New-York tribune., 1870-04-11

that having received from Mr.. Fisk the oour-
tesies of the road, he found the refreshments
40 good he should be sorry to see any change
Last of all came Mr. II. g. Sherman also, and
this gentleman's appearance in the character
of a confding counsel was 20 remarkable that
we purpose inviting our readers to give 1t
their very particular attention.
Mr.. Shearman declared in his argument De-
fore the Assembly Committee that, as at
torney and counsel for the Erie Directory,
he had excellent opportunities to understand
their transactions, and he never had been able
to discover anything wrong in them. Conf
dence between friends is beautiful but conf
dence between lawyer and client seems to be
carried in this case to rather extravagant
length. 1t would be curious to know by what
arguments Messrs. Fisk and Gould persuaded
Mr.. Sbearman that there was nothing wrong
in the process by which they secured their
own retention in office, buying $4,000 worth
of proxies with the money of the Boston, Hart
ford and Erie Company, issuing in their public
capacity as officers OF the Enc Board enough
wotered stock to control the election, selling
that stock, in their private capacity as stock
brokers, to foreign investors; and hnaily' az
individual shareholders, voting on the shares
they had already sold to confirm their own
official proceedings. 1t would be curious to
know by what means Mr.. Shearman became
convinced that it is right for the officers OF a
company to run down their own stock, merely
for their personal gain, from 72 to 20, IN the
course of year and half. 1t would be curl
OILS to know whether Mr.. Shearman approved
of the action of the Board of Directors in appro-
priating the money Of the Company to settle
mept with Commodore Vanderbilt which Mr
Fisk himself characterized in court as an al
"mighty robbery" If that scheme of settle
ment should be carried out, said Mr.. FISK,
"the State Prison ought to be built larger"
and when it was carried out, and the vlrtuous
Controller and President of the Company were
at last induced to sign the fatal paper, y
"felt,n continues the same outspoken witness,
"that we had sold ourselves to the devil"
And vet Mr.. Shearman "lOoked very anxiously"
for fraudulent acts, and "never could find
"where they came in"
Mr.. Shearman next proceeded to set forth
a number of reasons why the Erie bill ought
not to be repealed. /. The shareholders prefer
the present arrangement 2. The shareholders
are the natural enemies of the public, ana
therefor their preferences ought not to be re-
garled. 3. II is better not to have dividends,
because they are inconsistent with cheap
frcghts. A. The Erie road is better managed
by Messrs. Fisk and Gould than by any pre-
vious managers, and therefor they must be
kept in office, whether the shareholders like it
or not. How far an election IN which, MS we
have seen, Messrs. Fisk and Gould themselves
virtually passed resolution that they were salts
fed with their own conduct, can be taken as
an expression of the confidence of the share
holders, we leave to less credulOus cOunselOrs
than Mr. Shearman to determine. We shall
not stop either to examine the extraordinary
system of ethics and economy which assumes
that corporation may be deprived OF all It's
legitimate profits for the good of the public,
and that the owners of railroad are not to
have a reasonable interest on their invest
ment; or to inquire what guarantee the Erie
bill affords that Gould and Fisk viii not put
ND freights as high as any other man
ayers might. The only important point of Mr..
Shcarman's argument is the assertion that
under the present Directory the railway has
| been better managed than ever before. There
sis no one acquainted with the present man.
agempnt of the road who VIII not tell you
" that the Erie road never was so well man.
"aged as now, never was so safe" 1t does
not seem to us very good management to run
down the price of stock from 70 to IS, to
render the shares useless except for purposes
of wild speculation, to involve the Company in
endless litigation, to convert Erie into by
word of reproach, and make great railroad
tributary to a troupe of ballet girls We do not
think it an evidence of good management that
whereas in 1866, on capital of S25,105,SOo, the
net income was $3,2SS,911, or 13 per cent, in
1869, on a capital of $7s,5369lO, it was only
$3OO3,4t5, or less than per cent. And as fol
safety, let the figures speak. During Mr.. Gould's
| two years, 179 persons have been killed on the
road and 271 injured. During the previous two
years, when the number Of passengers was
somewhat greater and the mileage considerably
greater, 115 were killed and 119 injured, a
difference against Mr.. Gould of GA killed and
152 injured. Really, Mr. Sherman, you must
| try again.
"The West Tennessee University is Col