The Labor enquirer., 1884-09-13

the penalties prescribed aQinst
; Union Pacifc directors for illegally /
clasins these dividends, Viz: "A
officer who shall vote, declare, make,
le pay, and any stockholder who shall
ceive any such dividend, shall be liat
to the United States for the amou
thereof which, whom recovered, shall
paid into the sinking fund. And ave,
such officer, person, or stockholder vi
shall knowingly vote, declare or pay sut
dividend shall be deemed guilty Of
misdemeanor, and, on conviction theres
shall be punished by q fine not excee,
ing $4,000, and by imprisonment n,
exceeding one year" That was the re-
y olution Of the senate Judiciary commit
c tee, and had it ever reached the senat
{ that body would have adopted it Coul
{ these directors have refunded to th
sinking fund the SIC, ,OO0, 900 thus divided
9 to say nothing of the Imprisonment
) clause of the penalty? These director
!. last year were Sidney Dillon, Dayi,
!, Dows, Jay Gould, Russell Sage and a. d
Green, of New York; Fred L. Amee
| Elisha Atkins, Ezra II. Baker, F. &, Dex
! ter and Charles Francis Adams, of Bos
ton; J. a. Rumrill, of Springfield, Massa
chnsetts Hugh Riddle, of Chicago s. H
Fl. Clark, Of Omaha; J,hn Sharp, Of Sail
Lake City, and Granville NJ Dodge, o.
Council Bluffs. These names ought to be
good for the $l90O00OO.
i Mr.. Edmunds had this bombshell
ready and approved by the committee
the first week in May. He felt satisfied
with his work, and looked forward with
comfort to the fact that justice was about
to be invoked for the Jay Gould party,
which had so long defied the Thurman
act.
Gould and his associates knew every
step that was being taken, and had &C.
cess to the secrets of the committee
room: On the morning that Mr.. lHoar
was to make the report from the commit
tee, they brought Charles Francis
Adams, Junior. to Washington, and he
prevailed upon the committee to post
pone it for twentyrfour hours. It proba-
bly, was the hardest days work he ever
did for the road. No concealment was
made to him that the committee had re-
solved to act, and that the result would
be extremely unpleasant to the directors
in several ways
Adams protested that such action as
Mr.. Edmunds contemplated would de-
stroy the entire value of the stock, create
a panic, completely discredit Jay Gould
and bring to ruin many excellent and
worthy men who innocertly had pur-
chased the company's securities. This
latter suggestion had some weight, and
the storm clouds of the approaching
crash in Wall street gave force to his ap-
prehension of the financial effect. As a
result Of his urgent entreaties further
action was suspended, and May 20 was
'et down as the date upon which the
could make its statement.
On May 20 Sidney Dillon made his ar
.ument. The committee hesitated, and,
inally, gave the railroad people to under
tand that they did not wish to be precip-
tate. :
So Senator Hoar went to Boston from .
he Chicago convention and there agreed
With the Boston directors upon four i
Q) No more dividends to
e paid until after congress again meets /; /
p all moneys due or to become due for /
overnment transportation to be retained n
n the treasury, both for the subsidized b
nd unsubsidized parts of the road (3)l g
he company to pay forthwith into the y
reasury $71S,Sl4, being the amount i.
laimed under the Thurman act for the
ear 1888 !, (4) the check for $6e, 1859, so Il
ing lying unaccepted, to be taken on ac- /,
ount. 4
This plan was submitted to the COM n
,ittee June II. 1t was accepted, but in q
,rms not consoling to the railroad peo- G
le. A resolution was adopted to the O
feet that upon these terms the commit ii
,e would defer further action upon the n
lbject until congress meets again. with q
le express understanding that this ac- n
on of the committee and OF the United g,
tates in receiving the money and secu-
ty shall have no effect on any penalty s.
/ forfeiture or other right of the United d
tates against the company or any of its 8,
Ulcers, but that all rights, penalties and b
'rfeitures shall stand as if these acts 2,
ad not been done," ltt
To this Mr.. Adams expressed his will /,
ngness to accede, and, on the next day, Il
New York, in compliance with the un- st
given the committee, the di- .,
,ctors passed the dividend, accepted
resident Dillon's resignation and s,
ected Mr.. Adams in his place. A few d
.ys afterwards the $7ls,000 was depos- Of
ed with the sub-treasurer at Boston. II
Mr.. Edmunds has given the Union o,
acifc people respite-that is all. The D,
Inc panic is over, and cannot be in Il
,ked again. Another session of con- "
'ess will give him time to act, now that ii
the facts are in his possession, and 4,
le company has put itself in his power. t.
he Thompson bill is in his hands, and
, can put it or almost any other through 4