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Show dMRSTATE BOARD MAKES I REPORT I Probe Into Financial Deal- fings of Rock Island Rail-( Rail-( road Is Ended. h PRESIDENT TESTIFIES 15 Declares Road Is in Better Condtion Today Than k Ever Before. e; A WASHINGTON, Feb. 27; Inquiry j into the affairs of the Chicago, Rock ,i Island & Pacific Railroad company and "A its allied corporations by the interstate t; commerce commission came to an end yn oday, but with no possibility that any report to congress on the resolution calling call-ing for the investigation can be made at this session. Counsel for the rail- road agreed to submit by March 20 abstracts ab-stracts of the evidence offered, presenting present-ing their view of the facts brought out. Joseph W. Polk, chief counsel for the commission, who has conducted the inquiry, in-quiry, will present similar statements, but it is impossible that the commission's commis-sion's findings will be made known be-; y fore congress is again assembled and the '' formal report is made. :$! Henry U. Mudge, president of the s Rock Island Operating company, the ?3 jaruings of which were said in testi-mony testi-mony to be the only value behind the J securities of the two holding companies j. organized by the Leeds-Reid-Moore group, which acquired control of the; Rock Island in 1901, was the chief wit- i ness today for the railroad. His teBti- ' mony dealt almost entirely with the present physical condition of the system, j which he "declared to be better than at auy time in its history. Tells of Work- 1 Mr. kludge at one point said that in Shis railroad life, filling positions from section hand to president, he had worked hard. ' ' But, I give you my word," he added, "I benevo I work v harder for my money now longer " hours harder work than I did in any of those jobs. I now earn more for the load." 6 He corroborated other railroad offi-.. offi-.. cials who have declared that the un- deriving cause of the present financial ".condition of the road was not any finan- 7 eial manipulation, but decrease in -"freight aud passenger rates, mainly by pi. etate commission rulings in eight states, and steady increase of wages and other j expenses of operation. ! The creation of the holding com- ' panies, the witness insisted, had riot ' "loaded the Rock Island railway with a dollar in additional burden. The purchase pur-chase of the Frisco system, later turned back at a cost of $7,500,000 to the Iowa holding company, but which was finally met by the operating company, com-pany, had looked like a good investment the time, he Bald. To changed con- Jjditions of railroading he ascribed the failure of that investment to come up 80 to expectations. Mr. Mudge testified under cross-examination, however, that interest on the $7,500,000 borrowsd by a the railway company for the holding concern was an added burden. As to many other securities, said by the government gov-ernment experts to be worthless, al- 't though carried as assets on the company's com-pany's books, he disagreed, saying that ithe various feeder lines and coal lands acquired probably would be one of the qreal values to the system eventually. Banker Is Witness. i James Speyer, head of the New York banking house of Speyer & Co., made a voluntary statement before the inter-jtate inter-jtate commerce commission today of his irm 's dealings with the Hock Wand 'i iystem during the period of its history Tinder investigation. The firm never iad occupied the position of fiscal agent '''!'or the railroad, he said, but acting as ffyi principal had bought ana resold, be-7 be-7 ween 1904 and 1912. securities of the jRock Island company itself of some 'i 517,409,000 face value. The total profit those transactions for the firm, Mr. ipeyor said, was $1,438,743, or eight-Sr-'.enths of 1 per cent. Not all of the Hrm's transactions in Eock Island securities se-curities had resulted in profits, Mr. PSpeyor added. At no time, Mr. Speyer said, had his '"filrm handled any securities of the Eock (island holding companies organized by U ho Leeds-Beid group. " Mr. Spever volunteered his statement ifter Chief Counsel Folk,' for the com-nission, com-nission, had closed thb commission 's Jjl lirect case with the testimony of Ogden dills, a director of the Eock Island lailway company and of the New Jer-ev Jer-ev holding company. !' Itfr. Mills said he had no personal mowledge of the various pa3'ments in .tock or bonds in addition to salary -riadc to various officers of the Bock 'sland system. |