The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-12
THE ALBANY LEASE.
Minority Stockhold-
ers Want to Try
and Defeat It.
ORGANIZING TO THAT END.
Denial of Vice President
Hall Of the Con-
solidated.

1t is current that something in the
nature of an organized movement is
| being started to defeat the plan adopted
| by the directors of the Boston & AL
| bany railroad to lease to the New York
Central, in which connection the ale
| cation is made that the lease was not
unanimously approved by the directors.
| According to the statement attributed
| to one of the protective committee said
| to be forming, it will be necessary to
require $4,000 proxies, in addition to the
| stock already in control to defeat the
lease. Promoters Of the canvass for
| proxies point out that the road has
| earned more than twelve per cent for
years, and had the money gone into
capital instead of construction, the cap
| italization would have been $40, 900, 900
| instead of $25, 100000. The road several
times has given its stockholders an ex-
| ira dividend above eight per cent in
the past, but at the time the fact of
the lease was made public President
Bliss was quoted as saying that the day
for melons" in the railroad business
had gone by. 1t is to be assumed. of
course, that the directors, in approving
the proposition to lease, believed tLat
they had done the advisable thing in
thus guaranteeing perpetual dividend
of eight per cent, future conditions con
sldered; and the public also will recall
the recent statement of the director of
the Boston & Maine, who said ne be-
lieved the stockholders and the bust
ness world generally would hold up
both hands for the lease when Eli the
plans contemplated under it became
known.
A New York despatch says: Reports
from Boston that opposition to the pro-
posed lease of the Boston &, Albany
railroad to the New York Central was
assuming shape among the stockh5ld--
ers of the Boston & Albany attract lit
tie attention from the New York Cen
trail people. Persons in authority at
the Grand Central station We're disin-
clined yesterday to make any comment
on the subject. Unofficial admissions
were made that the possibility Of indi-
vidual opposition to the terms for tie
Boston & Albany lease had been weigh
ed carefully and was not deemed of
a serious nature. The Boston & Albany
directors who approved of the terms Of
the lease, it is asserted, represent an
overwhelming majority of the S25 900,
600 of stock. One of the Boston & Al
bany directors said a few days ago that
the Boston & Albany system was earn
ing more than the eight per cent anru-
ally which the New York Central Of
fers to guarantee in perpetuity, had
not taken into consideration all of the
facts relative to the prospects Of the
property. The Boston & Albany, he
added. was largely dependent for it's
business on the New York Central,
therefore. its earning capacity could be
affected in a great measure by the poll
cy Of the Central The men who have
arranged this merger have no fear that
the ultimate result will be any differ
ent from that which they have planned.
Vice President Hall, in an interview
at New Haven, denied emphatcally
that there was any prospect in the
near or the distant future that the
Consolidated road would enter any
other system either by purchase, lease
or by any other arrangement, and said
that talk to that end was unfounded on
the slightest basis of fact. Neither
President C. p. Clark or Vice President
Hall has made any statement regarding
the position of the Consolidated road
up to this time and Judge Halls de-
NAL is therefore of unusual interest
and Importance. He said:
THE lease Of the Boston and Albany
road by the New York Central system
was a natural result of the relations of
the two roads, and was not at all as
startling as has been made out In some
newspapers. The two corporations
have been on terms Of intimate friend
ship for a number of years. and have
been doing business on a traffic ar
rangement of their own that has been
a harmonious one. The present lease
Of the Massachusetts road is merely an
'anchoring,' so to speak, of these rela-
tions, and has no other significance. 1t
is certainly not warlike move on their
part, and we do not look upon 1t as at
all unfriendly TO our own interests. The
been one Of the great incentives Of the
move, among others. The relations of
the New Haven road with both the
New York Central Boston and Albany
and other roads have been fer A. long