The daily worker., 1927-05-25
Wall Street Gang Owns
Traction Companies

ir search of and will appreciate light
from every direction
His statement further laid down a
method Of procedure for the later
hearings which consisted Of five main
principles
First, the various interested CONF
panies would record themselves as be-
ing a part to the hearing
Second, each witness Of these COM
panies to be called would appear as
an individual.
Third, the commission counsel would
examine witnesses.
Fourth, the company counsel might
then question the witness.
Fifth, only one counsel would do the
Questioning.
Following the reading of this state
ment by Untermyer, former Governor
Nathan l. Miller rose to present the
position for the B. NJ r. lie began
by stating that the hearings were
welcome" to his client and that they
would cooperate in a spirit Of the
utmost helpfullness' and more to this
effect destined for the stuffed ears of
the people
Fight Probe of Control.
Presently he came to the point The
3. NJ. 4 would fight all attempts TO
investigate the stock transactions Of
IFS lines, matter which they would
maintain is not not pertinent or re-
levant" to the inquiry.
The b. NJ r. which is known defin-
itely 20 be the controlling company of
all the city transit lines, as was pre-
dicted in The DAILY WORKER, will
seek to prevent all delving into its
shady methods.
Following this was a statement by
James L. Quackenbush, counsel for
the Interborough, who did not deign
to present his company's position in
the matter but only objected to the
waiver of immunity which Untermyer
demanded Of each witness. This point
was left hanging in the air, so to
speak, but it appears that witnesses
will be under some persuasion to an
swer though there is nothing now to
compel testimony.
Who Owns |. r. r.?
The first witness called was II. NJ.
Fisher, secretary treasurer of the In
terborough Rapid Transit Company.
Fisher is a hard boiled chestnut, typ
ical of the Interborough He had hard
ly been sworn in before Untermyer
began a cross examination intended
to reveal the real owners Of the In
terborough stock
Fisher had a trying fifteen minutes
in seeking to avoid the answer to di-
rect questions. Old Sammy Inter
myer, himself quite familiar with the
internal affairs Of more than a few
concerns seasoned to put his hand on
the sore spot in every instance.
Then the information came out: The
stock of the Interborough is held by
about $4,000 stockholders who own to-
gethcr about $4,000 shares. This
seems q pretty widely scattered own
ership But the first few questions
on this subject revealed the fact that
only about 5000 shares Of the total
$4,000 were owned outside of Wall
Street That is, about 9S per cent Of
the stock and hence of the voting
power of the company is in tire hands
Of the brokers in the financial dis
trict. The full significance of this
revelation will become clear in rela-
ton to the second fact disclosed.
Untermyer then devoted himself to
establishing the nature of the direc-
torship of the company. In moment
it was revealed that the members of
the Board Of Directors hold practically
no stock in the company, The chair
man of the board and the chairman Of
the controlling executive committee Of
the board. F.. j. Berwind of the Ber-
wind-White scab coal company owns