340 SOLOMON HUEBNER 



If the averages presented in the preceding paragraph are 

 correct, the conclusion suggested is that, excluding the New 

 England railways and the roads represented in Table I., the 

 stock owned by the average holder is comparatively large. 

 A closer investigation will reveal the fact, however, that the 

 question is not fully determined by merely presenting the 

 average stockholding for the roads of each of the four groups. 

 It is manifest that while the above averages present the mini- 

 mum concentration of stock among the so-called " stock- 

 holders," they do not take account of the fact that these 

 stockholders do not in all cases necessarily represent individual 

 holders, but may in some cases represent corporations. In 

 the first place, one railway corporation, itself representing 

 many stockholders, may be the holder of a portion of the stock 

 of another railway company. Or considerable blocks of such 

 securities may be held by trust companies, life insurance com- 

 panies, investment companies, etc., which in turn represent 

 the investments of a large number of persons, many of whom 

 belong to the middle and poorer classes. How far this proc- 

 ess of subdivision must be carried in order to fairly determine 

 the extent to which the population of the country is now 

 involved in railway ownership, it is difficult to judge. Suffice 

 it to say, that large blocks of railway securities are held in 

 this way, and that this indirect form of investment is rapidly 

 increasing. Thus on July 1, 1901, the general stock invest- 

 ments of the trust companies of New York city alone aggre- 

 gated over $209,000,000. Even in the case of savings banks, 

 whose investment powers have been very carefully safe- 

 guarded, a change of policy is manifesting itself. Since 1899, 

 for example, the three states of New York, Massachusetts, 

 and Connecticut were obliged, owing to the rapid increase 

 of the deposits, to extend the power of these institutions to 

 invest to a limited degree in railway securities. While no 

 available statistics exist on this phase of our subject, we may 

 nevertheless conclude that this subdivision of the stockhold- 

 ings in railway securities, especially when we remember that 

 trust companies, investment companies, and the like, repre- 

 senting the merging together of a large number of small and 

 separately owned capitals, do actually hold large blocks of rail- 



