Evening star., 1926-03-07
VIRGINIA QUARTET
!! STOPS RAIL UNION
Four Credited With Blocking
Van SWerlngens' Huge
Merger Plan.
b. Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
RICHMOND, Va, March "A lit
lie group Of determined men in this
old Southern battlefield for States
rights beat the great Van Sweringen
Nickel Plate merger. Heaps of tele-
grams and letters on their desks to-
day are in recognition of that fact.
These men are Virginians born and
bred. Two of them boast that their
FATHERS We're officers in the Confed-
crate army. They conducted their
successful fight against the Nickel
Plate merger in their capacity as
stockholders of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Railway, one of the roads which
The merger would have absorbed.
These stalwart Virginians are
George Cole Scott, banker and broker;
John Stewart Bryan, newspaper pub
Usher; Berkeley Williams. lawyer, and
Lindsay Hopkins, now of Atlanta.
Sees New Era Dawning.
Snow comes new era in finance"
said Mr. Scott today. 1T is an era
Of confidence-an era in which the
poor man, the small investor in
etocks, may know that the United
Statas Government is his friend and
precedent has been set and the stock
holders of the Chesapeake and Ohio
have been saved a lot of money"
Richmond is not Il large town. 1t
IS a ei2hborly town. The man who
shines locomotives is welcomed in the
offices of George Cole Scott, one of
Tirginia's richest men. or of John
Stewart Bryan. Mr.. Bryan's news
paper, the Richmond News-Leader.
brides itself on it's neighborliness.
in short, the financiers who held
stock in the Chesapeake and Ohio
had a friendly interest in Richmond
employees of the railroad. They had
an interest in Richmond holders of
chesapeake and Ohio securities, so
that when it was reported that the
Van Sweringens, owners OF con-
trolling interest in the road, planned
to merge five roads into a great sys-
tenn the Richmond f1nanciers pricked
up their ears. They asked to see the
plan and it was outlined TO them.
"And, my, how complicated 1t was"
said Mr.. Scott. "Oh, 1 grant you that
It came to us with the very best of
support. Great financial interests of
New York had put their ok. on it.
But we are cautions down here
livery day or two groups of curious
stockholders would gather at the
NVestmoreland Club or in some soft
drink stand and talk about the pro-
posed merger.
Were Not Satisfied.
~we were not satisfied with 1t.
Parts of it were obscure. We went to
&. & O. officials and asked for addi-
tional information. We did not get 1t.
We went to the Van SWeringenS for
data. We did not get it. So we
begged along, studying what we could
find"
They decided these scions of Vir-
Ginia aristocracy, that the terms were
unfair to the stockholders of the
Chesapeake and Ohio and that they
stood to lose S4,500,000 a year on the
exchange Of stock. Furthermore, it
would be unneighborly to encourage a
plan which would move the c. & o.
Offices and shops from Richmond.
When this little group of Virginians
decided TO fight, Mr.. Scott went to
New York and notified the big f1nan-
CiaI interests that the plan would have
to be changed to meet the require
mentS of G.. & o. stockholders.
"They told mo it was too late" said
Mr.. Scott, land I replied that the
bugle was blowing again along the
Potomac"
That was the beginning. A year
later the fight had been won and Wall
Street had taken a licking at the
hands of few determined Virginians.
We did not oppose consolidation"
said Mr.. Scott. 1--WE favored the right
kind, but not this kind. We went to
battle for our convictions and though
our own Richmond Chamber Of Com
merce sided against us, we won and
small stockholders everywhere can
take heart