The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-22
BROTHERHO0DS
 DECLARE FEW
 OWN R. R. LINES
Employees Representatives Deny Small Investors
 Are Real Owners

|
 I
 l Willfui misrepresentations by the
 steam railroads as.to their stockhold-
 CTS is charged by the four big rail-
 way brotherhoods in their official
 bulletin, 'The Eight Hour Day." sent
 to the newspapers yesterday. The public has been led to believe, the bulletin says, that the eight-hour I workday would inflict harm on "wid- ows and orphans" whereas the ope-
 rating officials know that the roads
 themselves and not small investors are
 the real owners of railway shares.
 "The railroads of the United States l have organized executive committees l and bureaus with the avowed purpose 1 of creating a public sentiment in op- position to the eight-hour workday
 movement for the freight employees" !" l the bulletin says. "In their cam paign of publicity these committees l and bureaus are consciously striving to | create the impression in the public l mind that this movement of the rail-
 way employees is antagonistic to the ! welfare of the public and to the in- terests of the railway stockholder. ''To this end they are making use of public addresses of railway officials. of magazines, of newspaper articles and interviews and like means of reaching the public. And in all of these and other ways they are endeavoring to create in the public mind the impress
 sion that the American public and the
 railway stockholders are one and the
 same. And to drive home these ef- forts align the public against the just
 demands of the train employees. these
 publicity agents are endeavoring to show that shorter workday means an additional burden to the public in in creased rates and deprivation to the stockholder in loss of dividends"
 The bulletin quotes the following statement by the railroad officials as an example of misrepresentation:
 .@rhe total net dividends paid by the railways of the United States consid- cred as a system, in 1914, amounted to $339, 100000, according to the Inter- state Commerce Commission. Thir- ty-five per cent. of the railway stock paid no dividends. A wage increase of $332,000,000 would wipe out over 97 per cent. of ali that stockholders received as a return on their invest. iment.
 Call It ExAggeration.
 Ignoring as piece of extravagantI exaggeration by a partisan" the bull letin says, "the imaginary increase in wages which the above statement says would result to the railroads of the United States by the establishment of the eightrhour workday in freight train service, 1t is of prime importance that we first understand, clearly who these 60o.ooo stockholders really are.
 ''In the first place there are not that many stockholders in American rail- ways, the number of 622,2s4 reported as the total in the entire United States in 1914 by the statistics of the Inter- state Commerce Commission include many thousand Implications. One in- dividual or corporation may, and in cases does, own stock in scores and hundreds of times as separate stock holder.
 Let us illustrate in the casa of one corporate stockholder-theP Pennsylva- mia Railroad. This company on June 30, 1913, was a stockholder in at least 72 other transportation companies. Thus this one corporation Is counted in the statistics as 72 different stockhold- CTS. Of these 72 companies in which l the Pennsylvania Railroad is stock holder as many as IS are in turn in 174 railway corpora tions; 2s of these 174 are in. turn | in 54 other companies; 3 l of the l5 are in turn stockholders in | z other companies.
 This single railway corporation-l the Pennsylvania Railroad Company-l owns directly a majority interest in the | stock of 3S companies, and its hold ings. combined with those of its sub 1 sidiaries, give it a majority interest in | g more companies. The subsidiaries l of the Pennsylvania Company, own a ! direct majority interest in tho stock 1 of AZ transportation companies- The Company owns a major l ity of the capital stock of 27 roads. and through the holdings of its subsi- diaries has a controlling interest in 12 | others through stock ownership. Thus the total majority holdings of the system comprise 13s roads.
 Pennsylvania Subsidiaries
 '"The Pennsylvania subsidiaries like wise have important joint holdings | with other systems. The Lake Erie &Pittsburg, for example, is Jointly owned by the Pennsylvania Company and the Lake Shore & Michigan South ern; the Central Indiana by the Penn | sylvaniA Company and the Cleveland, Chicago q St. Louis; the Calumet Western by the Pennsylvania | Company. the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific, and the Indiana Harbor Belt. | the latter being controlled by tho New York Central Lines. The Dayton Un- ion Railway is controlled by the Pitts burgh, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Paul. 8 subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Com pany, by the Cleveland, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Louis. one of the New1 York Central Lines. and by the Cin- cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton. which is by the Baltimore & Ohio; each ofsthese roads owns one-third of l the stock of this railway. The Wash l