Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-05-04
Vermont Central Railroad

We publish in another column summary
Of the repOI of the special Masters IN Chan
Gerry, who. for nearly two years, have been
investigating the accounts, TRANSACTIONS anu
management of the road and Its leased lines
by its legal receivers, Messrs. j. Oregory
Smith, Joseph Clarke, Worthington L.
Smith, Benjamin z. Cheney and Lawrence
Barnes. The eminent ability of this lnves-
tigating committee and the high personal
character of its members preclude the pos
sbility that the report which they send
forth is anything but the truth, anu the
whole truth. We have been OF the opinion
that a great deal of the scandal which has
arisen regarding these receivers had Its rise
at first among parties who felt the cOmpetl
ton which the receivers created. while
the charges made appeared to be sub
stantiated in the minds of many when the
securities deprecated and all the avail
able earnings were swallowed up to keep
the concern from total insolvency. Had
the good times of 1851 to 1870 continued,
this road would have achieved the POPULAR
ty which a good paying Investment re-
ceives. and its managers would haye ex-
perienced only the thanks ct the bOrdhold-
ers. 1t is no doubt true that the managers
were somewhat Over-sanguine regarding
their Western connections, and made
some sacrifices to promote interests which
they regarded as essential to the ulti-
mate growth of the road. but that
there has been fraud practiced, the re-
port of the special commissioners IN chan
Gerry clearly disproves. But it is the future
rather than the past that interests the hold
ers of these securities. 1t is no doubt pos
sible, now that the arrangement has been
perfected for the road to meet its Obliga-
tions upon the new basis, and. with a re
vival of business, to show that even some OF
its most sanguine friends simply discounted
by few years the possibility of its capacity
for proving renumerative.-BOSton Journal.
The EMMA MINE CAsE.-Both Mr.. Park and
General Sehenck have good reason to rejoice
over the result of the protracted trial OF the
famous Emma Mine case. The connection
of General Schenck with the case was an
incden tai connection, but in consequence
of his prominent position as the Minister OF
the United States in London when the
transactions occurred out Of which the case
arose, he was really made a leading defen-
cant in the popular mind, and the verdict
by which Mr.. Park and Mr.. Baxter have
been triumphantly acquitted of all charges
of fraud substantially acquits him also
of every imputati0n put upon him
in the matter excepting that Of an
error of judgment in accepting the
dictatorship of a speculative company while
filling responsible diplomatic post. The
case has been very thoroughly gone into.
The trial has lasted five months, and it can
not be denied that the defendants went into
court burdened with the moral disadvantage
Of hostile public opinion on both sides of
the Atlantic. The fact that they were
Americans no doubt had something to do
with the general verdict recorded against
them, in advance of any trial, by public
sentiment in England. 1t was sort of
sOlace to the English investors who found
themselves out of pocket by the
Emma Mine speculation, to abuse the
American promoters OF the scheme. and to
denounce the whole affair as Yankee
trick" The fact that the speculation had
turned out failure vexed the American
public. and predispOsed it to harsh iudg-
ment of any Americans connected with it.
In the course of the trial it has been con-
clusively shown that Englishmen had at
least as much to do with getting up the
speculation as Americans, and that the pro-
moters of the speculation had at least as
much reason to believe the mine to be
really valuable property when they
speculated upon 1t. as anybody can
ordinarily be expected to have in
such case. the mine having yielded richly
for some time after its sale to parties who
had examined it for themselves before they
bought it. 1t is simply fair and candid,
therefore, to admit that Mr.. Park and his
associates have good reason ID complain
that they got something very like Jedburgh
justice from the public opinion both of Egg
land and of America before they were put
upon their trial /; and to say that they are
entitled now to such amends as can be made
to them by frank avowal of this fact. All
Americans ought to be glad Of this, for the
scandal of the Emma Mine has seriously in
jured our good name as people.-N. Y.
World.