The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-04
HARTFORD HOLD -RS'
 IMPORTANT ACTION
Safeguarding of Their Inter ests in the Illinois Cen
 tral Road.
SPECULATION OBJECTED TO
Charles N. Beach, of Hartford,
 to Lead Fight of Fish Against Hartman.

Hartford, Oct. -Stockholders rep resenting over 5000 shares of the Illi- nois Cenral railroad met at the board of trade rooms to-lay to take action 1 looking to the safeguarding of their in- terests in the road in view of the forthcoming meeting of the directors of that corporation. It was overwhelm- ingly an anti Hartman meeting, some of those present expressing their op- position to his railroad methods in no uncertain terms, Besides adopting resolutions protesting against specula- tion on the part of railroad managers, | it was unanimously voted to have all of the proxies of the stockholders pres
 ent turned over to Charles NJ. Beach of this city who Is director of the Illinois Central, and a support of Stuy- vesant Fish in the fight with the Har- riman interests. Those who have all ready sent their proxies to Mir Harri- man will cencel them in way to in sure their being ineffective.
 The Rev. pr, Francis Goodwin in an address to the stockholders said that l the personal quarrel between Messrs,
 Fish and Hartman left all in an un- pleasant situation. The literature cir culated showed the existence of two
 or three great evils In the past man.
 agement of the road which if contin-
 ued will result In great damage to the road. The directors, he said, have practically nothing to do with the
 management, their power is delegated to ar executive committee, and the chairman of such committees have the affairs of the roads they represent ab- | solutely in their power. If we as stockholders sit down silently know
 ing this, then we are responsible for the mismanagement" He said that Harriman's career was such that no one can have any confidence in him. His control of the Illinois Central, he added would be a calamity, for he would simply tie it up to his chariot wheels, divert its freight and profits and make 1t simply servant to the
 Pacific roads
 These views were secured by other speakers and the outcome of the gen. eral expression of views was the unar1- imous adoption of the following reso- lutions: | Whereas, the present controversy in l the management of the Illinois Central railroad has brought to the knowledge of the stockholders the fact that the board of directors has delegated their powers in intervals of session to an executive committee of their number which in turn has conferred the same absolute power upon their chairman which we believe to be grave danger to the interests of the corporation, and of its stockholders
 And whereas: The fact has become known that by this concentration of authority the officers have been enabl- ed to make large loans to themselves on such securities and terms as they themselves deem sufficient and are the sole judge And as it is also evident that under this present system that it is possible for any individual delegat- ed with these powers, to make in his own interests this railroad and it's business subordinate and contributory to other roads in which he may have greater personal interest, and there- | fore we stockholders of the Illinois Central railroad, at meeting held in Hartford on the third day of October | 1907, protest against this improper and hazardous practice and we request the board of directors to take such ac- ton as will prevent these evils in the | future.
 Voted That a copy of these resolu- tions be transmitted to Mir. Charles M Beach a director in the company, with request that he present the same at the annual meeting of the stockholders and directors to be held Oct. 16, 1907. "We believe 1t to be duty of good people to unite in systematic and sus- tained efforts to put an end to the sell | fshness and wickedness in corporate management, which though practiced only in exceptional cases, has been sufficiently prevalent to lower the rep utation of the country in matters of l finance and to cause heavy losses to l investors. We hope for the creation of public sentiment that will exclude speculative control from corporate management"
 s. M Young of New York, 8 repre- sentative of Hartman interests was in the building where the meeting was held He expressed a desire to attend the meeting, but as no invitation was forthcoming from the stockholders he was not present.
 Charles E. Cooley was the only stock holder present who was opposed to the Fish interests He said he had no more confidence in MT. Fish than he | had in Mir. Hartman and what he wanted was action by the meeting which would tend to arouse the inan- cial interests of the country against i speculative railroad management.