Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-11-06
Ihe Weekly Intelligencer
kANCAsrxR. NovEMBERe, isss.
The Shareholders.

luc SuATeuOlueTs.
On Friday evening large number Ct
oHnsylvauia railroad shareholders met in
hlladelphia to listen to Mr.. John Taylor,
~ London.
The meeting was called by him against
- wishes Of the officers of the company
NhO endeavored to dissuade him from his
nttnck upon their policy by insisting that
|oiscussion would be injurious to the value
" the stock. To this Mr.. Taylor very
properly replied that +" there is nothing
that 20 injuriously affects the value of
stock a. mystery, concealment and un-
'oDetainty." He said that in England
N1nnAgen courted discussion of their
pcatcy, feeling that endorsement of it
would give them strength. That at a
meeting Of the British shareholders of the
Honnsylvahia company he had been chosen
~ visit America and urge change of
policy in the matter of dividends. They
Woro unable to understand why the CON-
YAny should pay small dividends when
eoxning large ones and having large and
growing surplus, and he had found that
the whole matter was left to the discretion
u tno managing BODY.
He had been told that the surplus was
held for use in rate wars, and then be
struck at the root of the evil by saying that
rate wars were due to the notion that rail-
ways cannot be successful unless run as
mOn0polies. "We will have TO learn in
This country" said be, " that there is such
thing as healthful competition, which,
+ while it may detract from the profits of in
dividual corporations, develops the busi-
nsas and resources of the country,
Replying to Mr.. Taylor, Mr.. James Mil
) liken, of Bellefonte, praised the conserva-
tive policy of the company and said that as
The road, when first built, had been con-
structed as cheaply as possible, it was now
necessary to replace much Of it aud also to
reserve a surplus as safeguard against
future loss.
Mr.Milliken was possibly selected by Presi-
dent Roberts to reply to Mr.. Taylor, because
/ he did not know anything about the mat
ter he was to discuss. He should however
have been more careful of his reputation
that to be willing to put himself in posi-
ton from which the Englishman would
20 readily rout him. But Mr.. Milliken and
his friends, the Pennsylvania railroad di-
rect0rs, hold the fort in fact, however weak
their logic, and Mr.. Taylor may 60 home
with the assurance that he will never get a
dividend of the roads total reported earn
ings, until he and his fellow stockholders
use their power to put the present mana
gers out.
It Ia quite impossible for an American rail-
road manager to see that he should divide
AL the profits of his road among the stock
holders. He does not regard the stock.
holders as his owners. He sees that the
& majority of the stock is SO held as to give
him no trouble and then swings away re-
gardless OF any further ownership interest.
He considers himself and his coadjutors--
4 to be the substantial owners of the whole
concern.
Mr.. Taylor, as an Englishman, is perva-
ded with the idea that what seems to be
y, that the nominal stockholder is the real
owner, and that a published surplus
has y substantial existence in read.
ness for distribution among its owners.
Mr.. Taylor discovers that in the United
States the stockholder is but a
brevet owner of railroad, being per
mitted to enjoy the distinction without the
profit and that railroad surplus exists in
3 directors report for the sake of its beauty
u which is supposed to be satisfaction enough
70 the stockholders without more solid
comfort coming from it. The surplus il
intended to be thing Of joy forever; and
President Roberts and his directors quite
fail to understand wherefore Mr.. John
Taylor is not content with it's contempla-
tion.
Mr.. Milliken might have reminded him
that there is vast deal more pleasure in
contemplation than in realization. 1t would
have been quite as satisfactory as anything
be did say. He might have said that the
directors did not divide the surplus be
cause they did not have it and that would
have been the truth. He might have in
formed Mr.. Taylor that despite its surplus
the company was short of cash. He could
have said that the managers used their
earnings to pay not only for the permanent
improvements of their road but to extend
It, and that its surplus was so tightly
locked up as to be wholly lost.
Mr.. Taylor has not learned much from
Mr.. Milliken or the directors. He could
y not even get a list of the stockholders. He
\ y surprised that he is not told all that he
wanted to know concerning his property.
He thinks the secrecy and mystery of its
nanagementi is wrong. And he is right.