The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-11-15

the shareholders Of the New York and New Haven
Railroad, which we published in yesterdays
Herald, have produced a tremendous sensation
but they deserve not only to be read for the
as passing wonder, but " marked, learned, anc
rnwardly digested," for future use. The public
attention has not yet been sufficiently awakened
in this country to the swindling operations ant
gross nismanagement of railway companies. The
astounding disclosures recently made in England
OF the gigantic frauds of Hudson, "the Railway
King" and his accomplices, reused the people Of
that country to sense of their danger, and evel
since shareholders have sharp eye upon the
transactions of directors, chairmen, engineers
contractors and other particpators In the plumber
OF the million. In many instances the bubbles
have burst, and the victims saved from further inn
notation; In others the scrutiny instituted ha:
been rewarded by information leading to re-or-
ganization on a surer footing Nor have these re-
velatons been confined to railway companies
Other JOINT stock companies have been subjected
to the sitting examination, and the result u.s.
that with the stringent provisions of the Jeint
Stock Companies Act, fraudulent schemes are
blown up in hundreds. In one single number of a
late Lendon paper, we find list OF thirty of them.
The great agent in demollshng these swlndles is
the PRESS particularly the Times, whose exposures
have gained for it worldly WIDE reputation.
Now, it so happens that on this side the Atlantic,
as well as on the other, there are rogues, and
swndlers, and schemers, and artfu dodgers, and
railway Hudsons, who, clothed IN purple and fine
linen, fare sunptuously every day, live in palaces,
drive their carriages, and give balls and magnificent
suppers upon the hard earnings of gued commu-
e Il. Il.
ton, they hoard up dollars in thousands for their
offspring; if they Of speculative turn, they
invest their ill-gotten gains in raising more of
the wind, by some new scheme. The Herald has
watched these financiers, and from time to time,
exposed their Vaccinations The management of
the New Haven Railroad did not escape it. The
hidden things brought to light on Tuesday were
no secrets to us. Shrewdly suspecting what was
to come out, we sent reporter there-the only
one who has reported the important proceedings
An alarm was RAISED by the managers, when they
found ga chiel amang them takin' notes." but
more especially when he vowed he'd print them
An impudent attempt was made to exclude him, or
tamper with his report; but it was signal failure,
and has recoed with damnlng confusion. What
reader will not say, "They loved the darkness
rather than the light, because their deeds are
evil - Innocence fears not investigation-truth
courts inquiry Bad as the English plunderers
are, they never attempted anything like this. The
Times sends reporters to every meeting Of railway
shareholders through the country, and lays bare
the proceedings to the world. No man dares to
interfere with them. No man shall be permitted
to interfere with reporters of the Herald. Mr..
Roosevelt, in his speech, well observed -
at is light all want I think there ought to be
no secrets and that the Shareholders and the public,
teo, II you please, should know everything shout the
line. have no secrets, and think we ought to have
none here.n
There are two important classes of men inter-
ested IN the proceedings at meetings of railway
companies one is the absent shareholders, who
are specially interested, and the other no less than
the community at large, who have a general in
erest, as they have right to know the true nature
of the concerns whose stock they purchase. The
press is the only guardian Of their interests their
only representative. Means may be taken to pack
meetings the documents brought before the meet
ing may be suppressed or altered. by some hocus-
pocus sleight- ofhand. For instance, the share
holders of the New Haven Railroad, who were not
present at the meeting in August, never yet saw
the report Of the directors, then submitted to the
and we have no assurance that they ever
will see II the directors having disobeyed the or
der of the meeting, to have it published and dis
tnbuted, may dsobey 1t again. All this mannuvring
is upset by the presence OF reporters, who give
the proceedings to the public, with the Official do
cuments, which the shareholders ought always to
insist upon their getting, there and then.
Let us just enumerate some Of the items exhibit
ed in the report Of the Herald OF which many Of
the stockholders, and most Of the public, would be
otherwise left as ignorant as the child uaborn.
First They would know nothing abou, the very tIi-
fling item of from $50 900 to 100000, paid the
tractors, for nearly two miles of road they never
constructed; one Of these contractors being the
brother of the President, and actually his business
partner. Another fact came out-that the whole of
the capital has been expended ameng brothers,
and friends A third fact is, that
the friend and confdani OF one Of the contractors
was expressly appointed engineer, that he might
be obedient 10 him and subserent to his In
teresis
Then there Is an item for "splkes," which cost
the company from five to ten thousand dollars more
than they would have paid for the "chairs," origi;
nally agreed for. And this change was recon-
mepded by the engineer, though the Hudson River
company nave duopNtu in PiVi'i-
ence to spikes. The next facts which doomed oai
of the mist were the contracts with the Bridgeport
company, Of which the Presidents brother is Pre-
sident; and several other contracts, which were
ordered to be published three months ago, but
have not yet seen the hight, except the glimpse glven
by Mr. Roosevelt Yetin the face Of all this, the ma
ority Of the committee of the shareholders have
eulogrzed the Directors and Prcsiden, in the mos,
e,iravagant manner, and pronounced every charge
against them frivolous" il not ''vexatious."
The most satirical thing said at the meeting was
by Mr.. Young, who seems to be piece of wag.
He said the Directors President, and other officers
were all honorable" men, (as bitter irony as
Mark Anthony's use of the same term over the
dead body of Cgsar,) but their policy was had, for
the company ought to be clearing ten per cent on
their capital, instead Of the stock being five per
cent below par. 1t Is decidedly the most pro-
ductive railroad in the country, yet it produces
nothing.
IL seems rather strange that after the good be-