Public Ownership of Railroads, Volume 63U.S. Government Printing Office, 1919 - 44 pages |
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acquire America amount bill board of directors Boston & Maine capital stock carriers cars cents Congress counsel democracy dummy E. H. Harriman employees England Navigation expenditures expenses fact freight Government control Government ownership Hartford Railroad Haven & Hartford Haven stock holding companies illegal increased interest Interstate Commerce Commission investigation J. P. Morgan justice legislation lines loss Louisville & Nashville Mellen mileage miles Minister of Munitions Nashville Railroad natural monopoly official report ownership and management ownership and operation paid pany par value Pere Marquette Railroad plans political practically present president Private companies private control private ownership profit public ownership public utilities purchase purpose question Railroad Administration railroad system railway company railway systems rates receivership records regulation respecting Rhode Island trolleys Rock Island Samuel Spencer secure shares solution stock dividend stockholders Swiss syndicate testified tion transactions transportation United voucher wages Westchester York
Popular passages
Page 23 - The result of our research into the financial workings of the former management of the New Haven system has been to disclose one of the most glaring instances of maladministration revealed in all the history of American railroading.
Page 26 - ... realize par value on these securities based merely upon lively expectation of future possibilities, and thereby immediately placed the burden of the watered stock upon the backs of the New Haven stockholders. The millions that were made from this transaction did not come through magic, but were brought into existence at the expense of the stockholders of the New Haven, upon whom and the public the yoke of giving value to these securities ultimately rested, and the New Haven stock was diluted...
Page 29 - A corporation as such has no political principles to maintain and no political candidates to support. The revenues of a public-service corporation are for the most part derived from the exercise of the right delegated to it by the sovereign power to tax the public by fixed rates established in accordance with law. Shippers and the traveling public may be presumed to be divided in political opinion. Corporate revenue derived by public tax from men of one political conviction can not be used to support...
Page 23 - The New Haven system has more than 300 subsidiary corporations, in a web of entangling alliances with each other, many of which were seemingly planned, created, and manipulated by lawyers expressly retained for the purpose of concealment or deception.
Page 29 - Purchases of cars and coal are two large expenditures that railroads make. The New Haven purchased cars almost exclusively from James B. Brady without competition and to the extent of some $37,000,000. Mr. Brady, as a witness, made no secret of his generosity to the officials with whom he had business. His methods were justified by him on the ground that the officers of the New Haven were old friends.
Page 38 - In re Financial Relations, Rates and Practices of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, and other Carrière.
Page 23 - ... and to extend its domination beyond the limits fixed by law. "The subject matter of this inquiry relates to the financial operation of a railroad system which, on June 30, 1903, had a total capitalization of approximately $93,000,000, of which $79,000,000 was stock and $14,000,000 bonds. In the 10 years from June 30, 1903, this capitalization was increased from $93,000,000 to $417,000,000, exclusive of stock premiums, or an increase of $324,000,000.
Page 31 - ... instincts of the people in insolent defiance of law. Through exposure of the methods of this monopoly the invisible government which has gone far in its efforts to dominate New England has been made visible. It has been clearly proven how public opinion was distorted ; how officials who were needed and who could be bought were bought; how newspapers that could be subsidized were subsidized; how a college professor and publicists...
Page 32 - In 1902, the main line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company extended from Chicago to Denver, with branch lines to St. Paul, Minneapolis and Kansas City. The territory served is one of the richest and most prosperous in the country and the system's ramification of branch lines insures to it a large volume of tonnage. It was then thriving and...
Page 6 - The days of political and economic reconstruction which are ahead of us no man can now definitely assess, but we know this, that every program must be shot through and through with utter disinterestedness, that no party must try to serve Itself, but every party must try to serve humanity, and that the task Is a very practical...