Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-08
RAILWAY BUILDER
VERSUS F|NANC|ER
Giants of Industry viii Contend
Over Vast Empire in
the Southwest.
CONTROL OF FRISCO"
SOUGHT BY TWO MEN
B. F. Yoakum. Who Built Up Line
From Rusty Rails and Right of
Way and James Speyer.
BY HERBERT COREY.

NEW YORK. June 7-When the Fris-
20 system went to dusty smash the other
day the situation began to revolve about
Two men. One is Benjamin Franklin
foakum. the big Texan who built up the
Frisco from a pair of rusty rails and
right OF way through No Mans Land
ne other is James Speyer. one of the
great private bankers of the country
ioakum represents the stockholders and
Speyer the owners of bonds 1t follows
mat 'helr interests are directly opposed
oakum, said one of his heads of
department. is the Invest railroad man
that ever yanked bellcord. We don,
work for foakum. We work with him
Speyer. said a banker has pre-
served peculiarly Independent position
among New York financiers. French
bankers have reposed great confidence
in him. They feel that he is a conserva-
tive force in American finance, and that
he IS especially dependable in his opposi-
ton to those methods which Powered
in interlocking drectorates.'
Litigation, which may last for years.
seems assured over the appointment of
receivers And the interstate commerce
commission has been asked to take
down It's rope and hang some one. And
q patty VI ICuCu UdHhcIS TepOf leu
to be on its way here. The gentlemen
want to find out whether any one slip
ped them the wrong card. And various
ot anr commissions nn h Will confer and call
morality and ethics arising from the
Frisco failure. So that it might be we'll
to spare time enough now to look over
the two big men OF the situation.
Yoakum is one of the seml-Speculative,
always optimistic. chance-taking men
without whom not many railroads would
h,,t1
Speyer-always arrayed on the con-
structive side OF finances still of a
different school. He not only wants
fair return, but he looks to the absolute
security of his dollars.
Yoakum Road Builder.
Ten years ago Ben" Yoakum had
been barely heard of. It's true that he
was the president of the Frisco rail
road. a miserable. half-starved. skim
milk road that tottered out of ST. Louis
in the general direction of the south
west. No one in railroad circles con-
sidered the Frisco more than they
would consider a silk worm. But
Yoakum went to building up the road
and building men with it.
Yoakum knew by his first name
every man holding an official position
on the Frisco, said one who knew
him well. He knew by his last name
every employee of the road in those
days. He was on handshaking. baby
kissing, crop-talking terms with every
shipper along the right of way. Bust
ness came to the Frisco. 1t couldn't
help 1t. AS fast Ben Yoakum got
dollar that the Frisco could be Dor
rowed out of for awhile. he carted an
immi grant family down into his terri
tory. few years of that made his
annual statement look little less like
a plea In confession and avoidance"
He ran train sometimes, just to keep
his hand in. He camped with his con-
structfon gangs. and worked with his
engineers. ane hired teams of farmers.
When the Frisco got so it could walk
without holding on to the cradle he not
only knew every mile of it, but he had
established a bond of fellowship with
his men that perhaps has never been
paralleled in railroad circles. He was
one of them. He had no strikes. no
fusses. no rate wars. no trouble of any
sort. II anything happened that didn't
seem just right the other fellow, before
he began to feel aggrieved. talked it
over with Ben
son In the banking end of railroading
Dan G. Reid and the two Moores and
Leeds were tying scattered roads into
the Rock Island system.
wherever they went thew found
Yoakum ahead of Them, said one COM
mentator.
Went to School to Hill.
The Rock Island crowd secured con-
troi or their system by eliminating vot-
ing securities and putting out bonds
and non-voting securities in their place
BY this means they dominated a system
on which almost $3.50 900. 900 of stocks
and bonds had been issued. by con-
trolling single issue Of SIG. 900 900 in
stock. But as fast as they thrust them
selves into the southwest they found
Yoakum In the way. He kept them from
pushing south from Kansas City be-
cause he held the only road. and he
they finally bought the Frisco system
on his own terms Later they sepa-
rated. and Yoakum built up the Frisco
system II stood until the receivers
were named the other day.
In his hands it was standing defiance
to the laws of financial gravity. It's
$500 miles of line and 100000. 900 in
bonds were controlled by $50.oo0.Oo0 in.
stock Yoakum held control of that
stock-and 1t is charged that through the
appointment of friendly receivers he still
Lopes to hold control
Yoakum's father was doctor down
in Texas. and wanted to train his big
youngster to be dominic. But Ben
jamin Franklin wasn't built along those
lines. He took to railroading because
he couldn't keep away from it, He had
to go to the Great Northern school of
railroaders. conducted by Jim Hill. to
take his first lesson. He bossed one of
Hills surveying parties all one summer.
The rest of his story is simply a recital
of going up from one job to another.
His work as a developer of the south
west has been called as important as
that of Hill in the northwest. Like Hill,
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