Morning journal and courier., 1886-12-16

The first thirteen were declared elected.
 It required nearly two hours to count the l shares In the meantime the orators had an | opportunity to express their opinion on vari-
 ous subjects relative to the Consolidated road 1 during it's past years history. Stockholder Wood presented 8 resolution appointing l Charles A. White, of this city, and William l NJ. Hudson, of Hartford, auditors for the | stockholders for 1887. MT. Watrous l plained that this YVES more matter of form, perhaps, than anything else inasmuch as the 1 directors had a regular board of auditors. But he continued, F'these are the auditors of the stockholders. If we are all honest ln- 1 side of course these auditors on the part of the stockholders are superhuous. If we are not honest, then these auditors will be of some service to the stockholders. At least that is the theory upon which they are ap- pointed"
 Mr. Henry L. Goodwin said at the meet ing. "I have two suggestions to make to the board of directors. The surplus earnings, according to the last annual report, amount to $939, 1000. would suggest in the first place, in view of the fact the company is making so much money, that car be at tached to all accommodation trains after January 1, 1887, when the reduced rates go into effect, and the price for riding in such car be lower than ths regular rates. Every one knows how successful the third class car of the railway system of England is, and that it is the most profitable of the cars that are used on the railroads of England. My sec ond suggestion to the directors is that they insist on the discontinuance of the grade crossings on the road. It would be proper to expsnd, in my opinion, some of this surplus money in the treasury of the company in e1- pediting the abolishmsnt of these dangerous crossings at grade. I hope that the directors will consider these suggestions"
 President Watreus responded and said that the board of directors had been i'm h &1,n aINI1T17 nE tha earnings of the road. He added that they were very much in favor of eliminating grade crossings, and the suggestion in that respect was worthy of the most serious con sideration on the part of the directors. He promised MT. Goodwin to call the directors attention to this suggestion.
 The gentleman from East Hartford had an- other proposition to submit. It was in sub stance that the road should bear all the expense in towns along the line for discon- tinuance of the grade crossings. 'It has been the custom heretofore" he continued, ''where these crossings have been abolished to compel the town to bear ons-half the expense. Now I believe it would be no more than right for the company with its enor nous surplus to stand all the expense itself. " Attorney Robinson, of Hartford, made a speech, the burden of which was that it would be unfair and injustice to the road to require it to pay the whole cost for the dis continuance of the grade crossings.
 t'My friend" continued MT. Robinson, ''refers to the railway system of England
 and it's third class We don't want any
 such system in this country. Thank God
 we have no classes in this country-no first
 class, no second class and no third-class. No; sir, this class system is against the
 theory of our government. Neither is it the
 theory of our people" MT. Robinson was
 most heartily applauded.
 w. A. Hudson of Huntington, Mass, in-
 l0f
 neers on the road to make long run on one day and lay off the following day to rest He
 could not see the logic of such regulation.
 He stated that an engineer running between
 New Haven and Springfield had called his attention to the rule.
 cal to run one train through-one engineer and one locomotive, providing it is not be- yond a mans power.
 Hudson-Could we not, then, do with
 one-half the present number of engineers? Watrous-I hardly think the men could stand such work as that.
 An inquiring stockholder wanted to know
 something about the future improvements of
 the road, etc.
 President Watrous called upon Attorney
 Robinson to respond. Ths latter cheerfully
 complied. He explained that the road was
 valued at $3O, ,ooo,oo although, it's capital
 stock was only half that prodigious sum.
 He spoke of the stone ballasting that had
 been done in the past year and informed the
 stockholders that work of improvement, at
 present suspended for the winter season, would
 be resumed next spring and pushed along viz
 orously. It had now reached Fairfield on the
 New York division. This stone ballasting
 the road, he continued, cost the company at
 the rate of 5000 per mile. One mile week
 was generally the rate of progress. Then he
 alluded to the large expenditure of money
 required in the construction of new depots and what inroads had been made on the
 receipts by the extensive improvements of the
 Shore Line bridge, Shore Line depots and
 the Shore Line road since the last annual meeting He said it was the intention of that company to put the road in hrst class condition-''to make it one of the best, if not the best in the country" The Asylum street crossing in Hartford would necessitate a large amount of exposure, in his opinion.
 Mr. Robinson referred to the improvement in
 the rolling stock of the company.
 MT. Robinson added that 1t was the inten-
 tion of the company in the future to apply a
 portion of the surplus earnings of the road
 to paying their employees little more money
 for their labor. 'fAnd," to quote the gen
 tleman's words, 'tto make the employees part
 and parcel of the Consolidated road family"