The Washington times., 1911-02-19
NEW YORK STOCKS WERE EASIER -
WITH MANIPULATION IN EVIDENCE
No Cause for Liquidation Although Important Questions SuonThe
Story Missouri Pas Alliance With Strong Fiscal Organizations
for the Benefit of the Properys Future.
BY JOHN GRANT DATER,
Special Financial unsey


I had become frightened over a shadow.
Much thinking over this phase of the
situation probably has robbed the indus
trial trust cases of their terror.
Whether the companies or the Govern
| ment wins" said one of the leading
bankers of the country during the week.
wall Street Is getting itself into a
condition of mind where 1t will probably
interpret the decisions favorably."
"A Contest for Control"
Into the dull monotony of Wall Street
affairs was injected some little variety
i'll the shape of "a contest for control -
between the Gould and the Kuhn. Loeb
d co. parties over the Missouri Pacific
system. Actually it was not a very
| heated contest, and persons deeply CON
| cerned in the PROPERTY express much
amusement over some of the widely ex-
aGSerated reports which have been cir
culated concerning the entire episode.
For instance, the control of the Mis-
Sourl racine system has not passed
from the hands that have held il so
lohE; hol Is such an outcome indicated
by the admission of four new directors
10 a 1ull board of thirteen and the
ifdhSlerenCe OF an executive officer who
has hld the position of president for
sixteen years. TO the office of chairman
Of the board of directors. which is moi
usually regarded as an inferior nosition
mat the movement on the pa rt of the
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Rockefeller Marty 10
secure proxies for the coming Missouri
racine election accelerated Mr.. GouId's
action and disclosed TO him the fact that
lie could no longer temporize with the
agreement entered into by him with
the new interests in the property many
inohths ago, Is unquestiOnably the case,
huf he
acquired sufficient holdings to insure
representation in the property was
well known and freely discussed at the
time the Farquhar- Pearson holdings
were taken over last July, and the fact
that Mr.. Gould was to resign as presi-
dent in favor of some very high-class
man who would take up his residence
In st. Louis and give this potentially
great property the care necessary for il
has also been known and freely dis
Cussed for weeks.
Missouri Pacihc's Future.
No one in any way familiar with the
Gould situation can doubt for an in
stant that the changes announced are
not only important. but highly favora BILE
for the Missouri Pacific road and its az
Inflated Western lines, the Denver and
Rio Grande and the Western Pacific.
Whether ii will have much influence on
me Eastern lines is question. The i'm
pending changes will give the Missouri
Pacific the two things Of which " has
long stood in great need: powerful in
ternatiunal banking affiliations and a
high-ClasS executive on the ground, who
can give his undivided attention to the
road which. of all important railroads
in the country, stands today in greatest
need Of unremitting attention and COM
piete rehabilitation.
The manner in which the Missouri
Pacific railroad lost its Old-time prestige
and the way in which the Gould party
lost powerful banking affiliations, which
it now appears to have regainCd, is a
long story. Brifly. the road should have
been reorganiZed with or without a re-
ownership after the panic Of 1885, when
the Union Pacific, Northern Pacific,
AtChisOn, Southern Pacific, and other
properties took their medicine and un-
derwent a cure. Missouri Pacific was
virtually bankrupt: from A One-time 10
per cent dividend payer its stock sold
down to $40 a share. Though the price
came back with the general recovery in
the market after 1895. the road never
got it's finances into such shape that il
could keep pace with its competitors,
while later on the costly new eonstruc-
tiOn of the Gould party East and West
made such heavy demands on capital
and credit as to render it Impossible to
put as much money into Missouri Pa
Cific as il required.
The banking affiliations were lost