Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-02
R-cei.-r xchcepf.. spec,ou. Demurrer


Receiver Schocpfs demurrer to Commits
sioner Blacks report the air motor ex-
pc rimcnts on The lexington railroad seems
to he based the general principle that
the equipment of the road with the under
ground electric system Is impossible in
view of the financial condition of the COM
pany. In other words. there Is no possible
alternative from compressed air and there
fore he company shall have The privilege
Of equipping with compressed air whether
the Commissioners approve that system or
not. AS matter of fact it is known TO the
authorities and the citizens that the legis-
lotion now ope 'ative, Presenting the alterna-
dive of compressed air or underground cleo
tric. was not forced upon an unwilling cor
i,oration. IL was asked for by the company
through it's agents in the Congressional
lobbes and was granted after proper pre-
cautions-but evidently not enough-had
been taken to make the measures accepta-
lie to the public. 1t is a perversion of the
records for the receiver now to plead power
~ when the roads involved are in no worse
financial condition than they were when
they willingly accepted the alternative
presented by The statutes. Since that time,
true enough, they have passed into the
hands of a receiver and are now in the Gus
ly understood to have been taken as part
OF the process of wrecking and the freezing
out of small stockholders. 1t was ex-
planned and widely accepted at the time as
trick of management. No other inter-
probation could be put upon the move in
the light of the insignificant sums for the
sake of which the receivership was asked.
ahd the unusual methods in forcing the
properties into court. AS was shown by
the answer filed in the cases subsequent to
the order Of court appointing the receiver
the indebtedness amounting to but $3.50 9s
III the case of the lexington road and
S;il.3 in the case of the Belt, was incurred
only five days before the application for a
receirership was filed and the proceedings
that resulted in taking the roads out of
the hands of the stockholders occupied only
one day.
Thus all later events are to be inter-
rreted by means of the general belief that
the receivership4 at present in force is a
condition of convenience to the majority
owners of the roaGs, entered upon freely
and by understanding with the minor cred
itors whose claims were utilized. and is
maintained to enable the roads to plead i'll
ability whenever it is suggested that the
full terms of the present laws be strictly
'iIOICtu loT DEMENT, Oh the puDuC. he
Receiver gives evidence of this motive In
his persistent citation of the refusal of the
court to permit him to spend the money Of
tie roads or to incur extra Indebtedness in
order TO prosecute the experiments ordered
Icy the law. This plea sounds we'll until 1t
l. remembered that the receivership can be
dissolved at short notice by the payment
of the ridiculously small claims on which
In : haSad This tai he ls
would enable the mar agement to act free
ly-
Thus there is no force in the receivers
allegation that the compressed air expert
'nent Is successful in New York, advanced
TO throw doubt upon Commissioner Blacks
conclusions. The laws under consideration
contemplate the conduct of experiments
here. sufficiently exhaustive to demonstrate
the capacities of the air system 10 the
Commissioners. They do not place upon
the Commissioners the necessity of scru-
tniZing the entire field of the worlds
transportation facilities to find evidence
tcn OF proof is on the companies here en-
gagged and upon the motors they may pre-
sent for tests. If the receivership ham,
Pered the present managers of the two
companies in their experimental demon
STATIONS it should have been dissolved As
it is a bond easily broken it can not be ac-
crpted a defense of the failure to seek
satisfactory compliance with the law
that now forms such a glaring chapter in
the record