The robber barons; the great American capitalists, 1861-1901 by Josephson Matthew 1899-1978

Author:Josephson, Matthew, 1899-1978
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Capitalists and financiers, Industries, Railroads
Publisher: New York, Harcourt, Brace and company
Published: 1934-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

already constructed in the region, including a line running up the Columbia Valley, and soon the daring Villard was issuing glowing statements to the speculative public of Wall Street, according to Henry Clews's account—"a carefully prepared report showing immense and unprecedented earnings." The stock of Oregon Railway & Navigation which Villard confesses "five months before had been given as a bonus" to certain Wall Street leaders, rose to a price of 95. This was simply due, as his autobiography tells us, to the fact that

net earnings of the two constituent . . . companies were sufficiently large to wajrant the payment of bond interest and eight per cent, dividends on the stock, payment at which rate had already been commenced. This astonishing increase naturally raised Mr. Villard to a still more commanding position in Wall Street.

We see here a style of campaign which has become familiar to a modem generation. Stock issues flowed rapidly, and dividends seemed to be paid almost as soon as the capital was raised, without the least delay for use of the capital. Soon, against visible assets estimated at $3,500,000 (fully mortgaged) some $18,000,000 in stock was issued and placed on the market. With the aid of the Wall Street pool leader, Woerishoffer, Villard, as Henry Clews relates, "had the stock bulled to 200." Here the old broker in his own memoirs comments, with unkindness or with envy—it is hard to tell—"as a stock waterer Villard had probably no superior in that important department of railway management."

Having "glory and cash" aplenty and standing high in Wall Street, Villard now for two years pursued a brilliantly conceived campaign to consolidate his gains and fix his grip on the "narrows" of the Northwestern arteries of trade. First, he and his group began preempting a route along the Columbia River, by "laying down a cheap narrow gauge road." It was an expensive process; the line would be useless in a few years and would have to be torn up; but thereafter, at least, no other adventuring knight of railroads could move down the south bank of the Columbia River, the only side on which railroad tracks could be laid.

He and his men then secretly scoured the huge region, spying out the valleys and mountain passes and river banks that must be possessed. Villard, with imagination aflame, had a tremendous plan afoot which envisaged nothing less than seizure of all the possible routes

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.