New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-03-13

and the Pan-EleCtllcl'y VI Dcn"'
the mo raj that in the end it is better 10 oe
lamb than to be a shearer The account ol
each statesmans investment and returns Is
rendered rs follows:
Cash invest .,o- 70 Cash invest $1,000
Cash return IN GO coo M 'a a,Vidends S15
! ocoHired 5000 90 acquired..... 100
Value at par. 100000 90 Value at par. Slo'ooo
This exhibit discloses the-relative value of
the privileges which the Acknowledgement and
the Senator acquired, one by gift and the other
by purchase. Mr.. Garland with an actual in
yestment only one-ffth as large as the Sena-
TORS, received dividends 173 times as great.
DR.. Rogers in making the AttOrney-General AN
incorporation and giving him the stock outright
certainly acted very handsomely. If the At
torney- General had been go unfortunate as 10
buv the stock on the terms of the Senator's
nurcbase and had received a dividend in the
nroportion of their actual investments, he
would have got SO instead of $4,000. The
gift stock apparently was $50 times more
valuable in cash returns than the purchased
stock.
The original Pan Electric statesmen, as a
matter of fact, were very shrewd In limiting
their liabilities and precluding assessments
| In the agreement entered into on March 10 be-
tween Mr.. Rogers on one side and Messrs.
Johnston, Garland, Atkins, Harris and Young
on the other, it was stipulated that no greater
sum than S150 could be assessed upon each OF
the incorporators without the authority of
majority of the members; and should any
member be unwilling to pay the amount that
might be assessed against him, he was at liberty
to withdraw from the company, being vac
quilted of all liability to the company on is ac-
count There is reason to believe that $1,375
represents the total amount contributed by the
five incorporators for running expenses, and that
as soon as bonus was received from the first
company acquiring local rights the directors
promptly reimbursed themselves for every as
sessment which they had paid. Mr.. Garland
and his associates had agreed to contribute
their influence as distinguished statesmen, but
not their money. That they expected to take
out of the enterprise. Some OF them, indeed,
were over-anxious for dividends, as the follow
ing letter indicates:
| DR.. J. W. RoGEEs
DEAR SIR: will see General Johnston at 10 o'clock
this morning and will talk to him about the matter
There is only about $500 IN the treasury at This tne
aud as we to expect more soon Is 1t not well
to leave the question until have more money worth
dividing know that Young Is OppOseu 10 ulNlulLB' o
opposed the last dividend. Respectfully,
| Washington, oct. ,, 1884. IsHAM c. HARRIS
The company had two methods of replenish-
ing its treasury after the first meagre assess
ments had been repaid One was the sale OF
rights to local circuits under a guarantee that
the parent company would pay all the legal ex-
penses that might arise from suits for infringe
ment; and the other was the sale of Pan-Elec-
trio stock. The Executive Committee was
authorized in the original agreement to dispose
of fractional interests in its property and to
give in return for hard cash certificates enti-
Ting the purchaser to shares as soon as the COM
pany should be formally organized and char
tered II was under this provision Of the
contract that 100 shares were sold to
Senator Vest for $1,000, the money being
turned into the treasury. Indeed, from
the greediness of the directors for divi-
dends about the time the Senator purchased
his stock he has some ground for suspectlng
that the company was talking OF dividing the
money which he and other purchasers had paid
for their shares Of one thing he may be GER
tain the directors had arranged matters so as
to exempt themselves from assessment and
expense. If any outlay for experiments were
required or any lawyers were to be hired, stock
would be sold by the Executive Committee in
, default of returns for local privileges; and
when the certificate was delivered the stock
would be clipped 10 per cent, as in his case.
These Pan Electric statesmen were very care
full to have the expense of their speculation fall
upon other people. They were very close
shearers and Senator Vest was one of the lambs.