Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-02-15

t"oI,l,. ct the United Stai"s must 10
I'm .tinrd. Tn" scheme is 10 regain
rrIya,r control Oi the railroads after
ih.. w:i. ON tn" plea that III" taxing
over oi u" roads is only war meas
t,r,. The, .,an" doesn't want 10 TAX an!
,.,.,nr.s with congress in IN" inatt"i
IuI, huIr.s 10 grease" ih" way so tha'
the, may slid" back autOrnaticaliy m
10 priynt. control without any l"SiSii :
non.
"This must no, L." permitted. the
..,.,,,r,u,nt uusi not return the rail
roads to ITivat" control. either al 'h'
,lns,. ui the war Or ~ any other 'iih''
ON the other hand, no on" VINO niN
studied the problem deeply Wants
..,,y,rnut,ut ownership III Tn" scnS'
that %oV'rnm,n ownership Is hh"'r-
stood today. Public ownership. S'S'
l,tn the railroads have always b""h
u,,,.I,,II owned. "" hiv" had pubic
ownership under TIA" control OF hhah-
..,.,I ui,nIcs. Government ownership
ns II is usually understood. w"nih
amount Ia uOibOih -ONhclSi'ip "h''' -"
control ur political hnZZaidS'
Is this hard 10 understand N''''
E.ti,.,u l.. AmSt"r is Il littl" hard l"
understand III first. Hut YOU VIII I'm
d.rsrand Inn. that's III" kind oil man
hr iS. His principal occupation '"t
s..,rraI Years back has consisted "'
making himself understood. tie II Il
,:,iIruad investor. Not - inaSna''' N"'
,,n,. uI ilu. hig adventures oi lh' ''""'''
and IIiII class. hut Il man with "a lew
hundreds oI thousands that u" uldh
want rn gamhl" with. IL" wanted l"
invest II in something sale. lo'l Know
rh,. t\ur; uISt the kind oi coin"-"h 'i'
TN. railroad field that III" big insiders
go cumming Tor.
nulv. Nathan l.. AmSt"r didn't com"
,,, ,,,,i,, according to schedule. Whch
the, trained their guns on hlih' h'
dudu,d. He dudG"d into little courts
where. the hunters felt sur" they cohhi
smoke. him ont in Il week or two lh'E
had .,IwaNS been abl" To do II Win
others III ltis' SIbdl'S' ''N ~
..r tackled quite such Il ncrrH niue
sruut,r hcIur". ~" Scoot"d from court
tu ruurt. lie Scoot"d behind lhJhhc-
,innS and mandamuScS and intrrpi''d-
;,us and writs uf this and that. ana
finally h, scuotcd into the interstate
commerce commission. one hrish'
morning, in fact. he scootcd riSht INTO
- dir,c,orship of the Chicago, Rock
,ieiu,+S-Ss' ~ A. ~ w, lEa;.s--aaa-ah
pouncrd that he WAS there To hsh'.
Xrwspa;cr readers ar" quit" well ac-
uuoiu,,,. now with the fight h' hl''"''
ia. ia. rhi the directors SinSi" h'hue"'
-, when that wouldn't do. u" went
ir,.l, and had two directors ri'c''" III
,,.,J ,t one. Last year Il" cam" III
with four directors. representing INV
,,,s,,., understanding. and with ION"
minority vuic" h" won almost a' wv
ruiuts he WAS fighting for. For one
thing. h,. compelled tn" directors l"
d,,.l,,r - dividend after they had sal"
,h,.y ,.ouIIu't: also h" proved that the
l;u.k island was Il proiitahl" property
after they had labelled II nothing h"'
,vu str,akS ui rust and all the o'h"r
things that 20 to describe 4 raur"au 'h
I'M. uru.,rSs uf hcing Sruttl"d.
Hur II isn't the history OF IN" iio'N
island fight which set out 10 tell. JhS'
NOW Nathan l.. NmSicr has set hi'''S'i'
,o ,h,, biggest task nf his life. u Is
I'm uit = stop forever to III" sport o'
\mrric:l'S financial kines-usins th'
great public service properties OF III"
,.nun,ry not aS Il means OF earning ic-
ultimate profits hut aS traps FOR the IN
I.Siing public.
'''rhrSr iinancirrs." he SAYS. ar" not
the. men who own tn" railroads. Ih'
railroads have. always been owned 10y
the. publicity tn" investing pihi'''
The. millions ot stockholders hhN" "'h
yit,lh interested nj all times III IN"
success of the roads as paying prop
critics rut they hav" never been or
roniZcd. They have entrusted 'h'
mnnag,mrnt of the roads not To peo-
nj, who represent them hut 10 supI"S-
,J supcrrncn In the financial w"fin
whose interest II has been to wr'FN
the properties instead.
~ few wears ago. for instance. k"rk
island was svlln; NJ 500 II share. y
r,w months ago II was selling al S-''
Had the property drt"rioratcd: No.
according to the Interstate commerce
commission il WAS doing bigger
husin,ss and making greater earnings
than ever before. Rut for fifteen years
th, gang ui iinarCirrs In charS" hau
moi managed il. They had MIXED H.
They had run II not IN make di\idrh'S
on the money invested hut to draw OH
,h,, earnings as fast as they accf'i''
into their own pals. incidentally max
Ing the railway company pay Tor the
pulls ns well.
"'rhrsr pals were called hoiui's
romunIrs.' The general public doeSn
know what II holding company II. eau
n a ,uil and II may get across more
uuicLl>. II iS something which Il mn
nuci,r holds when hr uses a railroad
for II cow.
There were two OF these companies
one In Iowa and one In New Jersey
The Rock Island was capitalized al
s,5. On0. 900. The holding companies
were capitalized ut sS5o.0Oo.oOo. They
ISSUED their stock as fully paid, hn'
actually no payment was made on eth-
rr. Then upon motion of ID. &. Reid
IN, entire stock issue OF the New Jer-
sr> company and the entire bond issue
of the Iowa company were placed with
the Central Trust company OF New
York. under an agreement that they
were To he exchanged for railway com
panv holdings on the basis OF $40 In
the holding companies stocks and
bonds fo. $lUO of railway stock.
Under this agreement. ID. G. Reid
W. Il. Leeds. J. III. Moore and W. ii
Moore disposed OF about $20.O0O.OoO ol
railway stock for which they received