Birmingham age-herald., 1895-01-27
PLAYING FOR A SCOOP. i. A Bill Introduced in the Alabama
 Senate,
AND RAILROADEO THROUGH
That Branch, Which Means Much Against the Inter-
 ests of Birmingham.

MONTGOMERY, Jan. 26.-[Special. l-- Another interesting move has been made | ia the contest over the Alabama Grt at
 Southern railroad between the southern
 Railway company and the Cincinnati, | Hamilton aud Dayton company.
 Some time during the past week Vice. President Andrews of the Southern rat-
 way appeared in Montgomery and the day | after his arrival President Pettus of the
 senate, who is an attorney of the Southern,
 introduced what was apparently ad harm | less measure in the form of IA bill to be
 entitled an act to provide for the calling
 and holding of meetings of stockholders | of railroad corporations in certain cases
 and regulating the voting and the transac- | tions of other business at such meetings. '
 This bill was referred to the committee on | corporations ln the senate and reported fa- verably.
 Harmless as it would appear from it's ti-
 tie, the bill embodes provisions which are 1 entirely novel to this state, or to any other
 so far as we are informed, and, by it's
 terms, can only apply to the Alabama | Great Southern Railroad company, as there 1 Is no other corporation in the state which | comes within it's terms.
 By the terms of this bill, when any cor
 peration or ss iocation existing under the
 laws of any foreign country holds the ma | jority of the caIi i.al stock of an Alabama railroad corporation the bill provides that l the holders of the stock of the foreign cor l poration shall be allowed to vote in the meeting of the Alabama corporation, though l they may have 10 stock in the Alabama l corporaton. The stock of the Alabama 1 Great Southern Rliroad company is now
 and has been held by the Alabama Great l Southern Railway company, limited which
 last company is an English corporation, created under the laws of Great Britain, ! tt,n oI,, .txTt rRf hn h l is to permit the holders of the stock in this 1 English corporation to vote for the election of directors in the Alabama corporation. The majority of the outstanding stock of l the English company is now held by the l Central Trust cUmpahy of New York and l controlled by the Southern railway, and | the effect of this bill will be to permit the l Central Trust company to vote the present 1 directory out of office by reason of holding
 shares in the English company, and | thereby defeat the result of the suit now 1 pending between the parties in the supreme ] court of Alabama.
 | This suit was brought, as has bsen pub lished in the AaB- HERALD, by John kG kGreenough and others, claiming to be { stockholders in the Alabama Great South ' ern Railroad company, last November. It l was heard before Judge Wilkerson, who 1 dismissed the bill for want of equity and 1 dissolved the injunction which he had be- l fore that time granted. The case was ap-
 pealed 10 the supreme court and came on 1 for trial on the 7th day of December last. 1 Owing to the absence of Mir. Crawford, one l of the counsel for Greenough, 1t was post i poned to the 4th of January. Snbse- l quently the court postponed it until the l l7th day of January, and before that time Judge Somerville, formerly of the su- preme court, but now general appraiser ln 1 New York, was employed bysGreenoush 1 and at his request the case was postponed
 until the Eth day of February.
 1 It now appears that the contest IS to be removed from the courts and put before
 the general assembly. Vice. President An
 drews has been here, and has brought a l strong lobby in the interest of the South ern railroad, including Gen. c. NJ. Shel- 1 ley. l The matter of the control of this railroad 1 is one of vital interest to Birmingham, for
 if the Southern railway succeeds in it's ef-
 forts Birmin gham. will be deprived of an- l other trunk line, and some action express l ing the wishes of the people of Birming-
 ham is fmperatively necessary.
 l The senate bill was passed this afternoon l at the personal solicitation of President l Pettus, and was sent at once to the house l without enrolment. similar bill was l introduced in the house, and was referred 1 to the committee on the revision of laws,
 and that bill was favorably reported, and l is now on the house calendar.
 l This matter has been brought to the
 special attention of Representative O'Brien, 1 and he is taking active measures to defeat l the passage of the bill on the ground that 1 Birmingham will be iniuriously affected. | The following is the bill above re- | ferred to:
 1 To be entitled an act to provide for the l calling and holding of meetings of stock l holders of railroad corporations in cer- l tain cases, and regulating the voting, the 1 election of officers, and the transaction l of other business at such meetings. 1 Section 1. Be it enacted by the general | assembly of Alabama, That no corporation | or as ,ociation now or hereafter existing, 1 under the laws of any foreign country, nor l any of It's agents, proxies, directors or l representatives shall hereafter vote upon
 the capital stock of any railroad corpora l ton of this state, nor hold offices therein, | excspt in snbordidation to the provisions I of this act.
 Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That at any | and all meetings of the stockholders of any 1 railroad corporation of this state, of whose | capital stock majority Is or shall be held or owned, directly or indirectly, by any 1 of any foreign country, every holder of the | stock or shares of such corporation or as- socistion of any foreign country shall be 1 entitled to appear ard participate, either ing for inspection by the officers conduct | ing such meeting certificate of stock | or shares in such foreign corporation or | association, he shall to the extent or the
 shares evidenced by such certificates be entitled to vote upon any and all .ques- tions, including the removal or election of directors, submitted for action at such
 meetings, and every vote 80 offered shall ! be received and counted accordingly, 80 1 that out of the total vote, which otherwise might be cast at such meeting by or in be- half of such foreign corporatiop or associa- tion, every such stockholdef shall be enti- | tied, with like effect as If upon lawful l proxy from such foreign corporation or as- | sociation, to cast such vote as shall ratably ! be equal to his holding (so evidenced) of | the amount of capital stock shown by afh- 1 davits to be entitled to vote at such meet- 1 ings of shareholders of such foreign corpo- I ration or association. In determing the | presence of quorum and ascertaining and | declaring the result of any ballot or elec- ! ton, the inspectors and ofdcers conducting kf&I1neaa stxnGiya full effect to the proper propoftIonate vote % cast by every suqh I holder of stock or shares In such forei&n | corporation or association to tho Dane | extent as if such votes were cast b5 such