Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-24
BATTLE Of RAILS
IS NEARING CLIMAX
Van sweringens and Taplins
Prepare for Final Show
down on Properties.
BY JOHN F.. SINCLAIR.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, May 24.-The battle
between the Cleveland giants, the Van
Sweringen brothers and the Taplin
brothers, has been coming to head for
several years.
If this impending battle had not come
over the control of the Wheeling &
Lake Erie Railroad, 1t would have de-
veloped at some other strategic point
a titantic struggle in coal, steel, rail-
roads and labor.
The great struggle for control of
certain railroad properties in the Cleve-
land district has enough INT in 1t to
develop an epic struggle between these
two groups of modern railroad giants.
The Van Sweringen brothers are well
konwn, nationally. Their real estate
holdings in Cleveland run into
hundreds Of millions. In 10 years they
have become the most talked-of railroad
men of the present generation.
The Taplin brothers, powerful in the
Cleveland district, are not so well known
to the country at large. F. E. Taplin
has been in the coal business all his life,
in railroads the last five years. His
brother Charles F. Taplin, is a Cleve-
land attorney. They are sons of c. G.
Taplin. who was vice president of the
Standard OIL OF ONO.
Both the Van Sweringen brothers and
the Taplin brothers are comparatively
young men-in their fortieS.
The Van Sweringens began their
meteoric career in Cleveland real estate.
They are inSeparable: one seems to be
the complement of the other. One Is
dark, the other Is fair. They are
bachelors-live together, dine together,
work together.
The Taplin brothers are different.
Beginning life in easy circumstances,
one became lawyer and the other a
lone hand. He made a good deal of
money in the coal business during the
war. In 1925, he founded the North
American Coal Co. and merged several
other companies into it.
1t was In 1923 that he entered the
railroad business. First he bought the
Pittsburgh & West Virginia, that short
and expensive lines of bridges and tun-
nels. that broke George Gould, but it
enters Pittsburgh. which is important.
1t also connects with the Wheeling g.
Lake Erie.
Now Taplin is building 80 miles of
railroad, betting the Pittsburgh district,
to connect with Western Maryland. It
is costing him 100000 a mile to build.
Today Taplin owns the majority Of the
common stock of the Wheeling & Lake
Erie, while the majority of the prior
preference stock, which at present
manages the road, is owned by others,
mostly the Van Sweringens, and various
companies.
Two days ago, at the annual meeting,
a controversy arose in regard to the
voting of the prior lien stock owned by
the Nickel Plate Railroad, Van Swer-
tngen holding. The Interstate Com
merce Commission ordered the railroad
to dispose of 1t. The Van SWerihgens
asked for an adjournment Of the meet
ing to await the Interstate Commerce
Commission decision. The Taplins said
mo" They went ahead, selected new
Taplin directors, and Frank e. Taplin
was made president.
Today the Wheeling & Lake Erie
Railroad is torn with dissension. 1t
does not know who its officers are. There
are two setS-one put in by the Vans,
the other by the Taplins.
The outcome? The courts will prob
ably decide. In the meantime F. e.
Taplin, the taciturn, Scotch-American
is known as a hard fighter, one who
has rarely tasted defeat. The real bat
tie has only begun.
The rumor continues to persist that
Andrew w. Mellon expects to resign his
position as Secretary of the Treasury.
Late reports indicate that the Federal
Reserve Board is divided, three to three,
on the question of permitting the ad-
vance of the rediscount rate from to
s per cent, for which, it is understood,
both the New York and Chicago Fed
eral Reserve Banks have asked.
ago that the advisory council of the
Federal Reserve Board had recommend
ed the increase stock prices declined
violently. Billions of dollars of paper
profits were again wiped out. With the
Federal Reserve Board evenly divided
the question of whether there is any
foundation for the rumor Of the reSig-
nation of Secretary Mellon becomes of
first Importance.
1t can be said, therefore, on the very
highest authority, that the Secretary is
In excellent health and has no intention
Of relinquishing what has become the
most important ONCE, next to the pres
idency. in the public life of the Nation.
Important bankers and Federal Re-
serve ofhcials have been in almost con-
tinuous conference in Washington for
the better part Of two days. Should the
Federal Reserve Board, or should 1t not,
allow an advance in the rediscount
rates from 5 to per cent? That is the
question.
At the moment there are billions of
dollars of undigested securities hanging
over the market. 1t is felt that II stock
prices drop sufficiently to allow the re-
lease of billion or two that the I'M
digested securities can be taken care OF,
and cr%1it conditions will again become
normS1.
Secretary Melons decision, there
fore, is awaited with the very greatest
interest.
Farm relief and tariff revision: When
the special session of Congress was
called these two subjects were to be
given first consideration Both of them