August 11, 1898
Oakland Tribune
Monon Absorbed By The Big Four
New York, Aug. 11—A controlling interest in the Chicago,
Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad, better known as the
Monon, has been acquired by the Big Four, says the Herald,
and negotiations are under way for the acquisition of the
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton.
The latter deal, however, has not been perfected, although
it is believed in Wall Street that it is only a question of
a few days before an agreement will be reached.
The Big Four, or Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and
St. Louis Railroad, is controlled by the Vanderbilt’s, and
this road is operated in such close connection with the
Chesapeake and Ohio that gossip has intimated that it is a
part of the deal that the Chesapeake road shall be
eventually take into the enlarged Big Four system.
Strictly speaking, a majority of the Monon stock has been
acquired by the financial interests that control the Big
Four, not by the railroad proper, although the effect is
the same, and it is understood to be the intention to turn
the property over to the Big Four at no distant date.
The acquisition of the Monon will give the Big Four an
entrance of its own into Chicago, over the Chicago and
Western Indiana track. The Big Four has been dependent
upon the Illinois Central for an entrance into Chicago,
having to pay for the use of fifty-six miles of tracks.
The acquisition of the Monon will add 535 more miles to the
Big Four’s system of 1,838 miles, and if it secures the
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, which has 641 miles, it
will have a combined mileage of 3,015 miles. In addition
to this the Big Four operates nearly four hundred miles of
other tracks.
June 23, 1900
Logansport Pharos
Reported Sale Of The Monon
Chicago, June 23—The report was current that the Monon
Railroad had been sold to the New York Central. It was
said that officials of the New York Central road took a
trip over the Monon Route yesterday morning, and that the
papers of transfer were drawn up in the afternoon.
August 7, 1900
The Fort Wayne Evening Sentinel
AFTER THE MONON.
Indianapolis Journal: "It has been currently reported
in New York financial circles that J. P. Morgan & Co.
have sold their holdings in the Monon railroad to the
Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt interests. Such rumors are not
new, but they come this time with more than the usual
authenticity, and some credence is being given them. It is
said that the Pennsylvania wants a short line to Chicago
from Indianapolis, and the Monon is the shortest of all. The
Pennsylvania now leases the Lake Erie and Western from
Indianapolis to Logansport, and does not own a
through line to Chicago. If it acquires the Monon it will
have things its own way. The Vanderbilts also want the Monon
to keep it from interfering with the Big Four."
May 15, 1902
New York Times
Monon Railroad Purchased
The Louisville and Nashville and the Southern Railway
jointly have purchased the Chicago, Indianapolis and
Louisville better known as the “Monon Route.†This statement
is made on the highest authority, although a definite
official announcement could not be obtained yesterday.
The financier, who desired to have his name withheld, said
that he was not at liberty to disclose the details of the
transaction, as these had better come from official sources.
The above statement confirms, in a measure, the many
reports of a contemplated consolidation of the Chicago,
Indianapolis and Louisville with one of these two Southern
railway systems and it means that hereafter the Southern
Railway and the Louisville and Nashville will have and
absolutely control an independent entrance into Chicago.
The affairs of the Louisville and Nashville and the
Southern Railway have been prominently in the public eye
since the events of last month, when the control of the
Louisville and Nashville was wrested from August Belmont and
his associates and was lodged in the hands of J.P. Morgan &
Co., mainly, so it was said, through the efforts of John W.
Gates, who had bought control of the property and who was
said to have sold it to the Morgan’s.
A great many people, however, profess still to believe that
the outcome of the Gates purchases in Louisville and
Nashville was premeditated, and that the “corner†in the
stock was averted, not because Mr. Gates wanted to give away
more profits, but because his principals saw that they had
control, which was all they wanted. Since then both
Louisville and Nashville and Southern Railway have been
very strong. When the stock of the Chicago, Indianapolis
and Louisville began to show strength some two weeks ago,
rumors that it had been or would be purchased for one or
the other of these companies became very thick.
President McDoel of the Chicago, Indianapolis and
Louisville, while denying that the road had been sold,
admitted that such a purchase would be a logical one for
the two Southern systems, which he said would someday have
to get into Chicago without depending on their connections.
This has now been accomplished.
The Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville controls a line
of road from Louisville to Chicago, with good terminal
facilities in both cities.
The entrance of the road into Louisville is via the
Kentucky and Indiana bridge which it owns jointly with the
Baltimore and Ohio and the Southern Railway. From there
the road runs via New Albany, Ind., to Michigan City, a
distance of 289 miles. The entrance into Chicago is by the
Chicago and Western Indiana, in which the Monon has a one-
fifth interest. There is also a line from Indianapolis to
the Indiana State line, a distance of 162 miles, and the
road has several branches, so that its total mileage
reaches 546 miles.
The amount of stock authorized and issued is $5,000,000
preferred and $10,500,000 common stock, making a total of
$15,500,000. On the preferred stock semi-annual dividends
of 2 percent have been paid since October, 1900. The
company has a funded debt of $13,542,000. J.P. Morgan &
Co. acquired a controlling interest in the company in the
Spring of 1899, but the road has been operated separately
and in dependently, although it has not been a rate
disturber.
The Louisville and Nashville is a system of about 4,000
miles, and its main line runs from Louisville and
Cincinnati to New Orleans. It has many branches and
reaches almost every important city in Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Alabama. The Southern Railway is a system
of some 5,000 miles, and it has been known as a Morgan
road since 1893, when the property was reorganized.
August 16, 1902
Fort Wayne Sentinel
Morgan Makes Big Profit
New York, Aug. 16—On an investment of nothing the latest
syndicate formed by J. Pierpont Morgan has received a
profit of $302,300. The money was paid to the syndicate
formed by Mr. Morgan to take over the Monon Railroad for
the Southern Railway and Louisville and Nashville. The
absorption of the road apparently required the service
of an underwriting syndicate and Mr. Morgan sent out the
usual notices inviting subscriptions.
There was the usual ready response, for Mr. Morgan’s
syndicates are popular because of the big profits they
usually bring to their members. As it turned out it was
not necessary for the syndicate to subscribe one dollar.
October 20, 1902
Fort Wayne News
Complain Of Railroad Trust
Washington, Oct. 20—The complaint of the railroad commission
of Kentucky against the Atlantic Coast Line Company, Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad Company, Louisville, L & N Railway
Company, Southern Railway Company, Southern Railway Company
in Kentucky, Southern Railway in Indiana, Cincinnati, New
Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Company, Cincinnati Couther
Railroad Company, Illinois Central Railway Company and the
Chicago Indianapolis & Louisville Railway Company, was
received by the interstate commerce commission today.
The complaints over that J. P. Morgan & Co., of New York, have
secured practically the control and management of all these
various lines; that the firm has acquired “either for itself
or for those connected with it in the management and control
of the Southern Railway Company, the ownership and control of
what was before known as the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis
Railway Company;†that, acting as trustees for the Southern
Railway Company, they have entered into a combination with the
Louisville & Nashville Railroad by which they secured control
of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad Company, to
be used for the joint benefit of the two companies and for the
purpose of controlling traffic, that, in a further undertaking
to control the traffic of the territory, Morgan & Company
acquired control of a majority of the stock of the Louisville
& Nashville Railroad Company in order to destroy and throttle
competition and to control and regulate rates south of the
Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico, between the Atlantic Ocean
and the Mississippi River.
These railroads practically control the commerce, complainant
states, of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.
J.P. Morgan, it declares, has secured control of the lines
against which the complaint is lodged and by this control
could dictate schedules, terms and rates to all the smaller
roads which have not been absorbed or acquired. This places
the commerce of the entire section under the control of a very
few men who are dominated by Morgan & Co.
The complaint states that this is in violation of the act,
providing for the regulation of interstate commerce commission
copies of agreements with other common carriers in relation to
traffic as provided for by the interstate commerce act. Rates
will be advanced, communities discriminated against, traffic
impeded and business destroyed as it may be found necessary
for the purposes of the combination, which violates both the
letter and the spirit of the laws of the United States and of
the states involved. Complainant prays therefore that the
committee investigate the complaint, examine the agreements,
require the attendance of witnesses, the production of papers,
etc., to determine the consequences, also the purposes of
those who are in the agreement. The commission has not yet
determined the exact date for the hearing.
