Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-15
ROCK ISLAND And
HARTMAN BREAK
GIVE UP THEIR CONTROL OF
ALTON
Agreement Entered Into In 1904 Abro-
gated and Stockholders Can
Manage Their Own
Property
Bx Associated Press.

BY Associated PreSs.
NEW YORK, June 14.-The agree
rnent between the Hartman interests
and the Rock Island company, entered
i,to in 1904 for the control of the Chi
caro <. Alton railroad, has been aoro-
gated by mutual consent, according 70
an authoritative announcement mace
In future. it was stated, the Chicago
& Alton stockholders will manage the
property. Under the agreement wh1ch
has lust been abrogated the ROCK
island company and the Hartman IN m
terests alternately controlled the chi
cago e Alton. the Rock Island com
nany being in control one year ana the
Hartman interests the next. the plan
would have expired in 1914.
The Termination of this plan is SAID
20 ha without prejudice to either party,
the Chicago & Alton officials explained
that 1t was simply an instance OF let-
ting stockholders manage tnelr own own
affairs. 1t was felt tnat inns petlSs ~ y
would hest subserve the interests OF the
stockholders. There is to be no change
according to the Chicago & Alton OF
ficiaIs. in the policy Of the road, whicn
has been managed by the ROCK lslanu
under the ioint control agreement since
last September.
r. r. Yoakum of the Rock Island ana
San Francisco roads is the present
chairman of the Chicago & Alton exec
tive cormittee. At the present the
RocL Island has six representatives IN
+he hoard of ministers against hve SO
called Hartman directors. The recent
resignation of j. B. Forgan from the
Chicago & Alton board reduced the
hartman representation to four. IL Is
understood that a meeting OF the STOCK.
holders will be held to elect poard Oh
directors under the new plan, put no
authoritative statement was made on
that point.
Was Adversely Criticised
In financial circles it is generally un-
derstood that the Rock Island interests
held over so per cent of the Chicago 81
Alton stock and that e. II. Hartman
and his friends hold 20 per cent.
The financial management or the Chi
caro g. Alton road by the Hartman in
terests, as told by e. H. Hartman in
his testimony before the interstate
commerce commission some months
aao. aroused much adverse criticism
and discussion as to whether or not
action should be taken to restrain MIR.
Hartman in the management and pro-
tect the interests of the smaller stock
holders.
The Interstate commerce commission
has as vet made no report on this mat
ter, but severe criticism of the Har-
rirnan management has been made by
the commissions counsel and by At
torney General Stead Of Illinois in a
report to the governor of that state.
In his report Mr.. Stead said that the
indebtedness of the Alton system has
been increased to a total of SSO.646, ,21s
since 1t came into Mr.. Harriman's
hands. OF this amount only $22,500,0 900,
according to Mr.. Harriman's own testi-
rnony, said the attorney general, was
incurred for improvements, betterments
or extension of the road.
"Over $57. 100000 of this Indebtedness, I"
said the attorney general, ''or more
than 70 per cent of the entire indebted
ness created by this syndicate upon the
properties of these several companies
was not created in furtherance of any
legitimate purpose for which railroad
company is or can be organized under
the statutes of the state of Illinois"