The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-09-23


THE WAY OuR RAILROAD CORPORATIONS ARE
MANAGED.-The meeting Of the Connecticut
stockholders in the New Haven Railroad, held
on Thursday at the Metropolitan, has brought
to light some interesting and noteworthy fact-
1t appears from statement obtained from the
President, that the whoe amount Of real stock
owned by eight directors is 1875 shares out Of
10000. One Of the directors only owned one
share a. the time OF the 'ast meeting aud that had
been transferred to him for the purpose of en-
aiding him to be director, Another owned
no real stock at all but was elected on the
strength Of twenty SHARES of Schuyler's spu-
nous issue. The President pro tenn. holds sixty
shares, being the largest holder in the board:
and thus with power to defrAud the community
ana the stockholders 10 the extent of millions
has only interest Of one ivehuudreth part
Of the whole capital. What WOO Ter is it that
corporations should be mismanaged and robbed
when men. whose Interests are so slenderly
identified with those of the stockholders as this,
are entrusted with entire control. Managers
Of corporations can only be chosen on one of
two grouods: either their ability makes it de-
srable that their services shonld be secured
and in that case they should be paid serva It's:
or their interest in the adventure is so large
that it affords stockholders guarantee for
their judici"us administration OF the common.
concern. No officer chosen on any other ground
than these two can be expected to d. his duty
No man, for the sake of forty or fifty shares il
a concern Of 10000, will cons. Mt to give up his
time gratuitously to manage it for the benefit
of his associates And when share or more
are given to man in order to enable him to
become q director, and he accepts the Office
without remuneration, the presumption is over
whelming that he expects to make money out
Of the Office in an underhand way.
FIRST CONVICTION UNDER THE FIRE MARsHAL's
ADMINIsTRATIoN.--We have ct length some tan
sble fruits OF the usefulness Of the new city
officer who was appointed a short time since
with the title of Fire Marshal. Martin Ship
ton, who was convicted Of arson the osaer day,
would in all probability have escaped had no
such officer existed We feel assured that this
is only beginning. That large proportion
of the fires which occur in New York are the
work Of incendiaries, no one would be disposed
to deny the difficulty has hitherto lain in the
impossiblity of detection, where fire so rapidly
consumed all that could have served as evi
dence OF the crime. Every now aad then Pro-
violence has defeated the intentio of the incet-
diary, and then ample proofs of the plot came
% light, in the shape of comhustihles, matches,
chaIred wood. &c. But for one case where
suck basis for prosecution could be found, d
hundred occurred where the iucendiary escaped
without tinge of suspicion. This era ofimpu
nifty now seems drawing to close. Every day
the examinations Of the Fire Marshal render i,
more and more difficult for offenders to escape
Before, the public and the insurance compane
were satisfied with vague verdict OF accidental
fire; now, some more definite cansc for the de-
struction Of property must be shown, or
searching examination must be undergone by
all persons who may have been accessory to
the arson We trust we are not over sanguine
in anticipating that the reform will not only
tend materially to diminish the number of
fires, but will have the effect of purging the
commucity of some of its vilest m mbers. To
achieve this most desirable end, ho yever 1t Is
indispensable that the Court and the District
Attorney should lend their cordial assistance
to the Fire Marshal in prosecuting his re-
searches for the guilty or the suspected In
comparison with miscreants VINO SET tire to their
store or their house in order to defraud insur-
aDce companies and thus waatonly DESTROY
property and jeopardise life, the scamps who |
pick q pocket or commit assaults in drunken |
fits are almost harmless Z-al and energy, ON |
the part Of the prosecuting officer, AM a |
thorough determination On that of the Court |
to afford the Fire Marshal every facility for |
attaining his object, are at the present moment |
the only thing needed to cure or ut all events |
to mitigate one Of the greatest evils under |
which New York has labored.
Marine Affairs. |
CHoRoFoRM VESSELS FOR AMERICA A letter from Paris
IL is stated orts that two vessel. Of thousand
tons oarthen each, are 10 co0rss of constr uctoa
Nantes to ply btteeen Havre and New York the snyues