Practically all of the assessments were paid in by September 21. On November 25 Mr. E. P. Ripley was elected president, and in the first week of December, 1895, Mr. Aldace F. Walker was elected chairman of the board of directors of the new company. On December 10, 1895, the property and franchises of the Atchison were sold at foreclosure, and were purchased for $60,000,000 by Edward King, Charles C. Beaman, and Victor Morawetz, representing the reorganization committee.[452] The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company was then organized by the purchasers pursuant to the laws of Kansas, under a certificate of incorporation dated December 12, 1895. A board of directors was elected, and by-laws were adopted. The entire estate embraced in the foreclosure sale was duly conveyed by deed of the same date as the incorporation of the company, in consideration of which the company executed a delivery to the Joint Executive Reorganization Committee of the securities acquired under the plan of reorganization. Certain subsidiary roads were subsequently foreclosed and bought in, notably the Atlantic & Pacific and the Chicago, Santa Fe & California. The St. Louis & San Francisco was not so bought in. “The question of retaining the St. Louis & San Francisco as a part of the Atchison system,” said the annual report of 1896, “received very careful consideration from the Directors.... A series of conferences was held, which resulted in the matter ultimately presenting the alternative of the sale of our existing interest upon favorable terms, or the purchase by us of all other outstanding interests upon terms involving the outlay of a very large amount of both cash and securities. While the future control of that road was regarded as important, the financial considerations affecting the situation prevailed, and the sale was decided on the whole to be more prudent than the purchase.” “With the acquisition of the Frisco,” said Mr. Fleming of the Joint Executive Committee, “the fixed charges on the Atchison system of 7780 miles would have been increased from $7000 to $9000 per mile. Atchison is financially much stronger without Frisco.”