New-York tribune., 1874-04-11


To balance uuexpended l'4o'o 'o
Making a total Of 747s,s7o A.
While the facts are that. taking the whole expend-
tures for the fiscal year ls5 these accounts they
show increases in them respectively only follows
Cost OF road and equipment. 4o5 NJ
Improvement OF the branch roads. u22iG
Purchase OF coal lands.-.--.-.--..----- Il1'o'9 ~
Making total Of ............--..- 65227O !6
F. From q I,5'SisI WSie6 deduct the nominal bal
ancc stated as unexpended.-..-..- n4'o%
Leaving difference of.........-... s3,6l6fO3 TO
which Won will find corresponds very closely with
the amount of deficiency l show TO have accrued
ID the years operations. The difference between
S7,473370 A. proceeds and $2,s22,405, the amount
charged TO cost of road and equipment" less the
amount reported unexpended Sl74.69j 96l 20 wit,
S4.4762G9 40, you state will remain in suspense
account until the President and Executive Com
mttee shall have formally passed all the bills Of
penditure" There is no account on the Com
pany's books styled the suspense account Nor
are there any suspended bills vouchers paid out
of the proceeds of the convertible bonds, awaiting
the action Of the President or Executive Committee.
have alluded 10 this statement of the disposition
OF the proceeds OF the bonds to show IN what an
unenviabe and disagreeable position was placed by
the alterations which had been made IN the ae-
counts But the alterations which have mentioned
were not the only ones. The items which had been
omitted in the profit and loss account in the June
statement and carried along as assets IN the open
accounts, had to be disposed of, and here more
forcing had to be done. In short, the Justification
having once begun there Was no stOpplng-piace
for it short of an exposure.
Anxiety 10 please their superiors Is the common
fault OF subordinates. You may now and then hear
of instances where the performance of duty regard
less Of the pleasure of the chIefimay be the con-
trolling element in a mans character but they are
rare confess that the desire 10 please you, on the
morning Of the 9th Of August last induced me TO
step aside and allow the consummatiOn Of an
act which has brought to none Of the
parties who participated IN II any great JOY
I admit that at the time ! could see no other way
for you out Of the dilemma IN which you were
placed, except to acknowledge frankly 20 the world
the utter failure of your administration of the
affairs of the Company You had been at the head
Of the management for over year. and had been
but recently reelected. Before yoH were the
accounts, which showed most disastrous and de-
porable results in the operation Of the road While
the earnings had largely increased and that fact
had been given to the public indication of the
efficiency of the management, the working ex-
penses, on the other hand, had disproportion-
ately swollen 10 an amount unprecedented
In the affairs of any road. You were
on the eve Of sailing for Europe. To
publish to the world the result before you was
simply 10 abandon the contemplated Trip. admit
the failure of your administration, and disappoint
the hopeful anticipation Of the public and proprie-
tors of the railway. saw that you hesitated which
horn to accept There were the facts and figures
before you, and there seemed no way out of the diff
fculty but frank Acknowledgement that 1t was
bad Job. Behind you, 1t were, appeared the great
dictator in attitudes OF entreaty, intimidation, and
threat. No failure must be acknowledge not only
must success be published 20 the world, but it must
be a grand success; and the accounts must be made
TO show it. To stand in the breach and rcpel the
evasons and fllsehoods which were neces-
sary 10 make a favorable showing Of ac-
counts was simply to place ones self between
the upper and neither mistones. All the
world had been led TO believe that the affairs Of he
road We're healthy and prosperous; then how could
the facts be otheTwise7 The alternative was NO
dividend-no money! The recent election had
been carried in your favor upon the belief that the
road was not only IN honest but competent hands.
Fus0me dispatches had been sent TO London during
the year indicative Of the grandest that had
ever attended the labors of any administration of
: any corporation. And the stockholders expected
/ dividend. he, whom l may call the great dictator
of the Ere directors ad voted before ne got tired,
upon upwards Of Si0OJOOOO Of stock at the recent
election IN your favor His prominence in the affairs
of Erie fOrebOded no good 10 any one opposing his
| plans. He had decided that dividend must be
made. and that was sufficient. II was nothing to
/ him that in order TO do 50 the accounts must
be tampered with, so long as some one
| else did IL. The prestige won by him
l in casting over 100000 votes at the late
election gave him the power TO dictate what should
/ he and what should not be done. and his will was
law. Up to tins hour you bad not written one lIne
of your report The Board meeting was for the
next day. The consciousness that in that report
yOu must commit yourself 10 an erroneous state
ment of facts concerning the operation Of the road
. I certainly believe was the most distasteful cup
| ever presented to your lips l expected. even till
the last moment, TO you reject the dose and de-
eide again TO stand firmly by the truth. be the
sequences what they might, and | think. left 70
yourself report on the basis OF the altered ac-
countsinever would have been written.
bave shown, II my report TO the Board of March
g. 1874 that there deficiency in the capital ac-
count for the fiscal year 1873 of S367T911 16 The
facts and figures therein given are incontrOvertbe.
The books and accounts prove them cOnclusiyely.
No mere assertion can alter or change them. The
| entries which have been made 10 change the true
accounts INTO the false throw the books out OF bal
ance. and htand on their pages as blot upon your
name and mine. Erase them. and thereby correct
the gravest error of your administration.
Respectfully, :. II. DUNAN.
Neio- York. April T. 1874.