The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1907-01-12
THE TRAIL.

/ he Interstate commerce commits
sion has already struck one of the
trails leading from life insurance cor
ruption to railroad corruption.
The testimony taken before the
commission Friday further explains
E. H. Harriman's attempt to gain
possession of the Equitable Life In
! surance company. Since July two
of the Hartman roads, the Union
Pacific and the Oregon Short Line,
have bought $Io3 100000 of the stock
! of other railroads. These purchases
were made out of earnings, alleged
surplus and loans. The transactions
| through a bylaw which gave Harri-
man unlimited power to borrow
money and pledge all the assets as
security
Had Hartman overthrown Ryan in
the fight for the Equitable it would
have been the policyholders' money
instead of the stockholders money
that was used in these schemes OF
exploitation. In controlling the
Equitable he would have controlled
the subsidiary banks and trust COM
panies. Controlling these, he could
have negotiated his purchases to suit
himself and kept the stockholders
money for the benevolent business of
rigging the market
The commission has only begun its
I
investigation 1t will unquestionably
discover the same endless chain OF
high finance which the Armstrong
committee discovered, and that this
chain IS operated operated for the
benefit of the same Wall street eli
ques. The same men and interests
are involved, and nobody is glileless
enough to believe that the Hartman
methods have differed in principle
from those of the other groups"
In disclosing this system OF manip-
ulation, the commission will also lay
bare the zeal reason for the inability
of the railroads to meet their traffic
demands and to protect the lives OF
their patrons. While the demands OF
1906 were heavier than ever before
there had been rapid increase in
business for ten years previous. The
1906 traffic did not come as a sur
prise.
The statistics compiled by Poor
Manual show that while the mileage
increased only IS per cent. between
1896 and 1905, the stock increased 20
per cent, and the bonds 81 per cent.
This is apart from all leases. The
interest paid on bonds increased only
fII per cent, but the gross earnings
increased 50 per cent, the net earn
ings 100 per cent. and the dividends
$50 per cent. Even at that the divi
dends actually paid accounted for less
than a third Of the net earnings
Money that should have been used
in developing the physical properties
has been spent in purchasing stocks
in other lines, while SURPRISES have
been allowed to accumulate by hook
and crook TO use for the same pur-
pose or for juggling the market
In ten years OF unprecedented rail
road prosperity the control of three
quarters of the mileage has passed
into the hands of six or eight groups.
The lines themselves have been mere
ly chips in a Wall street poker game.
The functions of the common carrier
have been subordinated to the bust
ness of Wall street eploitation. The
operation of the roads has been an
incident and not the main business Of
the men in control.
The interstate commerce commits
sion should not stop with the Harri
man railroads. It should go on to
the Morgan group, the Hill group,
the Vanderbilt group, the Could
Rockefeller group, the Pennsylvania
group and all the rest. 1t IS III a po-
sition TO do for the legitimate rail-
road interests of the United States
what the Armstrong committee did
for the insurance interests. Mr.. Kel-
logg, the counsel for the commission,
can perform a service as useful as
that rendered by Mr.. Hughes.-New
York World