Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts - Lackawanna Securities Co. - Stock Certificate

Stock issued to the "Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts".

Fairly typical of the general situation is the history of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. Prior to 1909 the railway owned coal lands, mined coal, and sold it, in addition to performing its functions as a carrier. About the time the socalled "commodities clause,” which prohibits a railway from transporting commodities produced or owned by it, was added to the Interstate Commerce Commission law, the railway organized the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Coal Company which acted as a selling concern. Further action by the government led it in September, 1921, to dispose of its coal properties, turning them over to the Glen Alden Coal Company. The Glen Alden shares were offered to the railway's stockholders, and Glen Alden bonds were issued to the railway company. In March, 1927, Glen Alden bonds were turned over to the Lackawanna Securities Company, formed in that year as the last step in the complete segregation of the coal properties. A proposal was then made to distribute Lackawanna Securities Company stock to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western stockholders and this feature of the plan has met the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission. (From The Business of Railway Transportation, Traffic-Rates-Regulations by Lewis Henry Haney)