The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-25
The War .. tho Fri. Railroad R'ss-A


Comprehensive Measure Of ReforD.
Senator O'Brien yesterday introduced in the
State Senate well-considered and carefully
drawn bill, to secure to the stockholders Of
the Erie Railroad restoration Of the rights
OF which they have been deprived by corrupt
legislation, and to the people long desired
reformation In the management of one of the
most Important lines of travel in the United
States. The bill repeats the notorious
classification act, % does the one pre-
viously introduced by Senator O'Brien
on the first day Of the session; but
provides also for an election of
new directors, and throws around
the transfer of stock such safeguards
as will in future-should the bill become
law-preventa repetition Of those illegal acts
oy which an INSCRIPTIONS combination has
heretofore contrived to cheat the bona jfds
stockholders out of their right to participate
In the elections. There Is not an arbitrary or
unjust provision In the proposed law. It
simply gives to the stockholders those privi-
leges which are guaranteed to them by the
common law Of the State, and of which they
have been stripped by special legislation, and
prevents any further outrages, such as refusals
to register the transfer of stock, tampering
with the books, or the seizure of shares,
by which means the ring directors have
hitherto managed to retain their power In the
corporation.
NO sound argument can be advanced
against Senator O'Briens bill, and If defeated
1t will be by the use of the appliances already
used so successfully by the Erie Ring upon
former State Legislatures. To give TO the
BONA tide stockholders Of corporation the
choice Of those who are to manage it's BUSH
ness affairs, subject. to such restrictions as
the law imposes, Is simply an act of common
justice. To deliver over the control Of q
corporation to combination of spectators,
against the wishes and interests Of the stock
holders and the people, is wholly unjustiiable
upon any conceivable plea. The lobbyists in
the Gould interest, now 50 busy at Albany,
use the argument that the Erie road
Is in better condition at the present
time than it has been for several years
in favor Of the retention of its present manage
ment. II these assertions were true they
would afford no justification of the corrupt
legislation Of the past two years and no good
reason why reform legislator should vote
against its reversal. IF few unauthorized
men should seize upon the Park Bank, and by
the aid of debauched Legislature and con-
venient judiciary should succeed in preventing
the shareholders from disturbing them in pos
session 1t would be no justification of their
lawless act to plead that the business of the
bank was prosperous under their management.
But it is notorious that the operations of the
ring directors have not been in the interests
either of the stockholders or of the public,
and that the only popularity they can boast
along the line of the road is such as their
local influence and the control they WELD
through their employees over the election of
public officers, from Senators and members of
Assembly down to town constables, enable
them to secure.
Before the recent State election the pro-
fessed champions of reform were loud and
unanimous in their denunciation Of the no
torious operations of the Erie Ring. Fisk,
Gould and their associates were held up be-
fore the eyes of the electors as the twin
brothers Of Tammany in all rascalities
and corruptions. The republicans and the
independent reformers were told that
through the aid Of Tammany leaders,
Tammany lobbyists and Tammany judges, the
Erie directors had been enabled to debauch
Legislatures, to degrade the judiciary and to
rob the stockholders and the public. The
success of the republican State ticket and of
reform Legislature was then urged, not as
party triumph, but as the certain means of
striking down the Fisk and Gould direction
as well as the Tammany officials. The Senate
and Assembly now in session at Albany were
elected as much as opponents of the Erie
Ring corruption as Of the Tammany Ring
corruption. 1t is only since they have breathed
the tainted atmosphere Of the State capital
and brought their palms in contact with the
ever-ready hands of the jackals of the lobby
that some of our representatives have dis
covered virtues in Gould and popular advan-
tages in the present management of the Erie
road. They know now, as they knew before
election, that the common stock of the COR
poration has been raised by the ring direc-
tors from twenty-four millions in 1868 to
seventy-eight millions in 1871, and that in the
same period the funded debt has been in
creased four millions of dollars. They know
now, as they knew then, that no dividends
whatever have been paid either on common
or preferred stock; that while the net earn
ings of the road for the year 1901 were
over seventeen million dollars the
net surplus has been only little
over one hundred thousand dollars, the
remainder of the enormous earnings having