The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-19

| OF the company, and Is row e0ga geo
| in acquiring. under Instructions from
stock of the company for the govern
ment.
Mr. Cromwell had bought thirty
shares of the stock for hims eif sew
eraI years ago.
Have you transferred those shares
to the United States?" asked MI.
Townsend.
'.Twenty-nine of them. have re-
| a director"
Mr.. Cromwell stated THAI the Pan
anna Railroad company positively had
no connection whatever with the trans
| continental railways of this country
One Dividend.
Mr.. Townsend-Have any dividends
been declared by the company since
members of the canal commission be-
came members of the board of di-
rectors?
One. the per cent dividend on Feb.
J. 1895"
Mr.. Esch-What was the share OF
the government DIVIDEND
The United States received IN cash
on Feb l, this year, the sum of $@S4.-
9S5''
Mr.. Townsend-To whom was that
paid?
"All of this sum was paid by check
to the secretary Of war as a dividend
on the stock standing in his name,
with the exception of a dividend OH
ninety-fOur shares i'm the name of Ad-
miral Walker, chairman of the canal
commission. which dividend was paid
to him directly. The dividend on the
other remaining seven shares was paid
directly to the order of the seven gen
tlemen in whose name they respective
ly stand
The Governments Stock.
Mr. Cromwell explained that he had
purchased for the government 6.5S6
shares of this stock.
Since then" he continued, the 18TH
mlan canal commission has purchased
lOl shares, making the present owner
ship of the government 6,9S7 shares and
leaving outstanding lob shares
Mr. Townsend-You include in the
seven those shares held individually
by the members of the conal commits
siOn2
Yes"
Mr.. Cromwell then stated that Adj
miTal Walker had individually first ac-
quired one share of the stock of the
railroad to qualify himself as a director.
lie had afterward purchased in the !
open market 100 shares for the commits
sion and transferred one share to each
of the other seven members of the COM
mission leaving i'm his name ninety
four shares.
Mr.. Townsend asked Mr.. Cromwell if
he had been consulted in regard TO the
payment of per diem fees TO the direc-
commissioners, and he replied that
he had not.
Operation of the Road.
Mr. Cromwell went into an extended
account of the operation of the road
from the standpoint of it's earning ca
pacity- He regarded il as an excellent
paying railroad property in comparison
with any road in the United States. II
began operation in 1852, and has earned
from that time to Nov. 80. 1904 S3S,-
SIS. 254- In 1857 it assumed a bonded in
debtedness of $4,000, 900, to mature in
1891 At the latter date these bonds
were all taken up and a debt of $4,000
600 was assumed. This latter debt has
been reduced by application of the
earnings of the road to the acquisition
of bonds until al present il amounts to
S2,3I2,OOO. These bonds bear interest 1t
| AZ per cent. Mr.. Cromwell said that
in his capacity as one of the fiscal COM
mlssloners of the Panama government
he had invested 81 600 600 of the funds
| of that government in these bonds. He
was very much averse if the well being
of the road was to be considered, to
disseminating the operation of the
steamship line from New York to Colon
Attention was called to the fixed
charges which il was necessary for the
road TO earn continually. These at
present amount to 100000 year. From
this they will be reduced gradually to
p1VbUuU IL year dl WHICH inquire ITleX VIII
remain indefinitely. These fixed charges
consist of an annual payment of $3.50
600 a year under agreement to L.OlOm-
bia. but actually until 1908 this olga
ton viii be met by the retirement of
certain bonds which were issued in con-
temptation of this charge. However.
this annual sum will have to be paid
after that time under the treaty with
Panama annual subsidy to that gov
eminent on account of the road
Of he oh
consists of the Az per cent interest and
sinking fund on the bonded indebted
| ness amounting to $I5O.000 annually.
These bonds mature in 1887.
Relating to the question of fees ap-
propriated by the isthmian canal com
missiOners as directors of the Panama
| railroad, Admiral Walker said:
Roosevelt Decided 1t.
Every corporation pays attendance
| fees to its directors. When the canal
commission were directors of the Pan
anna railroad the matter of attend
ance fees was taken up. Some of the
| commissioners thought that they were
entitled to these fees and others
thought not. AS chairman l went to
President Roosevelt and told him that
under the presidents order there was
adherence of opinion among the MEM
bers of the canal commission as to
whether they should accept attendance.l
fees The president said that these
lees should be taken IS a matter of
course All of the members of the
canal commission did take fees. There
/ have been two meetings a month
1 There is no law that prohibits the
members Of the commission from ac-
| cepting such fees. The only hesitation
WAS to the terms of the presidents
! order. and when we went to him on
the subject he said that he had no
intention to stop these fees.
"One day a man met me- told me
| he owned 100 shares of stock and
wanted to know if 1 wanted to buy
| them. / consulted Secretary Taft. and
! he said that we had better buy them
/ arranged for the purchase, the stock
, was turned over to me and the treas
urer of the commission, Admiral Ken
ney. paid for it 1 gave six of the
shares to the other members of the
commission Chat is. one 20 each). and
1 had ninety-fOur left in my name
as chairman. Then 1 bought an ad-
ditional odd share. All the stock is
held in trust for the United STATES.
All OF these shares belong to the row
ernment, and no member of the com
mission holds any of the stock per-
sonauy or 10 his own profit in any
| h Sue H.