more raid on prices; a little more bear talk, and the victim, recognizing the pursuers, disgorges to the wolf-pack anywhere from a quarter to half of his life savings. Then the market rebounds and the papers mention how the day was saved. The curtain falls!

FROM "CONFIDENCE OR NATIONAL SUICIDE"

BY ARTHUR E. STILWELL, PRESIDENT KANSAS CITY, MEXICO AND

ORIENT RAILWAY

It was a put-up job from start to finish. If he had been a big fish, a panic might have resulted affecting all interests. Confidence is shaken! Millions of dollars are lost; our people are made to suffer; business is retarded; and we are damned in the eyes of the world.

Why is it that a man, on the slightest provocation, will whoop it up for the Stars and Stripes, singing:-"My country, 'tis of thee," will fight in the Spanish War, and allow his son to join the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; will contribute to the Ice Fund and other charities; will do all in his power (as he thinks) for humanity's sake; will weep great tears over the Armenian massacres; and then, forsaking all good prompting, will perversely degenerate to engineer a financial raid? Raiders are willing to attack a great American, and ruin an enterprise which probably represented years of suffering and labor in the building. The money wolves may bring down in the wreck a bank or trust company just for a little gold. And while doing this wrecking, he dares to think he is a patriot, and considers himself a Christian or an orthodox Jew, yet feels no more compunction when shooting holes in the ten commandments than he experiences while smashing clay pigeons.

What is the good of money secured in this way and who can be sodden enough to want it?

A man once prominent in business and whose name was daily in the papers, a few years ago made the remark to me: "I am out for the stuff and I will get it in some way-any way; people know that is my game, but I am the smarter and will win."

I have watched that man and it is true that he has won money, but he has no friendly associates. It is true that he has a brilliant mind, yet he has not won a respected position in the business world. He can secure all that money can buy; he can weigh out his gold for land, pictures, houses and automobiles, but he cannot purchase desirable friends; he cannot buy respectable standing in the business world. If his name were now connected with any great business enterprise it would damn it from the start.

I wonder if he realizes, as the shadows of the great unknown sweep over him, that he cannot push them back; that he will soon. be swept into the great hereafter, for which he cared so little in the years gone by. When he is alone in the twilight of his earthly life, and sees the night approaching, will all his millions take the vile taste from his mouth, when he thinks of the nasty tricks which won the gold? Then, surely, he would gladly give half of all his possessions in exchange for his sacrificed character and manhood.

STILLWELL'S ROAD IS IN RECEIVER'S HANDS1

ENGLISH BONDHOLDERS ACT OWING TO DIFFICULTY OF FINANCING MEXICAN LINE ABROAD

NO AID FROM WALL STREET

KANSAS CITY CAPITALISTS INVESTED $2,000,000 AND FOREIGN INTERESTS MORE THAN $5,000,000

Special to The New York Times

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 7.-Edward Dickinson, Vice-President of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway Company, was appointed receiver for that railroad in the Federal Court in Kansas City, Kan., this afternoon at 5:15 o'clock. Another receiver will be appointed in a few days.

Three corporations, all construction companies, appeared in court in company with the United States and Mexican Trust Company, Trustees in mortgages representing $25,000,000.

The construction companies are the International Construction Company of Delaware, which had claims for $1,300,000; the Union Construction Company of Delaware, which had a claim for $146,000, and the Western Tie and Timber Company of Arkansas, with a claim of $18,000. Each of the claims was allowed, including the claims on the $25,000,000 of bonds represented by the United States and Mexican Trust Company.

The hearing was held in chambers and lasted about an hour. The attorneys would not talk of the suit further than to say that construction work on the road would continue, and that the line would be rushed to completion under the receivership.

Twelve years of building along the projected 1,629 miles of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway have brought the system to this date with 988 miles of finished track, in actual operation. Of that mileage a single great stretch of 642 miles lies within the United States, from Wichita, Kan., to Granada, Texas. In Mexico two separated stretches, aggregating 342 miles, are operating; the longer 287 miles, stretching northeast and southwest from Chihuahua, playing between Sanchez and Marquez, in Northern Mexico, and the other 150 miles in length reaching from Topolobampo, the Pacific Coast terminus, 105 miles to the mountains at La Junta.

1 From New York Times of March 8, 1912.

The Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad was conceived by A. E. Stillwell twelve years ago. The project has numerous unique features. It was to be "the shortest route to the Orient." It was to go through a a district in Mexico rich in minerals and timber, but supposed to be inaccessible for railroads.

Mr. Stillwell announced at the outset that he proposed to build the road without the aid of Wall Street, and he has been hard at work for twelve years raising money wherever he could obtain it and building the road as fast as he could get funds. He announced in 1900 that he proposed to have the road completed and trains running into Kansas City within three years.

A former official of the company said to-day that Kansas City investments in the project probably exceeded $2,000,000.

No statement ever has been published showing the amount of money actually expended in the construction of the road. The last annual report of the company, for June 30, 1911, showed outstanding $12,500,000 of common stock, $12,500,000 of preferred stock, $21,000,000 of funded debt, $8,500,000 of other liabilities.

The receivership for the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient was applied for at the instance of a committee of English bondholders, according to Frederick Hurdle of London, England, who, with Lord Munson, another member of the committee, arrived in this city a few days ago as representatives of the English interests.

Mr. Hurdle attributed the predicament of the company largely to difficulties in financing. He said the efforts to place additional issues of bonds abroad had recently failed. It was proposed to reorganize the company, he said, but at the present time no definite plans in this direction had been decided upon. Upward of $5,000,000 of the bonds were sold to English capitalists about two years ago, after President Stillwell had conducted a party of them over the road on a special train. The International and Union Construction Companies were organized by President Stillwell to construct the road, and are holders of some of the company's bonds. The United States and Mexican Trust Company, of which Mr. Stillwell is President, is trustee of the bonds. Mr. Stillwell's methods of financing his road were not looked upon with confidence among men of experience in money matters, and when he began a campaign of publicity last month both by letters to public bodies and in costly advertisements assailing the "money trust," there was many who predicted that developments would not be far behind and that the "Money Trust" would be a convenient scapegoat.

It was in connection with an offering of $10,000,000 5 per cent. first mortgage collateral trust bonds to stockholders of his road at par, that

President Stillwell first lauched into an attack on the money trust. He said that the Directors wanted him to advise stockholders and the public of obstacles encountered and of the "artificial barriers created by those who through sheer patriotism, should have been our friends and helpers." He told of bankers, without naming them, who had been told that their business would be ruined if they attempted to help, but concluded "the people will subscribe for this issue not only because it is a splendid investment, but because they believe in a square deal."

In later letters some of them addressed to stock brokers all over the country as well as to Legislators, he attacked the "Money Trust" in picturesque language.

Last Fall in explaining to stockholders the many reasons why the road was costing more than planned and why its completion had been so long delayed, he offered as a reward of patience a share in a telephone patent in which he had become interested. The railway stockholders were to receive 49 per cent. interest in the company which was to be formed to exploit the company in England and British possessions and a like share in companies to be formed in other foreign countries. Mr. Stillwell is the author of several unique books which have brought him considerable publicity. One published in 1910 called "Confidence or National Suicide" was written largely to justify higher railroad

rates.