The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-05-29
|,M|ANAHAN
70 GET PROMPT
MERGER ACTION
Railway Commission Denies to
Immediately Grant Com
bine's Application
VALUATIONS TOO HIGH
Milhollan Thinks Hughes Plant
Worth $50, 1000 Less Than
Price Fixed

for power to merge and to capltahze
It. $2,775, 900 be granted in full.
The order OF the railway commits
sion, handed down late "wednesday
evening after two days devoted hy
Mr.. Manahan to the examinStion OF
expert witnesses, was as follows:
''The motion Of. the petitioners that
the application be accspted in sfull
and sanf order ISSUED authorizing the
consolida alton, messer and issuance ! llDi q
securities, as, optainad In the appll.
cation, is denied, Tor the following
reasons:
"First: It is the unanimous opin-
lon Of the commission that the pur-
chase prices In all instances as rep
resented by the present value arrived
at by the engineers Of the petitioner
are excessive and out Of line with com.
mission practice and policy
Second: The commission declines
to issue an order on this matter at
this time until after careful exam
ination of tbe transcript can be made
and the. evidence reviewed"
Manahan Displeased.
The finding Of the rail board was
as displeasing to Mr.. Manahap rs it
was evidently surprising. Mr. Mana
haS had made the railway commits
-sn = thoroughly good Nonpartisan
SSaeeh; Ne was known TO the commits
5jlpts Is sfnaA next illiam
,1 Sk0S q n1p stO. Mr.. T6Mnl3y Mf!
sNsnlSilaa tiIiaKx the inteffti which
tho railway Gommissi0n devoted to
reaching sits decision. which did not
exceed 80 minutes, enjoyed himself,
Cutting up" with the capitalists,
kGr1saa4t0gn1yss and others who
represented the petitioners. He even
went 10 hr as tos permit himself to
bS. initiated. ii thu staid old senate
chamber. into the Order Of Sons OF
Guns ay ritual more acrobatic than
eSotd did. II. NJ I'M
Shlf. / tlanahan in addfesbilk the
tommlsSion Following the handing
down of its, decision expressed fears
mat It might have been Influenced
by s''backdoor Methods that 1t might
have considered evidence, or "insin,
ations" which the petitioner had not
had an opportunity to try out. Com
missioners Aandahl. Dupuis and Mil.
hollan, individually and collectively.
and with not q little asperity, cor
rected Mr.. Manahan on this point, as-
surfing him that they had no cards up
their sleeves.
Manahan continued to refer to "idle
gossip" "sinister purposes" and dis
honest motives which he feared
l>o~oT hal co,,on nHoo< IN Tho
commissions decision He declared
that even he had been approached by
good friends with information rela-
tive to the value of certain plants
which he had proven to sbe absolutely
false and that these 4 friends had
thanked him Tor setting them right.
He declared all of this information
had been traced to one source. He
informed the commission that It could
not arrive at accurate values through
hearsay or insinuation.
Willing to sknock on.
Attorney Moore of st. Paul, repre-
senting F. o. Corson. one of the
prime movers in the Dakota power
consolidation. attempted to probe the
commission as to the extent of the
valuations which it held excessive in
order that he might 90 back, to the
vendors and ask them to knock of
something on their original price.
Chairman Aandahl declared the valu.
ati0ns OF the Bismarck and James
town plants included in the proposed
combine very excessive. Commits.
sioner Milhollan went so far as to as.
sert that he believed the Bismarck
plant, figured in at $500, 900, was over
valued probably $150.0OO. and not less
than 100000.
Attorney Moore. starting with .,
suggestion that the 100000 common
stock included In the deal might be
eliminated, increased his tentative
questions to cover $15O,000 and finally
1925, 900, in an effort to pin the COM
mission down to some certain amount
which it felt represented the excess
valuation, but he was unsuccessful.
Chairman Aandahl would 60 no fur.
ther than to assert that some Of the
values were very excessive. Com
missioner Dupuis would permit the
introduction Of no further evidence
at LalS tlMc, QSCldIlu8 tue present
hearing closed. Nor could the COM
mission be induced to promise that it
would render q decision in 4S hours,
in spite Of the fact that Attorney
Moore stated that some of the cor
poration's options were soon to ey-
pire, and that unless the attitude of
the commission was revealed, the
company might not care to renew
thes options. 1T looks as tho yo,,
are trying to crowd us; gentlemen"
said Chairman Aandahl, and he stood
pat.
From Fargo.
7 n p{cho rdc of To ron oor oro1