N&W in 1909--PRR 2

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
April 25, 1909

NO PARTICULAR INTEREST IN N. & W. DEAL
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Pennsylvania Railroad Simply Got Back Block of Stock it Relinquished Some Years Ago

    Richmond Times-Dispatch:  That no particular amount of interest followed the announcement that the Pennsylvania Railroad had purchased a controlling interest in the Norfolk and Western Railway seems to have been due to the fact that the Pennsylvania simply got back what it relinquished some time ago, and for that reason it was different from the ordinary railway deal.
    President McCrea, of the Pennsylvania, said that the purchase of the additional stock brought the system's entire holdings up to about 37 per cent. of the company's [N&W] capital.  The Pennsylvania several years ago parted with its entire interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio and at least one-half of its ownership in the Baltimore and Ohio.
    Officials of the road said that they appreciated the natural advantages for the interchange of traffic between the various systems at Columbus, Cincinnati and Circleville to the west, and Hagerstown and Norfolk in the east.  A large proportion of the traffic of the Norfolk and Western is exchanged directly with the Pennsylvania system, so it appeared expedient to the directors of the Pennsylvania to increase the road's holdings of Norfolk and Western Railway Company stock by repurchasing the block which had been disposed of.
    It was announced in September 1906 that the Pennsylvania system had disposed of about $16,000,000 of its Norfolk and Western stock to the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb and Company.  At that time it was explained that the Pennsylvania had acquired interests in various coal roads for the purpose of establishing relations with the managements of such properties that would incline them to join the Pennsylvania in a effort to do away with the practice of secret rebates and preferences.  It was added that the desired results had been fully realized and the management of the Pennsylvania entertained no fear that the railroads of the country would ever fall back into the old practices.
    In addition to the Norfolk and Western stock purchased from the banking house, the holdings of the Pennsylvania company and the Northern Central Railway, one of its subsidiaries, amounted to about $17,500,000.
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 Gordon Hamilton
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