Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 November 1936 — Page 11

osier and Ohio Direct | ’ Empire.

y NEA Service | CLEVELAND, either George Alexander Ball nor George Ashley Tomlinson ever expected that he would find himself and his partner in charge of 23,000

iles of railroad. |

But when death called for O. P. Van Sweringen in his private railroad car, Ball and Tomlinson begame his successors at the head of the “patchwork empire” of pyramided railroad interests built up by the picturesque Van Sweringen brothers. Mantis J. Van Sweringen, the 3 Sher brother, died less than a year

ea is a 74-year-old fruit-jar manufacturer of varied financial and philanthropic interests in Muncie, Ind. Tomlinson, head of B fleet of Great. Lakes boats, 1s o . former newspaper reporter and wild west show performer who rose ‘to financial power. The curious way in which these men became “heirs” to the Van Sweringen railroad empire is told in the current issue of Fortune Magazine.

ov. 27.~—

The Van Sweringens were in|

financial difficulties. When the depression struck, it undermined the slender base of the inverted pyramid on which they had built. They owed the Morgans $48,000,000 which they couldn’t pay. And the Morgans proceeded to “sell ‘them down the river.”

Business Goes on Block

The controlling stock "of the Vaness Co., “top company” of the Van Sweringen interests, was sold at auction in New York. The Morgans, naturally expected to bid it in to protect their loss of $43,000,000 did not do so. Apparently they had little confidence in the Vans’ projects and future. - Instead, a buyer appeared in the person of Midamerica Corp. which bid in the Van Sweringen contralling interest for $3,121,000. And Midamerica Corp. turned ou to be Ball and Tomlinson. The Van Sweringens, Forts ine Teyeals, hadn't a cent in Mi erfca. But though Ball and |Tom- . linson owned control of Midamerica, they gave to the Van Sweringen brothers the right to |vote| their stock and a 10-year option to buy 85 per cent, of the common stock at cost plus 5 per cent a year.

Had Faith in Vans

It was a strange arrangement, even to top off the strange financial manipulations of the Van Sweringen brothers. Ball and Tomlinson evidently had confidence In the ability of the Van Sweringehs Jo pull out on top even when npbody else had. The new financial Gagkers were pot even long-time friends or associates of the railroad | magicians. Tomlinson had first met them when 0. P. came to him during the 1 8 boom. The Vans were then buying: . pverything in sight, and asked Tomlinson to buy the Cleveland Plajn Dealer - The "deal failed to go through, but the business connection remained. In 1930 the Vans put Tomlinson on the board of directors of the Missouri Pacific. Two years later, Tomlinson recommended on friend for the similar position with the Nickel Plate. | When, in the summer of 1035, the Vans approached their financis Waterloo, Ball and Tomlinson were ready to bail them out. Now, with both M. J. and O. P. Van Sweringen ~ suddenly dead, Ball and Tomlinson find themselves| in the drivers’ seat with 23,000 miles of railroad stretch-

ahead. Neither has ever n aly interested in railroa “First Citizen”. of Muncie i

2 ‘George Alexander all was bom in Green, O., Nov. 2, 1862. He is the most active - surviving brother of five who started the glass works which popularized - the fruit jar ~ bearing their name. In Muncie, Ind, with| his elder brother Frank, Ball is “ “gen.” He heads Ball Stores, Inc,

in the Great Lakes 3 Portland Cement Co., Dictaphone Corp. wy | and the

hiiantiropy has made him even He known than the big home on the banks of White river or. the summer home at Leland, Mich. In - 1929, the family set up a charitable trust of $3,500,000 in. ‘memory of Edmund Ball. The Y. M. C. A, ¥. W. C. A, municipal Masonic Tem hospi

Citi- | -

George A. Ball

mer as host to the Indiana delegation in an ‘elaborate suite of the Van Sweringens. Ball has collected one of the great private libraries of the country, spelizing in thousands of children’s books. There are rare items, too, including original letters of George Washington, early Bibles, and one of the few complete sets of original letters by signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Performed for Queen

Tomlinson’s career is even more spectacular. Now 70 years old, he started as a $6-a-week reporter for a ‘Detroit newspaper, He had already*spent some time on a ranch in Wyoming in the days when Indians were numerous there. When he was sent to interview Buf{alo Bill, he joined the troupe. During a tour in England, he rode in a command performance before Queen Victoria, Returning to the States, he had another go at newspaper work, but, his eyes failing, he turned to the shipping business, in which his father-in-law was interested. Gradually he built up one of the greatest fleets on the lakes. During the World War he served for three years as director of inland waterways for the Railroad Administration.. When Van Sweringen approached him to act as agent in buying the Cleveland newspaper, he “fell dead mentally,” Tomlinson once. said. But through this connection, Tomlinson ‘became director in "14 railroads and otherwise broadened his interests.

~ He’s a Book “Fan” " He is also a book collector, and

j boasts of a complete set - of the

writings of Ambrose Bierce in his enormous library. Tomlinson has also been active in the affairs of

Children’s © Hospital and other benevolences. He is a director of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and a vice president of the Cleveland Indians baseball club. The death of the last Van Sweringen brother abrogates both his voting power and option to buy. into Midamerica. So the fate of the railroad empire, which includes the Chesapeake & Ohio, Nickel Plate, Pere Marquette, Missouri Pacific, Wheeling & - Lake Erie, Chicago & Eastern Illinois, and Erie Railroads, is now in the hands of the two men who only tried to save it for the friends they trusted.

15¢

ta to

George A. Tomlinson

SMALL RATIO OF | CHECKS ISSUED§

Less Than One Per Cent of Farmers Have Received AAA ‘Benefits.

By United Press

WASHINGTON, Nov. 91 ~Less

than 1 per cent of the total amount | Ee due farmers as benefits under the |= 1936 "soil conservation program |

actually has been paid thus far, the AAA revealed today. : Checks for :$3,437,104.30 have been | mailed to 37,964 farmers in 36 states, the AAA said, out of approximately $450,000,000 which eventually ‘will be paid farmers who complied with

Federal soil-conserving suggestions; |{&=

Peak period for. payments—when check-making machines will run’ 24

hours per day -and complicated |:

duplicating machines will run full

time placing. official signatures on |

the checks—probably will come in January and February, officials said. The payment load will dwindle off,

but all benefits probably will not |S

be out of the way until the middle of the year, it was said. Cs

Meanwhile, AAA officials worked |

long hours in an ‘effort to announce the 1937 soil conservation program regulations by the middle of December so that farmers will have an opportunity to study the rules before they begin planting for the new Crop year. 0 At the same time, A

servation Act 50 ‘as to Toate control of the program permanently in the hands of the. Federal LSevernment, instead of . reverting to. individual states on Jan, 1, 1938, as: it would | do under 'the present 1aw.. :

SENTENCED TO COUNTY

By Gnited Press.

HANFORD, « Cal; Nov. 27—City |

and country, like Kipling’s East and West, don’t mix for Edward Richards, local farmer. After. allegedly

disturbing the peace in the former, |

Richards was sentenced by Judge Brenton not to come to! town: again for 60 days. ;

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