The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-02-09
euotiations Said to be Pending
Whereby }. P. Morgan VIII
Gain Control Of Extensive
system.
,1e HOLDING COMPANY
<inIoch Exchange Of st. Louis Is
Not Figured In the Deal But
Almost All Others
Are.

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 9-Purchase of
the independent telephone companies
III Kansas City, Omaha. Lincoln, Neb.,
Topeka, Kan, Joplin, st. Joseph, Car
image and Webb City, Mo-, and other
cities from Rochester to Denver by
d. P. Morgan & Co. was said yester-
day by St Louis telephone men to be
|imm.nent II purchasing agreements
lon some of the plants and negotia- L
|tions on others are carried out they
will be taken over by big holding
company which the Morgan interests
are to organize for their Independent
Telephone companies. This holding
company will be part OF the COM
munity of interests which, through
the American Telegraph and Tele-
phone Company, controls the Bell
Telephone companies and the weetern
Union Telegraph companies.
The Kinloch Telephone company Of
ST. Louis. the most important inde-
nendent plant in the country, is not
concerned in the negotiations. Ofh-
GERS of the Kinloch company yesterday
said they were not negotiating with
Morgan and the men on the other slde
said the same thing.
The two companies concerned In the
Il negotiations in which St. Louisans
"a are most largely interested are tue
Kansas City Home Telephone Com
pany and the Detroit Home Telephone
company st. LouisanssoWn s. major
ity Of the stock Of the Detroit coni-
uany and large part of the Kansas
/ City company's shares 1t was stated
by man in the Kansas City company
that it had signed an agreement TO
sell, conditional on valuation for the
future earning capacity being added
to the market valuation of the stock
The Morgan interests. it was said
are willing to buy control OF the In
dependent companies on basis o1
cash for shares or by exchanging FOL
shares in the new holding company
A st. Louis director in the Detroi'
company said it had not given any
~ option or signed any purchase agree
ment. but he said that the compan.
was ready to open negotiations fol
a union Of interests when other IN
dependents joined in. Important de
yelopments We're expected. he said
at the convention of the National In
dependent Telephone Association il
Chicago this week, but he would no
forecast for a reasonable certaint,
that the deal would go through.
What st. Louis brokers' are mos
interested in is the basis on whic
the stock OF the different companie
is to be taken in. report yestei
day emanating from one brokerag
house, that stock in the America
/ Telephone and Telegraph compan
was offered in exchange for kansa
City Home stock. was denied by al
other house interested in the merge
on the Morgan side. This latte
broker said:
Any price ret for Kansas City Hon
stock is purely problematical at thI
time. The extent of the allowanc
to be made the shareholders for futur
increase in earning capacity is bein
arbitratsd. On its capital stock
sS,0o0.000 it has been paying pt
cent In 1910 it earned in excess
u per cent and its earnings are est
mated at Is per cent 1t expende
$4,000 last year in Improvement
on which It will not get return unit
this year and future years and II
stockholders want this taken into Co
sideration in. the purchase.