1907 - POWER BEHIND THE THRONE

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Roanoke Times - May 18, 1907

POWER BEHIND THE THRONE

Rockefeller Said to Be Owner of the Tidewater.

   Norfolk, Va., May 17. - A deed of trust from the Virginian Railway,
comprising the Tidewater and Deepwater systems, to the Central Trust
Company of New York, for ten million dollars, was recorded in the clerks'
office of Norfolk county late last evening.
   This is the security for the famous series of personal notes, said to
have been made by Mr. Henry H. Rogers, the reputed owner of the Tidewater,
for the completion of the line, news of which was exclusively published in
the Star at the time the notes were executed. It is said that the
transaction was the most stupendous ever put through by any one man in the
history of finance in the manner in which this was done. Personal notes for
ten million dollars are apt to create a ripple even in the land of
financial magic.
   In this connection the following Washington dispatch is full of interest
for this section:
   Washing, May 17. -- The usually prosaic hearings before the Interstate
Commerce Commission were enlivened by the testimony of W. N. Page,
president of the Tidewater railroad up to the time that the road and the
Deepwater railroad were merged into one system -- the Virginia railroad --
and now president of that system. Under oath he told the story, so far as
he knows it, of the inside history of this road -- a road that has been
built without a bond. He told of having been given a letter of credit to
the amount of $18,000,000 to build the Tidewater railroad, and of having
spent more that $20,000,000 already on its construction. He told of how H.
H. Rogers and H. H. Hyams, the latter a Boston millionaire, were the two
men whom he supposed were backing the project and added that there might be
some one else behind it, about whom he knew no more than the most casual
spectator in the room. This latter man of mystery seems to be none other
than John D. Rockefeller.
   The whole thing came out in the hearing of the complaint of the Loop
Creek Colliery Company and the Deepwater railroad to compel the Chesapeake
and Ohio to enter into satisfactory traffic agreements.
   He testified that the he had in his pocket a letter of credit on the
international Trust Company of Boston for $18,000,000, and that his drafts
on that trust company had amounted to $20,000,000, and he yet could not
swear who had put it there and, furthermore, that he did not personally
know any one connected with the institution, and if he went into the place
of business to get a check cashed he would have to be identified.
   He said that he was only a figurehead as president of the road, and
owned little or no stock in it, but did enjoy confidential relations with
the men who are financing it.
   Speaking about the inception of the enterprise, he said that it was the
original intention of the people owning the Virginian railroad to build to
tidewater, but to build only a short line connecting the Norfolk and
Western and the Chesapeake and Ohio. The Chesapeake and Ohio, however,
could not, and would not, afford his people an outlet, and the Virginian
railroad has been the result.
   He said that the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and Western,
through Presidents Stevens and Johnson, had offered him every sort of
proposition if he would not go to tidewater, and had offered to handle his
traffic on practically his own terms if he would not go to tidewater.
   He said that the Chesapeake and Ohio is today playing the
dog-in-the-manger; that it is today developing six new counties, when its
facilities are confessedly inadequate to handle the output of the counties
it now gets coal from.
   He said that on April 23 the Tidewater and Deepwater roads had been
consolidated, and capital stock amounting to $33,500,000 had been
authorized. Mr. Page said that he thought that he could produce documentary
evidence to prove that he had brought more capital into the States of
Virginia and West Virginia than any other man had ever done.
   After he had concluded his testimony, Mr. Page stated that is was the
ultimate plan to extend the Virginian railroad through to the Great Lakes.
   In view of the testimony of Mr. Page, it is believed that the man back
of Mr. Rogers is John D. Rockefeller. It is evident that to carry the
project through to the Great Lakes will require a great deal more money
than Mr. Rogers can put up himself.

-----------------------------------

Notes:
   "Speaking about the inception of the enterprise, he said that it was the
original intention of the people owning the Virginian railroad to build to
tidewater, but to build only a short line connecting the Norfolk and
Western and the Chesapeake and Ohio." is what is printed in the paper. I
suspect there is a missing "not"??

dog-in-the-manger:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dog_in_the_Manger

- Roger Link