Auction

In his third-floor office in the gloomy old Federal Building in Minneapolis one morning last week, Special Master in Chancery Howard Strickland Abbott donned his black topcoat, his grey fedora, picked up his brief case and set out for the yards of Minneapolis & St. Louis R. R. It was Mr. Abbott's duty to put that dilapidated 1,600-mi. railroad on the auction block. By court order he was to offer the road at "the main entrance of the division superintendent's office at the Cedar Lake Shops." Arriving at the precise spot on the second floor of a grimy yellow brick building, white-crowned old Master Abbott pulled out a bound document, adjusted his pince-nez, began to read aloud to himself. Sixteen times had Mr. Abbott tried to sell the railroad, and he was not surprised that no one showed up for 17th offering./-

Shortly Mr. Abbott looked up from his document to announce to himself: "The sale is had pursuant to the decrees entered, and decrees provided that at any time the sale can be adjourned by public oral announcement to rooms in the division superintendent's office." At that point Mr. Abbott muttered: "Adjournment is now taken.'' Picking up his brief case, he stalked into the offices, looked around for an empty desk, hung up his hat and coat, got out more documents. No one paid any attention. He had 14 parcels of property to offer. At the end of each description he said: "How much am I offered for properties described and constituting parcel so-&-so?" The clerks did not even look up. After a pause Mr. Abbott would say inaudibly, "no bid." Finally he picked up his documents, returned to wait 60 or 90 days for the next auction, when he will do the same thing all over again. In good form Mr. Abbott can read his 52 pages without skipping a word in one hour and a half. If he is tired, it may take two hours.

Minneapolis & St. Louis went into receivership in 1923, was ordered sold in 1929. Old bondholders have not been willing to put up the cash necessary to put through a reorganization. RFChairman Jesse Jones was all ready to partition the fallen carrier among other western railroads (TIME, Sept. 23, 1935), but that plan involved abandonment of 500 miles of line. The communities which would lose their railroad put screws on their Congressmen, who have thus far blocked the Jones partition plan. Old Frederick Henry Prince, who has bought and sold a railroad or two in his 77 crotchety years, also had a plan for M. & St. L. but that got nowhere at all. Meantime, Mr. Abbott conducts his auctions without benefit of buyers.

/- Last week at an auction postponed 56 consecutive times because of legal entanglements, Manhattan's Commercial National Bank & Trust Co. finally bought in securities pledged under old defaulted Insull loans.

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