The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-06
RIeH TINE rHEY SHOULD GO.
Supt. McBee Sees No Benefit in Stock
holders Excursions.

4 -
holders Excursions.
Supt McBee Of the Central railroad re-
turned yesterday after two weeks absence.
To- MORNING NEWS reporter who asked
him in regard to the action of the Rich
mond and Danville in doing away with the
snnual free stockholders' excursion. he said:
! w n.y. there IS no reason for granting the
( privileges. We bring several thousand peo-
pie here and carry them back and receive
no compensation for it. Now suppose an
accident happens and half dozen Of these
people are killed The road will have heavy
damages 70 pay, and yet we receive no
Compensation from them. There Is too
much risk and no money in il.
This is about The only road In the coun-
try that l know of that is doing this sort Of
thing, anyway" said Supt. McBee. at
got TO be a sort of gen -ral custom on the
railroads in this section after the war, but
almost all 4 them have dropped il. The
Richmond and Danville has done the same
thing with every railroad it has
bought. Most of them were running these
annual stock olders' excursion which were
abused just like the Central railroads, half
dozen people riding on one share and
thousands of people riding free tina: never
owned a share of stock The best thing to
do with such q custom was to drop 1t, and
that was what was done. 1t is an old
custom that has played out. The city is
not going to be hurt by its being abau-
doned. Most of the excursionists came
down for frohc. anyhow, and those that
nave been saving themselves up for the ex-
curslcn, waiting TO come down and trade,
Will take advantage Of the holiday rates,
and come anyway
1t has been frequently stated, and is
generally believed, that the annual stock
| holders excursion is a time-honored
| OH hA no. -
the Central railroad almost. This is a mis-
take. The custom is of comparatively
recent origin-within the last fifteen years,
more or less. When Mr.. Wadley had begun
to get the Central railroad in shape some
time after the war, and the road was
earning some money by Mr.. Wadley's plan
| the earnings were hold in reserve to pay
the debts which had accumulated, and no
dividends were paid. The stockholders be-
gan to complain that they we're receiving
nothing for their stock and the plan was
suggested and adopted Of passing the stock
| holders and their families free over the road
once year. The stockholders paid very
little more attention to the meeting
then than they do now,
the majority Of the stock then as now being
voted by proxies Naturally the custom
soon became very popular one, and one
that the stockholders did not care to re-
linquish. This statement is made upon the
authority Of a gentleman who is familiar
with the history Of the Central railroad
since the war and is in position
TO know whereof he speaks. He says
the stockholders' excursion was in
vogue on the old Atlantic and Gulf railroad,
now the Savannah, Florida and Western
railway, long before it was taken up by tha
Central. The Atlantic and Gulf being
heavily indebted to the city OF Savannah
and its people and the state Of Georgia, and
pretty nearly everybody in this whole Sec
ton. and never paying any dividends
adopted the custom Of giving its stock
holders free annual excursions, to afford
them an opportunity to get something out
OF the road for the money they had put In
| 1t. On these occasions the Atlantic and
Gulf used to pour pretty nearly the whole
OF Southeast Georgia iuto Savannah. When
the road came into the hands of its present
owners the custom was abandoned.