St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-23
IVES TAKES A HAND.
One OF the Investigating Commit
tee Replies to>President Alb
bolt.
The Committees Figures Fur
nished by Northern Pacific
Officials.

New YORK, Feb. pa new chapter
is added to the Northern Pacific rail
road controversy by a letter sent out
today by Brayton Ives, president of the
Western National bank and member
of the stockholders committee which
recently made such report against the
administration of the company. The
letter ls reply to structures made on
the committee by President Abbott, of
the Wisconsin Central railroad. and is
addressed to Mr.. Abbott Mr.. Ives in
part says:
''ln attributing to me the sole author
ship of the report, and abiding subse-
quentiy to me as he you do injustice
to both myself and to my fellow mem
bers of the committee, as is shown by
the following statement by the chair
man, Mr.. Clews. The report of the in
vestigating committee is not the
work of any single member, but
represents the unanimous opinion of
the committee in which Mr.. Rogers,
their advisory counsel, fully cOncurs.
Every statement as to profits and losses
of the Wisconsin Central, as we'll as of
the main line and all its branches, was
received from the treasurer and
auditor of the Northern Pacific COM
pany. and the committee has the docu-
ments to sustain its conclusions. AS to
the vicious system of accounting, the
fault, if fault there be, rests with the
treasurer and auditor of the Northern
Pacific company, of which you are di-
rector. We did not get mass of figures
and then arrange them tOSuit ourselves,
but we took the statements furnished
by these officials. verified them to our
ticfa nd inf
LAS to the stress which you lay on the
earnings Of the Wisconsin Central lines,
| must call your attention to a few facts
which may be of interest to the public
also. You say that no other railroad
| going out of st. Paul or coming into
| Chicago from the north, west or south
west carries nearly so large an amount.
Then you give the earnings of the
Northwestern. the st. Paul, the Chi
cago, Burlington d Quincy, the Rock
Island, the Omaha and the Chicago &
| Alton. And now the pertinent question
arises: What becomes of the so-called
| enormous earnings OF the Wisconsin
| Central?
THE recent bankruptcy of the Read
! ing road shows the danger Of giving
| too much power to small clique of di-
rectors, even when there is no suspicion
| VI SGll-lilLClCots Dut WHCll llloG
! is present the peril cannot be over
estimated. If the acts Of your
self and your associates in connec-
ton with the. Wisconsin Central and
Northern Pacific properties eau be de-
Tended in law and equity the words
trustee and director must have new
definition. You cannot vent criticisms
by calling attention to the value of the
property under your charge. The
greater the value the greater the OPP
portunities for plumber and the more
necessary proper safeguards. If l
had known what you were doing l, too.
should have owned but little, instead OF
continuing one of the largest stoekhold-
ers. In fact, ali of your party, l believe,
sold out practically when you saw the
effects of your work. Having elected
your directors for three years and
started the company on the road tC
bankruptcy. why should you hold its
Stock?"