Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-09-04

I Nstablc Discovery.

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9lne shoemaker to hts last, is an in
}nuf1on which the silver-tongued ora
~, Daniel Dougherty, illustrated yes
nto1oH at the stockholders meeting Of
~ Traction company i'm Philadelphia,
7<t1en he lamented that he had paid
( 1nsft Glendcnning 4 Co. sos per share
J ~ 6is 60 shares and had since paid
Nte( (Cllar assessment, and now WAS in
vteod to pay another; and yet the mar
~ price Of his stock was but 7S. He
Qxpreesed his belief that his confding
lnnOCence had been taken advantage of
~ the willy brokers who unloaded upon
him the stock Of the insiders who knew
~ the coming assessment, and he de
c1nxed his deep disgust with assessments,
W1Ich he thought a poor man ought not
4 - b bothered with.
# may be noted that Mr.. Dan Dough-
egtS, owner Of 500 shares of Traction
Wurth S7S per share in the market, de-
ecs1bed himself as poor man, simply
~ comparison with the directors of that
company, who are Messrs. Kemble, Wild
e0er, Elkins, Dolan, McManes and Alte-
mus; Of whom the first run the machine
ond the last are added for their grace. But
there are millions in the crowd and Dan
Dcugherty justifiably felt poor in gaz-
ing upon them.
And they are magnificent lot, truly
One Of Mr.. Dougherty's suggestions was
that Messrs. Widener and Elkins, the
two vice presidents, did not give all
I their time tc the affairs of the company,
and perhaps did not earn the $4,000
salary which he was told they received.
To which President Kemble promptly
and emphatically replied that "they de.
vote enough to the interest of the stock
holder to more than pay hundred times
the salary they receive" Just think of
That I In the opinion of President Kemblc
the vice presidents are each worth about
vo0Os0OO year TO the stockholders of a
c0mpany that Vice President Widener of
the same meeting only claimed to he ire
preecnting nearly S30,000,0O0 of proper
~" which covered the shares and bonds
and the whole lock-stock and barrel of
the concern. II we add as much more
Tor the value Of the president s services on
fair assumption that the president
deemed himself worth as much 10 the
company as Its two vice presidents, we
VIII reach, as the estimate of the real
worth to II of the trio, about two and
bali millions Of dollars, or nearly ten
per cent. Of the company's valuation /;
and just about the whole years receipts,
which were reported TO have been for the
last year something less than three mil
Hons.
90 that President Kemhle and Vice
Prosidents Widener and Elkns consider
t9et their services to the company are
JqDily worth its gross receipts and all
~ money that they pay out for horse
Nd and wages and dividends is in fact
- much distracted from their own fair
earnings and yielded by their generosity
70 the other fellows in their concern who
arc not In its direction.
This Is very notable discovery, since
It explains what heretofore has been
misty in the conduct of honorable
gsntlemen who do not show any hesita-
tiOn In scooping into their own pockets
all the loose change that hangs around
evaporation premises, and who are ever
found industriously AT work in provid-
Ing leaks from its treasury, which
may afford liberal lot of
spilled money that may be handily
grabbed by their able and agile fingers.
We find this disposition rampant
! inctloe. direction of many big cor
smensUA, whose directors show great
~ in business when piety is the
ming called for. They are jealous in
the church and conspicuous In charity.
They are evidently men whom their
consciences control and who would not
steal pin on any consideration. Mr..
kemole shows us how they do the trick.
When they serve others at nominal sal
nry that they feel to be fur below the real
value Of their services, they consider
themselves to be free to accept such
other profit as may be made to flow
frOm their positions as directors the
only restriction upon them being that
they must not put their hands directly
in the treasury to take it out. 1t must
come In ways into which their skill may
point 1t and out of which their dexterity
may pull 1t. And all that they can get
y but an honorarium for their great SER
vices to the company, which its share
holders would freely give them if they
were gentlemen, but which they do not
tell them Of and ask them for, because
they are not always gentlemen and ii
b none of their business anyhow.
We doubt whether Dan Dougherty Is IA
gentleman now in the opinion of Messrs.
Kemble, Widener and Elkins Of whom
one Is gaol graduate and another
bloomed as butcher.