The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-09-18

met by the London and Northwestern
by the addition Of bonds and stock. Ac-
cording to the Times this last resource
has reached its utmost limits and un-
less the corporation reforms Its policy.
1t is within measurable distance OF
bankruptcy.
The London and Northwestern Is the
Oldest and richest railroad company in
the British Isles. 1t is in point OF time.
enterprise, resources and credit the
metropolitan of all the trunk lines of
the Kingdom. Leaving London, 1t takes
a northwestern direction through the
agricultural, manufacturing, mineral
and commercial centers of the coun-
try. passing through or connected with
such cities as Birmingham, Manchester,
New Castle Tyne, Glasgow and Ed
inburgh. Englishmen swear as de-
votedly by the London and Northwest
ern as they do by the Old Lady OF
Treadneedle street herself. Surely the
world must be coming to an end when
the greatest and most influential news
paper in the empire tells the directors
Of the oldest, richest and most con-
servative railroad that unless they
model their business methods upon one
| of the youngest of our great railroads
bankruptcy will stare them in the face
The difference between English and
that of mere administration. There are
physical and geographical issues to be
taken into consideration, as we'll as ex-
ecutive and financial, when estimating
the comparative merits Of each sys-
TEN. England is only five hundred
miles long from north to south. The
Bloomsbury division of the Lackawan-
ma is almost as long as the trunk line of
the London and Northwestern in Eng
land. OF course, the latter has feeders
and feelers, which make it very much
longer. Indeed, it is a regular mesh OF
such continent branches particularly In
the mineral regions. When the Times
calls upon the directors of the London
and Northwestern to assimilate its
financial policy to that of the Lacka-
wanna, it surely cannot be serious. The
controlling financial interest of the
Lackawanna is in the hands of few
great capitalists: the controlling inter-
est of the London and Northwestern
resides in an active majority of it's
shareholders, which amounts probably
to ten or twelve thousand. or course,
the directors of the London and North
western have ultimate control so far
as the executive and managerial policy
of the line goes, but they work under
the limitation that they are an advis-
ory body, whereas President Truesdale
has in details and largely in policy a
free hand. The president of an Ameri-
can road has the responsibility of it's
administration upon his shoulders; the
chairman Of the board of directors of
an English railroad is figurehead.
Nothing in the whole commercial world |
is more ridiculous in oppressive POM
posity and thoroughgoing inefficiency |
than chairman and board of direc-
tors of an English railroad company. |
The number of great railroaders in |
Great Britain that have arisen during |
the last fifty years can be counted upon |
the fingers of one hand The general |
of an English railway has no |
power of initiative if he Is blessed with
The most difficult problem which the
reformer of the English railroad sys-
tenn will have to face if he is inclined
to introduce the American system of
eXpending large part of the net earn
ings in the conservation and develop
ment of railroad corporation like the
London and Northwestern is resistance
10 be met with by the hordes of small
who have invested their
all in railroad stock and who count
upon the interest accruing to them in
part or whole for their subsistence.
They have a voice and vote, and their
moral influence is still greater. But
his cannot go on indefinitely. An in
,reasing bonded Indebtedness and
Hatered stock to keep abreast of the
absolute needs of the system is, as the
Times remarks, macadamized path
o bankruptcy.
President Palma wisely refuses to