The New York herald., 1872-07-11
What the New President Is Co.
ing to Do About It.
Honesty and Economy VS.. FactiOus Lih--
cations and Extravaganza.
WALL STREET TO BE RULED OUT.
The Property and Funds Of the Road Misappro-
priated or Stolen To Be Reclaimed-The
Atlantic and Great Western To Be
Made Narrow Gauge

Made Narrow Gauge.
Mr.. Watson, the newly elected President Of the4
Erie Railroad. was paid congratulatory visit yes-
terday, at the Brevoort House, by many Of his per-
sOna friends and large number Of bankers and
fnanciers who have the welfare OF the Erie Rail-s
road at heart. HERALD reporter also called upon,
him for information to his policy In the future as
far the road was concerned Mr.. Watson was ati
dinner when the reporter called; but on learning1
that representative of the HERALD desired to seei
him he came out into the reading room to find QUIT
what his visitor wanted and what he could do foI
him.
HE ACCEPTS THE POSITION.
II have called upon you, Mr.. Watson" said the(
reporter, "tO learn something as to what you ind
tend to do about your election, and what you ind
tend to do after you accept the position Of President
II you do accept it," ". y
Mr. Watson took seat at this, feeling no d0ubt,}
that he had, no matter how he reshed or disliked4
the dea to submit to a cntechzing without regard
to consequences. After, by way Of preliminary
proceeding stating that he did not care very mucl1
to be paraded in the newspapers, that In fact he3
entirely opposed to nOtoriety Of any kind, ha
remarked:-
/ 81 have signifed my acceptance of the position}
rendered to me, and, you, will do my best
to perform the duties Of the position with fdelity1
was 10th at first to allow my name to be dragged
into the contest rather the election for directors
and the head officers of the road, but SO many ex-
cellent friends urged me to become q canddatol
| that finally gave in. Men abroad holding Ameri-
can securities N1i found they were being d
| me to become o candidate."
"Do you particularly represent =
THE FOREIGN INTERESTS
81 do not think do in any special way but the
English stockholders were unwilling to allow the
| fn m in thA hn nf nonld nnf
"They owned, then, at the election, majority OF
| the stock ~
'They did,"
And it naturally follows that II you were nos
''That Is your way of putting it, sir.n
''Well, did Jay Gould or his representatives at
tempt to show their strength at the election, di-
"He did and they did not. Gould put his proxies
into Mcaenry's& & hands with Instructions to do JUST
'Did McHenry use them P''
"He did not; the fact is, there was no necessity
| for his using them as the ticket that was elected
had a good majority without the aid Of GOuld's
proxies which, Of course, McHenry could have used
them what he desired"
II intend to do whatever may be the best for it's
interest,""
of the ticket which has been elected Is triumph OF
7 THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN PARTY.
| "NOthing of the kind. The success OF the ticket
| had or has nothing to do with the eectiOn-with.
think that the Atlantic and Great Western road
| Will be made narrow gauge, 30 as to De able to-
connect with other roads not broad gauge"
"HQw about the changes they say you intend to-
| make in the personnel OF the Erie ~
my policy will be simply to do all tnat can to,
make the road what it should be in every respect,
and IL find 1t necessary, in order to accomplish this
much desired result, to
and introduce changes that may call down upon.
me anything but blessings shall act and removes
unhesitatlngly. l have already been called upon.
by bankers and men OF influence in financial
circles who impressed upon me the necessity Of res
moving every person now connected with the.
road; 70 make, in fact, what is called clean.
sweep"
81 declined to do anything of the kind. told them
that i'll found any man in the employ ofthe road who
was not honest me, ana upright In ms dealings in every
| way VINO did not faithfully perform his duties ho
would be replaced by some one who possessed Of
the qualifications desired. But as to a wholesale
| removal before l, or rather Il don't want to talk
~ In the matter) the new directors find out
what Is what, who are the good men to keep and
the s0rt
HONESTY AND ECONOMY
in the direction of the road Is to be our motto We
know that the example of Fisk anu Gould has had a
bad effect on some of the employes-that it has
made them less energetic in their duties than they
should be, and perhaps, actually dishonest in their
dealings with the road or its in nCerests; but shall
look before we leap. We shall do all we can to weed
out everything that is wrong and
RETAIN ALL THAT is GOOD.n
"Outside Influences then, will have no hand in
the direction of the road ?"
"NOne whatever. AS far as I am concerned and
as far also as the new direction is concerned there
is to be but one objective pont-to so run tile road
that the stockholders will get their moneys worth,
so that they will be honestly dealt with and nob
robbed. TO accomplish this after what has hap
pened know Is
HERCULEAN TASK
but 1t can be done, and we may do SO by endeavor-
ing to reclaim whatever property or funds of the
road may have been misapproprated. There will
be no more extravagant lees paid to counsel
and factOus litigatiOns carried OH, which
only impOverish the road and rob it's
real owners of their own intend that
the affairs Of the road shall be administered regard
less OF Wall street, cgues' influences and specua-
ti0ns Of whatever sort they may be''
"DO you think that the new direction Is a salts
factory one to the majority Of the English stock
holders 2"
IL certainly do"
"Then how do you account for the fall in Erie in
the London market to-day 7"
'Well, you see, many people have been buying
the stock lately at certain figures under the impress
sion that Vanderbilt would lease the Erie. me
great strength OF Vanderbilt lies in the stability
OF the Hudson and Central, because he virtually
owns the road but when he dies and the property
gets into other hands, and many hands at that,
who can guarantee that 1t may not become another
Erie, Us we have seen Erie of late years."
GENERAL OWEN ACCEPTS.
Mr.. watson then stated In answer to the nuuirv
whether General Diven would accept the Wee
Presidency, that the General would accept the po-.
stiOn rendered him, he having told him So Mr..
watson has already legally qualified for his new
affairs there Will return and take possession OF the
presidential chair of the company.
THE ALLEGED ARSON CASE