Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-03-10
ONE WHO WANTS TO KNOW,


Pennsy1vaDi0 railroad.
Philadelphia Chronicle Herald.
The excitement which Mr.. w. E. Lock
wood has created at the last two or three
of the annual meetings of the stockholders
Of the Pennsylvania railroad has been in
teDsified by the efforts of the officers of
the road and their adherents to apply the
clOture to that gentleman and coerce him
into silence. Like the gas trust people,
cOncealment lends suspicion, and whatever
charges MIR. Lockwood has attempted to
make have had additional weight lent to
them by the determination to gag him and
prevent his being heard.
Mr.. w. E. LockwOOd-whO must not be
confounded with Mr.. Dunbar Lockwood,
one of the moving spirits of the Committee
of One Hundreds q gentleman who
"wants to know" And his search after
knowledge prompts him primarily to ask
why in the annual reports of the president
of the Pennsylvania railroad the statistics
are SO manipulated rs to mislead stock
holders as to how the dividend is made
and how the expenditures are managed.
+ Some time ago Mr.. Lockwood wanted
to know if the late Edgar Thomson was
given $50, 900 out Of the company's funds
as gift for conducting negotiations with
the Fort Wayne road, and, if he did re.
ceive the money, why it was paid. The
plea, De mortuis nil ntsi bcnum, was enter.
ed, and on the ground that tho question
was a reflection on the memory of a good
man gone before it it was never answered.
Then Mr.. Lockwood, in his eagerness .f0.
more light, wanted to know why the
Adams express company paid SO cOmpar
| atively small a sum for its privileges OIL
the road when the company could operate
the express business itself and put the
enormous profits to the credit of the stock
holders. This is his latest question and
was one of the prime motives which in.
duced linn to make such resOlute effort
to be heard at yesterdays meeting in
Musical Fund hail.
On the Pennsylvania division of the
road the amount paid by Adams express
company for using two or three times the
number of cars used by the United States
government for its mai! facilities has been
less than the government pays, and Mr.
Lockwood evidently thinks he sees "a
snake in the grass" He has never been
able to get any explanation of the matter
either in the public meetings Of the share
holders or in private conference with th<
officers of the company, hence his sus
picion. Calling OH Mr.. Cassatt, vice presi
dent of the road, at the principal offices O
the company, he lately asked to be shown
as . shareholder of the company, the con
tract under which the Adams express
company operated with the Pennsylvania
railroad. Mr.. Cassatt refused HIM til,
facilities asked until he had conferred will
President Roberts, who confirmed his sub
Ordinate's action and the desired informa
tiOn was refused.
1t was welLunderstood by the officers in
the meeting yesterday why Mr.. Lock wooi
wished to tie heard and what he wanted tC
say, and this knowledge, it is supposed, in
duced the cloture under which the speecl
was suppressed. Furthermore, Mr.. Lock
woods friends are under the impressiO,
that there was subdued fear that he wa
in possessisn of other facts not creditabl
to the managcments of the roads whicl
the officers We're 10th to have known. Ii
his advocacy Of complete Opcnness in tn
whole matter Mr.. Lockwood is supported
by several thousand shares of Euglish-hel,
stock and by several stockholders in thi
country, who authorize him to act as thei
agent and spokesman.
There is in preparation 4 statement
which will soon be made public. in whicl
the whole affair will receive an exhaustive
and accurate review.