£28,000,000 PROBLEM.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 44, 2 December 1913, Page 10

£28,000,000 PROBLEM.

The fascinating problem how to dispose of £28,000,000 awaits immediate solution by a college boy of 21 (stated the New 'York correspondent ot 'The Daily Mail on September 28). Within tho next few days William, Averill Harrimnn, who three months ago graduated at Yale University, will attend a meeting of the directors of the Union Pacific Railway to cast a deciding vote on the question how, in tho Wall Street vernacular, to "cut the melon" composed of £16,200,000, the proceeds of the sale of the Union Pacific's holdings of Southern Pacific stock, and of a surplus which brings the total to £28,000,000. I In anticipation of the. melon-cutting, Union Pacifie stock has jumped M points above its' recent high-water mark, but Wall 'Street is still in ignorance of the intentions of the youthful millionaire, whoso duty it is to vote for himself, his mother", .and; the interests they represent as heirs of the late railway wizard, Mr E. H. Harriman. Whether he will vote to distribute the money among the holders of Union. Pacific stock or to put it into cold: storage for future use by the purchase of some non-competitive railway or by building extensions of the Union Pacific system is what Wall Street would give much to know. Young Mr Harriman' is a studious boy. He. has had a thorough training in- railway work, from firing the. engine to preparing freight bills and .surveying. He has for some years combined active work with study. With a couple Of text books under his arm lie attended a meeting of the Union Pacific board of directors a few days ago, but apparently he postponed the nui- [ 11101110111 decision.