The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-06

bonds, is of very little value. 1t makes
| no difference whether they are
! first mortage, first income. or sec
ond income bonds, they are bonds
and the interest on them can be, and will
be. paid OUT of the earnings of the Geor-
/ gia Southern and Florida railroad the
stock will have a voting power and
| value, ana if it is of so little worth why
did the Macon and Birmingham bond
| holders give up their great fight for itl
IL may be true that he thought it best 10
do this, but the bondholders who APP
pointed his committee did not place them
! in their present position TO think for
them; they gave them certain instruc-
/ tions, which were very plain-"You shall
| sell for US our bonds at par and accrued
| interest, or you shall buy the road with
our bonds for US In substance, that is
all there is in it. When a trust is con-
| fided to a committee they can only do
! that which they are tod to perform, and
| these gentlemen will be informed by the
! courts at some future day that they can
| do no more.
| have attempted to reorganize these
! properties / considered it my duty to
| save everyone if could. and / asked the
| judge, who was then presiding in this
court, to allow me to attempt a reorgani-
| cation, and he informed me that he con-
! oAOClCd ~ my uAN3 W MANI bAlC dbbCthPgs
] believed the property worth 5000 900;
| if | could reorganize, everybody would be
saved, the bondholders, creditors and the
| stockholders Several of the largest
| bondholders in New York expressed a
willingness to aid me. They believed
that the Macon Construction Company,
having built the road, had an equity in
! it; they knew that only the Macon Con
struction Company could make a fight,
and fearing that its attorney might be
successful in his plea of illegal
! ity of charter, nOn-eXistence of
the property when the mortgage
was made, and later on, usury, and the
bondholder might be kept out of the prop
! erty for many years, they instructed me
to offer the Macon Construction Company
/ some of the junior securities after the
| bondhOlders' principal and interest had
been satisfied, and the Macon and Bir-
| mingham people and creditors had been
! provided for. This offer swas made last
| May, and was not accepted by the Macon
! Construction CompanY's committee until
| late in June | then found that | could do
nothing, as the Macon and Birmingham
| bondholders had agreed to accept a prop
osiCion made them by Mr.. Shaws com
! mittee, without saying one word to me,
/ or writing me a line, although they had,
! a i our meeting in New York. stated that
! they were willing to assist me, and
/ expressed themselves d5 D6luB very LuuCH
/ pleased with the position that had taken
! in this matter, and wished me much sue
! cess. l have stated 10 the chairman of
| the Macon Construction Company's com
mittee that / and my attorneys could not
! take any part in the fight to prevent a
foreclosure; that all l could do, or eX-
| pected to do was to- ask for an upset
price, such price as | might be able to
prove the property worth This | have
DONE this will continue to do. If
owned every bond, it would be my duty
to make the property bring as much as
possibly could, and in doing this, do not
| injure you.
How can my interference with his plans
extend my tenure as receiver? Has not
the mortgage been foreclosed and the rail
road ordered sold? Suppose | could
sweep his committee out of existence to-
day, would that delay the sale' Upon
what meat hath this, our secretary, fed q,
that he hath grown so greatP' Has he
already fattened upon that which he ex-
| pected to make, or is he simply pulled up
with his own Importance, bloated bond
holderl
1t seems to amuse him very much that
the bondholders will call a meeting at
some future day to protest against his
| proposed action. He is simply smiling
now, but when that meeting is called it
would not surprise me at any moment to
hear that he had simply split his little
! sides with laughter. IL may appear TO
him as absurd for the bondholders to de-
| post their certificates. 1t seems terrible
that these beautiful little certificates
! should be placed with trust company,
although all bonds, stocks and certificates
! known to the commercial world, have
been deposited and will be again; but it is
horrible to think that those containing
the engra we'd names of "our committee
/ should be placed in vaults stored away,
/ you might say, in dark dungeons,
| and the name of civilian Check
! ley Shaw hidden from the world
/ perhaps forever. Great Caesars
| Horrors accumulate" He says that if it
| would have been in possession a year
| ago. Will he please explain TO the bond
holders how he could have obtained pos
session Of our road" only two months
after it had defaulted upon its interest,
thirty-four days after 'our committee"
was formed} / knew that he had, since
he has been secretary of ''our committee. -
taught himself all about railroading, but
did not know that ne had mastered the
law. it seems strange to me that when
s'our committee was formed, and was
about to select lawyer, he was over
i looked. 1t strikes me that some of these
/ figures have not been properly labeled I;
| that he should have been tagged 'attor-
| ney.m
He saws at would not be reasonable to
! suppose that the bondholders will place
| themselves in the power Of Mr. Sparks
| and his associates" II has never oc-