wo extensions a capital of thirty-five million
dollars would be needed; five million dollars for the purchase of the
majority stock in the three short roads, and the remainder for the
western outlet. These assertions were not guesses: by referring to
exhibits marked "a" "b" and "f," his hearers would find accurate
estimates of cost, not only of construction, but also of stock
purchases.

As to the manner of providing the capital, he had only a suggestion to
offer. The five million dollars necessary for the acquirement of a
controlling interest in the three short roads would be a fair
investment. It could be covered immediately by a reissue--share for
share--of the reorganization stock of the P. S-W., which would amply
secure the investors, since the stock of the most prosperous of the
three local roads was listed at twenty-eight, ten points lower than the
present market quotation of P. S-W.

The thirty million dollar extension fund might be raised by issuing
second mortgage bonds upon the entire system, or the new line itself
could be bonded mile for mile under a separate charter. Ford modestly
disclaimed any intention of dictating the financial policy; this was not
in his line. But again he would submit facts. The grain crop in the West
was phenomenally large in prospect. With its own eastern terminal in
Chicago, the Pacific Southwestern could control the grain shipments in
its own territory. With the moving of the grain, the depressed P. S-W.
stock would inevitably recover, and on a rising market the new issue of
bonds could doubtless be floated.

The enthusiast closed his argument with a hasty summing-up of the
benefits which must, in the nature of things, accrue. From being an
alien link in the great transcontinental chain, the Pacific Southwestern
would rise at a bound to the dignity of a great railway system; a power
to be reckoned with among the other great systems gridironing the West.
Its earnings would be enhanced at every point; cross lines which now fed
its competitors would become its allies; the local lines to be welded
into the eastern end of the system would share at once in the prosperity
of a strong through line.

For the western extension he could speak from personal knowledge of the
region to be penetrated. Apart from the new line's prime object--that of
providing an outlet for the system--there was a goodly heritage of local
business awaiting the first railroad to reach the untapped territory.