Evening star., 1925-08-31
ARTICLE ii.

II is seldom the intimate workings
of big business have been so com
pIetely displayed to the citizenry as
they have in this hearing on the appli-
cation of the Van Swearingen boys to
consolidate with their Nickel Plato
system the sapeske g. Ohio, the
Erie and the Pere Marquette.
The hearing room. on the eleventh
floor of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission Building, in Washington, has
been filled with inquisitive lawyers
and railroad experts. The Chesa peake
& Ohio minority, which opposes the
consolidatio is represented by Col.
Henry w. Anderson tmost OF the par
ticipants have military titles OF
Richmond, long a railroad lawyer, and
Thomas =. Gay.
F. C.. BaiIly represents the minority
of the Hooking Valley, subsidiary OF
the Chesapeake & Ohio. Albert |.
Stiles. an eccentric railroad engineer.
and his attorney, II. S. Bird, represents
himself.
On the other side the Van Swearin-
gen forces are led by Col. w. A. Col
ston, general counsel of the Nickel
Plate. a true fighting man. and New
ton d. Baker, former Mayor Of CleVe-
land and Secretary of War under
President wilson.
Both Welcome Publicity.
The most recondite details of the
business careers of the two Cleveland
real estate men and railroad fnanclcrs
have been cxhurned and exhaustiVely
reviewed Each side welcomes pub
hcity-the Van Sweringens have a
press agent--and both sides complain
that the newsap pers have unwithngtN
Ia a &
tools of the other.
The hearing, the expens cs Of which
are $500 an hour. has dragged out now
for nearly four months. Even those
friendliest TO the Van SwerinSens say
they have presented their case, on
which billion dollar transaction de-
pends, awkwardly.
President Smith of the New York
Central, who on many former oc-
casions had been their adviser, died
in March. 1924. At that time the Van
Sweringens controlled the Nickel
Plate and the Chesapeake & Ohio
were directors of both roads and had
substantial interests in the Pere Mar
quette and the Erie. The conference
of railroad executives to divide up the
independent roads of the East. which
has already been referred to, was ap-
preaching.
Sought Much Advice.
By the middle of August the Van
Sweringens had decided upon the
general terms of their proposed con
solidation and presented their appli-
cation to the Interstate Commerce
Commission. A few days ago Col.
Anderson asked Oris Van Sweringen
on the stand with whom he had con-
suited in formulating his plans.
Van Sweringen named John T..
Oldham of Boston. expert adviser on
railroad properties for j. p. Morgan
& Co. He had talked, he said. with
Thomas W. Lamont Arthur NJ An
derson and others of the house Of
Morgan. Beyond these men he could
only recall. ne said. discussing his
plans with Prof William Z. Ripley of
Harvard expert fer the l. c. C., and
!. !. Bernet. his own executive and
protege of President Smith.
Il sought light wherever | could,
Van Sweringen finally answered.
White & Case of New York. corpora
ton lawyers. Were put to work draft
ing the formal leases. Meanwhile op
position had developed TO the terms
which the Van Sweringens proposed
to offer the Chesapeake & Ohio stock
holders.
The Chesapeake and Ohio is an old
and proud railroad. Some of the
money represented by the stock which
is TO be exchanged in the present con
soIidation was advanced so years ago.
as a patriotic duty, TO repair the raw
ages of the armies of Grant and Sher-
man. The Virginia stockholders ROW
learned that their road was to become
an appendage to the system of two
Yankee real estate operators, and upon
what they considered were unfair
terms.
According TO an apocryphal story.
the final break came when the two
foreigners" attempted to hold a mid
night conference in Richmond with
the recalcitrant stockholders. The
Van Sweringen attitude is said TO have
been take it or leave it. The Nir-
ginians stfTly replied they were not