The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-24
Daily Financial Gossip
By HOLLAND

contemplation a true transcontinental system.
 Somebody is now in the market for Erie railroad stock. Many shares of it have been sold and the market has responded to this demand by appre- citation in the market price. But the stock can be bought very cheaply ana under proper management presuma' bly when brought into a combination with very strong railr pad it might duplicate the experience of F. II. liar riman with the Union Pacific. The Erie from Buffalo westward reaches Gin sinnatf and Chicago, bat from Buffalo to New York it is true parallel fine with the Lackawanna.
 FIVE HUNDRED YEAR BOND
 Among the onjectures IS one which refers to the Nickel Plate. That rai.- oad conceived in almost railroad ilibustering purpose, nevertheless has proved to be of advantage 10 the New York Central. It closely parallels the Lake Shore which is a part of the New fork Central from Buffalo to Chicago. After the Yanderbilts gained contfol # it through purchase which MT. van lerbilt was almost forced to make anu which he did reluctantly make il De- ome valuable supplement to the
 
 great value to the New York Central Therefore some extraordinary induce nent must necessarily be made if tho Lackawanna is to secure ownership of if. It would furnish valuable out let to the west for the sLackaWanna with which it connects at Buftalo. u was real railroad strategy, having the future in view which led the New York Central to guarantee principal and ln- terest of an issue of bonds by the Nickel Plate, whose life is to be ooo years and the interest fixed at the rate of four per cent. This issue oi bonds is now spoken Of as traultlohal because 1t was for the longest life of any issue of railroad bonds or other bonds in this country. These bonds have always been mentioned when gllt edge securities were spoken of al- though inevitably with recent issues of bonds bearing seven per cent inter est the market quotations for these bonds which pay only four has fallen off It is difficult to see how any pur- chase of the Nickel Plate could be consummated without some arrange ment which would cover these bonds
 The most persistent of the con1ec- lures IN'ers to the Wabash, a rail- road which born with mufl difficulty cOnCelNeQ by 1ON- d. i1' CoN Ch and known originally as the Toledo, Wabash and Western railroad as pre- slimably the most reasonable of the purchases contemplated by the Lacka- wanna. It would give the Lackawanna the ownership of railroad system stretching from Buffalo to Detroit and thence to Chicago also from Toledo to Kansas City, Omaha and Des Motnes with also an entrance at St. Louis This railroad has passed through many vicissitudes. Reorganizations have characterized it's life. Much new capt- tai has been put into it. Some of the congratulations have been drastic. In one case the bonds were cut fifty per cent, yet it fulfills the dream of Cover nor Cox and if Jay Gould had been younger man when he got possession of it and had used it as Hartman used the Union Pacific so as to build up a great and dividend paying prop erty, it would have been listed as one of the chief railway systems of the United States. The best conjecture is that even if the Laclawanna secures the ownership of the Erie, it also will gain or try to gain the ownership of the Wabash. Combination of this kind the largest railway systems in the United States, as it is now and has been for years the most valuable rail road property in comparison with it's capital.