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

| way stock would bc sold: and fOlIi
men who had held only about a fourth
oi tn" railway stock had wormcd
| themselves into position where they
| could make the road pay or not pay
aS it suited their interests best.
The road paid. That is. il paid
| somebody. How much IL paid these
| four men. the interstate commerce
commission was unable to tell When
| tn" series of deals which resulted in re-
| ownership was finally investigated
Mr. Reid testified that he always burn
81 his books At the end of each month.
but tn" road didn't pay the stock
| holders. NOtc this letter from Il
| I"ughkc"pSi" girl. She WAS working
To help support her father. who was
nearly blind. Her father had invested
- f"w hundred dollars in Rock Island.
which had been drawing 10 per cent
dividends. When the dividends stop
ped. because OF financial difficulties
which the girl didn't understand. sh"
ruuldn't bear to tell her helpless faith
,r. She paid the dividends Out Or her
own earnings. She kept up this deceit
AK long as Sh" could. year after year.
while Mr.. Reid and others wcr" burn
in% their hooks.
or this from Concord. y. H.: I am
u widow. and thc loss Of $NNG which |
paid for my bond means good deal Ia
me. as am too old 10 earn Il living
now
why wasn't the interest being paid?
Was it because wages were higher
every year and because the road could
not raise it's rates Ia meet them? II is
far more to the point to read the his
tory of tn" Frisco deal. Il precious hit
or financing 10y which the Rock Is.
land had $G6.O0O. 900 drawn out Of its
treasury to meet an obligation of thu
Iowa holding company, an obligation
Tor which the railway company was in
no wise responsible and from which
il received no benefit.
when the small investors in Pough-
kcrpSi" and Concord read. away back
, in 1903. that an agreement had been
made between the holding companies
and the J. T.. Morgan company TO cN-
change the stock of the st. Louis ana
san Francisco Railway company for
their sscuritieS-t ia6AEpaRti0ps dlilpt
mean anything tangible to them. RL.r,
under his agreement s2S.9+O,3Oo Of
Frisco stock was exchanged for S34.-
7.S.360 of the holding companies
stocks and bonds. and tn" Frisco stock
WAS deposited as collateral for tn"
bonds OF the Iowa company. Then IN
December. 1909. this stock was rcSold
to u. T.. Tuakum for $3I.5O Il share. or
$l0.N5. 900 an amount insufficient to
redeem the Iowa. COmpany's bonds.
The Iowa company then issued $1.50n.-
QUO oi these bonds to the Rock Island
RAILWAY company, receiving $7.3OO.0OO
i'm cash. which the railway company
had borrowed from the First National
bank of New York. II was slhSc-
uucntly found that the Iowa company
and more than S6.00O,000 WAS taken
from the Rock Island treasury for the
purpose"
II was over this deal that Mr.. Amstcr
as Il stockholder, sued the Reid Moore
combination as individuals and rccor-
cred more than $5.000.000 for the stock
holders. lie insisted. however. that
the deal was only one of long series
of so called financial operations which
had resulted in more than S2O,OOO,0oo
loss to the road. and that similar opc-
rationS are the rule. not the exception.
in the grra, game of railroad tinanc-
ing.
"u is the chance to renew these opc-
rationS," he said, which the so-called
railroad managers are looking FOR now.
The, are not particularly concerned
ahou, the joh of supplying freight;
and the $4,000 salaries and 100000
bonuses to presidents and officials ar"
only an item in the programme. IL Is
the job Of irresponsible private iinanc-
ing which they want. for the railroads.
from the very nature Of the industry
must he continually financed. They
cannot he financed from their earnings
Every year imprrativcly calls ior
greater and greater extensions to meet
growing demands: for better tcrmi-
nails. more trackagc. more up-to-date
equipment and more and better rolling
stock. The roads then. have been
compelled to do business with the
banks, and no one can object. II the
banks are called upon. TO their getting
adcurlatc remuneration for their serv-
ices. hut the tendency of such sys-
TEN is inevitably to turn the railroads
over TO the money trust. They cease
to lee. primarily. means OF transporta-
,iun and become opportunities for eN-
ploitation. Once get started on such a
system and the end is ruin for the
small investors and Il full pail OF cream
iur the money trust.
THE money trust" he said, "is able
| TO get away with all this, simply be-
cause it is organized. The obvious
remedy is TO organize the one section
OF the American public which has
never been organized before. the small
investors. The remedy is not TO be
found in abolishing WALL street and its
| legitimate business in the buying and
selling of securities. The remedy Is
not TO he found in the abolition OF re-
sponsible ownership and turning our
| industries over to the tender mercies
OF political bureaucracy. | don't op-
ject TO public ownership so-called be-
| cause It is too radical. object to II
| ccause it isn't radical enough. II is
pseudo -radicalism. the lazy suhstitu-
,ion OF an economic phrase for the
| actual correction Of an economic evil.
THE trouble with the railroads Is
not that their stockholders have been
making a legitimate profit. Some ol
their worst evils have appeared when
they were making no profit at all. The
i ,,,;th u-on Stroof 10 mot that