The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-14

The Reform In Erica False Note o
Alarm from Wall street Operators.
1t will not surprise any person conversani
With tho intrigues and riyalries of Wall street
to learn that the overthrow of Jay Gould and
| his Ring associates and the transfer Of the
management of the Erie Railroad to the Board
of Directors, Of which General Dix is Presi-
| dent, does not give unmixed satisfaction on
the Stock Exchange. While every person
except those who were directly proating
by the INSCRIPTIONS acts Of the Gould
party was anxious for the destruction OF
the power Of the Ring, there were interests at
work eager 10 secure the succession to its
authority, and seeking to raise themselves to
prominence upon its ruins. All were opposed
to Gould but opposed only because they de-
sired to occupy his position, and willing, proba
bly,, to continue great portion Of his policy as
soon as they had accomplished their object.
The Heath and Raphael interest was Of this
description the Clerke, Manley and Williams
combination was similar in character; the Bis
choffsheim and Atlantic and Great Western
opposition was doubtless of the same class.
Now that the humiliation Of the Ring has been
accomplished the several cliques are dis
satisfied because the fruits of the victory do
not fall to their share.
An attempt is being made in Wall street
by committee claiming to represent the
American stockholders in Erie to create
the impression that the new management
Of the road is 80 closely identified
with the interests of the Atlantic and Great
the affairs of the latter will be saddled on to
the Erie stockholders by compact or consoli-
dalton of the two roads. Messrs. Clerke,
Manley and Williams, in letter addressed to
the signers Of the petitions presented to the
State Legislature by the American stockhold-
ers, complain that the new directors have
been heretofore unknown in the reform move
ment of the Erie road, and assert that ma
jority of them are officially or otherwise con-
nected with the Atlantic and Great Western
Railway. If General Dix and his associate
directors have not heretofore been prominent
in the opposition to the Gould management,
their names are sufficient guarantee that
no abuse of public trust will find favor in
their eyes. Their independence of all the Wall
street combinations that have been for so many
years vainly endeavoring to supplant Gould
and his fellow conspirators in the manage
ment of Erie for the advancement of their
own special interests, and not in the interests
of the stockholders or the public, will be
regarded as an additional recommendation in
their favor But the assertion that majority
Of the new directors are officially or otherwise
connected with the Atlantic and Great
Western road Is erroneous. Out of the
seventeen directors now on the Erie Board,
only two or three are either directly
or indirectly connected with that road. They
would be powerless to accomplish any such
designs as they are said to entertain, even if
the. characters of such men as General Dix,
General Lansing, Messrs. Travers, Stebbins,
Day and their associates were not o sufficient
assurance that no act adverse to the interests
of the Erie stockholders would be sanctioned
by the new Board The bugbear of the At
lantic and Great Western may, therefore, be
safely regarded as a creation Of sharp Wall
street operators, who are not satisfied with the
change in Erie simply because 1t does not
place the stock of the road at their control to
be used as football on the market.
The new directors have, indeed, furnished
the most convincing evidence of the ground
lessness of the fears expressed by Messrs.
Clerke, Manley and Williams, by declaring
themselves favorable to the passage of the
Southmayd bill, and detailing two of their
number to proceed to Albany to urge its en-
actment. AS the Committee of the American
stockholders profess a desire that the bill
shall become q law and appear to find in that
security against the evils they dread, this
| action of the new Board should convince
them Of the injustice Of their suspicious.
/ It is true they condemn the 'abrupt
action" by which the deliberate de-
cison" of the Legislature was anticipated
as premature and i'll advised" But this
opinion we are certain they will upon reAec-
ton recall. The ''abrupt action" Of General
| Dix and the new directors succeeded in rescu-
ing the transfer and registry books of the road
from the custody of Jay Gould, who would
have used them for his own purposes within
the next two or three weeks, as he has
used them for the last three or
four years. Through their ''abruptness'
Gould was prevented from issuing to himself
twenty millions of new stockholm revisiting
Albany with solid arguments against the
Southmayd bll-from seeking refuge with the
treasury and Offices Of the road on the
friendly shores Of Jersey. 1t was this
"abrupt action" that bound the great
conspirator in an instant in cords OF
iron; that paralyzed the arms of his
hired ruflans, and that drove him to a
peaceful resignation Of position he would
| haua waatod unilliona Of thu a4oolhalda.