The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1879-02-27
Something More about Railroad Dividends.


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10 IHE EDITOR OF THE REP BIA'AN JOURNAL
was relieved when | reached the conclusion Of
thr communication III your list week, paper,
signed by -Four Of the Five Municipal Officers are
there Hot six p y find tAA, the maine Vt the chair
man Y The finance committee was not among
Them Il he could make such ,ros, miscacula
ton as 10 suppose tAe proposition Of the board OF
railroad directors to pay the city $1,000 and have it
endorsed the note given by the railroad corpora
ton To the city WAS one ',o take that sum from
the fund for dividend, On non preferred stock the
finances Of the cry must have been past PRAYING
Tor long before this time.
The municipal officers inform Us that 1.-THE city
of Belfast owning 3Gpl shares OF non preferred
stock woud have contributed TO this mag
nihceat hin Just i.7.i1 4" Now what arc the facts
Tile board Of directors having purchased $4,000 ~
city bonds maturing At the same time that thu
railroad uote given 10 tie city becomes due. pro
posed TO have tins sun endorsed Oh tie note with
a view %: having the bonds cancelled and thus pre-
ycu;ln. the possibility of aealn putting them on
the market The first three thousand dollars of
these bonds were purchased from the surplus Of
rental left last Nav, and all OF it came from The
preferred stock For had a dividend been made At
that time from the net earnings under the 18th hy-
law, IT would have given the preferred ,tockAold-
ers about one ana one fourth per cent anil nothing
To the non preferred. The remaining = one Of city
bonds were purchased from the reserve from the
rental after dividing 2, per cent to the preferred
-. e.. 4,
rental after paving interest On the debts Of the
COMPANY been divided. the preferred stockholders
w"4.d have received . per cent more, vi, :!
V''-'' and the non preferred stockholders would
nave received the remainder, SHE In the pur-
chase OF the last @O1o Of bonds the non preferred
sock contributed el,o'l 4, Then instead OF de
PeuhS 'he non preferred Stoc khoiderS only by the
proposition OF lhe directors rs asserted t.r' "a@-
N'''' 't''t "'.ta'"' "r"t fJ't dollars q ting hYe
Thousand came from what would have been paid
gu 'Ae preferred STOCK had all the earnings Of the
Ia'l""1 OeeA divided among Inc stockholders after
F"! my interest on lAe AebtS OF The road anu only
2l''.l't came from tAe non preferred stock, max
ing 'he trihlAs error IL their calculations OF >3"o>,
Oh transaction OF s],oo0t
II Inc Tour municipal officers are so surprisingly
inaccurate IN regard to matter that might proper
!! come before some OF them, being business men
AS experts they VIII pardon the board of directors
lor not accepting their opinion as 10 what IS 1.-THE
Slst OF the legal advice given by Mr. Drummond
on question concerning which they have had no
training, especially some OF the board had taken
pains to find out what their legal power and duty
We're before declaring a dividend. 1t may properly
ln lad IN 1,-;,
lisAed that all citizens may have the benefit Of
It If the municipal officers do not wish to pub
fish it, why is it not on file at the city clerks office
50 as to give citizens an opportunity to consult it
1t is understood that the nav for Mr.. Drummoud.s
written opinion came ont of the city treasury. and
the only proper place. for i seems 10 b, in the otic
OF the CITY clerk
At the meeting of the railroad 1ircrtors whom
the dividend was declared. no auestion yeas raised
as to The power and duty of the corporatio, 10 nro
vide for tho pawn emf Of the oil, nota vho, i
should become due. Three Of tbe tve directors
we're in favor Of n per cent dividends And At least
three of the absent directors have given the action
of the board their lnanaltied approval AZ the host
plan for the interest of all that could have been
adopted The directors believe that the NET earn
iurs Of the railroad il the sum remaining from, tba
rental after properly providing for the payment of
its debts The sum reserved to meet the MATURING
obligation Of the cit, was taken alike from what
would have gone to the preferred and non nrcfrred
stockholders One and a half per cent was raserv
ed from the preferred stock and about one and
one third per cent. from the non-preterred The
larger sum per share coming from the nreferred
stock, even if the whole $1,000 used for the pur-
chase Of city bonds had come from the rental of
November, it is past my comprehension how the
municipal officers could come to the conclusion
that the directors proposition would deplete the
non-preferred stock only
The board Of dire ,tors never thought it was their
duty to intimate to the stockholders what action
they would take III declaring dividends They
could not know what course would be taken until
they had met and discussed the question. Had
they called the stockholders together and asked
instructions, 1t would have seemed like Sinking a
responsibility imposed upon them by their official
oath' Inc STOCKHOLDERS knew by the report OF the
treasurer OF the railroad corporation that there
were over s''oo on hand at the last annual meeting