These things will be re- membered later on and when the many victims of banking raids get on their feet again there will be no end of open talk of the reminiscent order.
 Speaking of Saving the situation there has been no little wonderment why MT. Carnegie has not figured in this great financial tragedy. A curious story IS afloat bearing on that very point. He was called upon immediately after his re- turn from Europe and asked to take part in tine situation saving programme. Everybody of large wealth was asked to take a hand and do what he could to help matters out. Very few who were able to do so refused.
 MT. Carnegie was one of these few, al- though notoriously strong in cash and fairly bursting with prosperity at every point. Mr Carnegie draws every month from J. P. Morgan x Go. S1 ,000, 900, that being his interest on $240, 000.000 in United States Steel corporation first mortgage bonds. a holding which has remained un- broken from the day he received them as the proceeds of his successful hold-up of the combination organized by Mir. Morgan as the price of his going into the | steel trust
 What reason or excuse MT. Carnegie l gave for not joining with the others in | giving assistance Is not known. He simply l didn't do anything and wouldn't. Mir Carnegie by the way keeps very small | bank balances in New York. and noth- ing unusual in Pittsburg. It Is a fact i not generally known that he Is the sole l proprietor of an unobtruslve trust com l pauy in Jersey City, where he does his current banking business and keeps his | deposits.
 | The institution is called the Home Trust | company. It is there that MT Carnegie keeps his cash. He is practically the | sole customer of the concern as he is 1 its owner. The Home has plenty of money l to loan always, but receives no deposits l Consequently MT. Carnegie Is always l safe so far as the matter of runs may l go. If he restraints himself from be- 1 coming panic stricken the Home will al | ways be safe place for his treasure. It l thus appears that the leading member of l American society, who enjoys pre-eminent- ! ly executive indorsement as an altogether | desirable citizen and a model of morality, | goodness, patriotism and high character, | left the country to take care of itself in | a crisis and coldly turned over It's fnan- | cial salvation to bunch of "criminaliy l rich," including John D. Rockefeller, l Thomas F. Ryan. J. Pierpont Morgan, F. l H. Hartman and others almost equally l desperate. It looks almost as though | "undesirables'' had a shade the best of | 1t in the shown down.