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Consolidation Was Put Off

Consolidation Was Put Off image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
February
Year
1903
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The following New York dispatch to the Journal would go to indicate that the D., Y., A.,  A. & J. is not yet to be absorbed by the Detroit United Railways. Reading between the lines it would seem that as the Argus predicted it was simply a question of price.

New York, Feb. 13.  -- Chairman H. A. Everett and President Hutchins of the Detroit United railway have left New York after completing all essential details for the merger of the Detroit United company, the Lake Shore electric road and the Detroit & Toledo Short Line by means of a holding company. The accidental presence in the city of S. F.  Angus, treasurer of the Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor & Jackson railway, created the impression that this property would also be included in the deal, but is stated on the best authority that there is no such present intention.

The Lake Shore Electric Railway Co. is to be included in the merger, and is now undergoing a reorganization which those interested in the road say will put it in the best of condition financially and prepare the way for making it the finest electric road property in the United States. It is claimed that the conditions of the territory which it traverses are peculiarly favorable to electric business.

The new company may be called the Michigan Securities Co., although the name is not yet decided upon. It is likely to be more than a mere holding company as it will take charge of the properties under long term leases, assume fixed charges and guarantee a certain dividend.  The company will not be formed until all the details of reorganization of the Lake Shore line are worked out.

Among those interested in the properties it is said the natural ultimate disposition of the Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor - Jackson line is absorption by this combination.  However in is not now in such condition as to make its acquisition desirable. The cost of constructing the road was out of all proportion to the necessities or profits of its traffic.

The clearing up of the affairs of the Lake Shore road, it is said, will leave Everett and his friends free to proceed with the reorganization of their telephone properties in Ohio.

 

President J.C. Hutchins, of the Detroit United Railway, was seen on his return from New York and said his visit there had nothing to do with the formation of any securities company, nor has any such plan been discussed.  There has at various times been some tentative talk regarding the desirability of more closely knitting together the various properties of the Detroit United Railway system, but nothing definite has been decided even on that line.  As for the Ypsi-Ann road, Mr. Hutchins says it was not mentioned during his stay in New York.