In practically all these cases the Metropolitan, in order to secure physical possession, agreed to pay rentals that far exceeded the earning capacity of the road.

What is the explanation of such insane finance?
We do not have the precise facts in the matter of the New York railways; but similar operations in Chicago, which have been officially made public, shed the utmost light upon the situation.

In order to get possession of a single road in Chicago, Widener and Elkins guaranteed a thirty-five per cent dividend; to get one Philadelphia line, they guaranteed 65 1/2 per cent on capital paid in.

This, of course, was not business; the motives actuating the syndicate were purely speculative.

In Chicago, Widener and Elkins quietly made large purchases of the stock in these roads before they leased them to the parent company.